Peace on Earth

Opening Prayer

As the voice cried out in the wilderness, God, you enter our lives and call to us to be open to hearing the cries of people who feel lost and alienated, who feel that no one cares or ever will care about them. We have been given that opportunity to reach out through the ministries and mission of our church bringing hope and peace to all. Get us ready to become pathways of peace and life-transforming love in your name. It is in the spirit of Jesus’ name that we pray. AMEN.

Pastoral Prayer

God, we long for that day of hope and peace. We strain our ears to hear the voice of one crying in the wilderness of our lives; the wilderness of despair and discouragement; the wilderness of anger and fear; the wilderness of alienation and selfishness. The voice cries to us to make ready the pathway for our God, to remove the obstacles which we have placed there; to respond with acts of compassion rather than react in violent ways. Lord, attune our ears to hear the voices of those who cry out in their need. Open our hearts to respond in caring ways. Teach us again the great truths about how we should live as your children. Forgive our failings and help us to try again and again to be the kind of faith-filled people you would have us be. As we cry to you, offering the names of loved ones who are sick, who mourn, who are lost, who live in anguish and in anger, keep us mindful of the ways in which we can be of help. Likewise, as we rejoice with all those who are happy, who dance with delight at the wondrous gifts you have given, remind us that joy and peace is what we all seek and what we can accomplish. In the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, we offer this prayer. AMEN.

Peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is the presence of God.

Peace is the word of the day on this second Sunday of Advent. When reading Isaiah 40:1-11 we see a prophet proclaiming loudly Good News.

God’s mighty arm is not that of an erratic tyrant but that of a gentle shepherd who carries his flock in his bosom. His gentle nurture is indeed mighty, and his might is his gentle nurture.

Peace is a tough concept to grasp due to the many wars that have historically plagued mankind. Even for us as Americans which is one of the youngest countries around have been in wars since its birth. But when we consider the circumstances that we see before our nation and world today, it’s rather ironic that we proclaim peace amid such turmoil.

Peace. We want peace. But we know so little peace in our world, in our community, in our lives. So, what do we do with this conflict? How do we resolve it? One response is to say that we are not peaceable people, that we do not really care enough about peace to make it happen. This would be the problem. It's as if we have not figured out a way to construct peace or make it a reality.

But this is not quite right. Because peace is not something we can create or invent. And to go more deeply into all of this, we don't always really know what peace is, do we?

Some people sentimentalize peace. Peace is like a warm blanket or a hot bath or a sedative.

Some people compartmentalize peace. I think of the homes in Bolivia, in neighborhoods, I have walked through, the walls lined with cut glass bottles, the jagged edges exposed, to separate those inside from those outside, to keep the peace.

Could we have peace if we just built a gigantic wall? In the land where the prince of peace was born, his ancestors on both sides have little desire for peace, although the multitudes of Palestinians and Israelis want peace. Could we have peace if we just separated the people we like from the people we don't like?

Is that peace? It turns out that peace is something different.

Here is a definition. Peace is a right relationship with God. And a right relationship with God always places us into a right relationship with each other. And here is a further conviction. We do not make it a right relationship. God has already done that. God has already made peace with the world.

My question for us today is how do we seriously approach this hour of worship; how do we honestly and with a clear conscience proclaim hope and peace amid such turmoil and tragedy?

I’d like to suggest that these words in Isaiah bring hopefulness and peace, because they are from God. In Isaiah 64 which was the First Sunday of Advent scripture was a plea from Isaiah that God come down here and change things! Isaiah was speaking, asking God to rip open the heavens and make the earth shake in his presence. This morning’s scripture starts with God speaking.

This is not Isaiah crying out, but God’s response of comfort. The initiative is God’s. God is again moving in history. He has not deserted the world. He has not deserted his chosen people. He is the sustainer and provider of peace.

A study was done some years ago around the subject of peace & contentment. It showed that self-centered, egotistical people scored lowest on any test that measured peace and contentment. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “The trouble with some self-made men is that they worship their creator.” The message here is to believe in something bigger than yourself... I’d like to suggest God.

Circumstances in life can change in an instant, but God doesn’t. Economies head south, companies scale back, and you lose your job. Your circumstances have changed, but God hasn’t. Your parents grow older, their health declines, and now you have to care for your mother or father. Your circumstances have changed, but God hasn’t. Annual physicals indicate good health, but out of nowhere cancer appears. Your circumstances have changed, but God hasn’t.

If God were small enough that everything about Him could be explained, He wouldn’t be big enough for you to worship. True peace starts with belief in God. God’s words to Isaiah, God’s words to the Israelite people, and God’s words to us today are “Comfort, O comfort my people.” Circumstances change, but God hasn’t.

A second voice chimes in and says, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for God.” Some have suggested this is referring to Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, the precursor to Jesus’ ministry: the voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way for Jesus Christ. We have the benefit of looking back through a New Testament lens to make that connection, but it had a different meaning for the Israelites who didn’t have the benefit of NT hindsight.

They were in the wilderness of Babylonian exile, and the highway for God was intended to lead them out of Babylon back to the Promised Land. Preparing this highway will call for nature to be transformed so an unobstructed way for God can be prepared.

This is a call to resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive when in exile. In other words, stay connected. The Israelites find themselves in circumstances where they have been literally disconnected. They have been kicked out of their homeland. They have been removed from the place that brought them joy and comfort, yet they are being told to build the road that will return them to their home.

What roads need to be built in your life so you might be led out of the wilderness and return home?

Too often we lay down the tools of construction that can be used to build the highway in favor of the tools of destruction. The story that Jesus tells in Luke of the prodigal son is one of my favorites. Let’s walk back through it for a moment: A son asks his father for his share of his father’s estate, basically saying, “I’m more interested in what you’re going to give me after you die, than what you can give me while I’m living.”

The father agrees and gives his son his share of his estate. The son takes the money, moves to a foreign land (a self-imposed exile), and lives it up. He spends the money on booze, women, and parties. He goes broke and finds himself living in the gutter. He is in the wilderness. He has replaced the tools of construction with the tools of destruction, and he has cast himself into exile.

Let’s be honest…we’ve each done the same thing. There has been a time in each of our lives where we’ve disconnected ourselves, lived in the wilderness, cast down the tools of construction, and felt the loneliness of exile. If you say you haven’t, I’d say you’re lying!

The son comes to his senses, realizing that his father’s servants are in better shape than he is, and he begins to build a highway that will lead him out of the desert. He picks up his tools and starts construction.

Don’t let your tools lie dormant. Don’t let your tools gather rust. Don’t let your tools of desert highway construction slip from your grasp. You know where the road needs to be built. You know the tools that must be picked up and used in order to build the highway. Don’t withdraw and become reclusive. Staying connected to your family, staying connected to your church family, and staying connected to those around you contribute greatly toward your peace. Get to work on your highway that will lead you from exile.

There’s a song that says, “Let there be peace on earth…and let it begin with me.” When we consider the vastness of God’s creation, it’s easy to take on the attitude of, “What difference can I make?” Perhaps you’ve heard of the father and son who were walking along a beach where thousands of starfish had been washed up on shore. One by one, the son begins picking them up and throwing them back. The father says, “Son, don’t waste your time. It’s not going to make that big a difference?” His son looks at the star fish in his hand, tosses it into the ocean and says, “It makes a difference to that one.”

“Let it begin with me.” Don’t ever underestimate the impact you can have on God’s kingdom. Don’t ever believe that it can’t start with you. Don’t ever think, “What difference can I make.”

There is a special feeling that automatically comes with this time of year, and it started with one, tiny infant, born in a stinky barn, who was initially laid in a manger. Thank God he didn’t think, “What difference can I make?” Thank God, when he found himself in the desert, he picked up the tools of construction and built a highway that led him home, and thank God, he believed in something bigger than himself. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with…