The Presence of Peace

The Presence of Peace

Genesis 8:6-12, Luke 3:21-22, Luke 2:22-24

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship on this amazing Communion Sunday.  I know it isn’t our normal Sunday for Communion, but I will be out of town next Sunday celebrating my daughter’s wedding… That’s right, she decided to plan a wedding so that the entire nation could celebrate with her!  So, I will miss the Parade downtown and I will miss the opportunity to be here as Jim Pannell brings our message on the weekend of the nation’s 250th Birthday.  I am looking forward to getting to hear that sermon online though.

Speaking of opportunities, we have 28 youth and adults at camp this week, including both of our associate pastors!   I’ll be heading over to Latham Springs tomorrow, to spend the day with them at Revive Camp!  And I can’t wait to hear all the amazing stories of what God is doing in this 5-day camp!  More on that in the weeks to come!

We are celebrating our 175thyear in ministry on this corner of Corsicana, TX.  We have been talking about this amazing facility that we get to worship our God in.  I know that we could worship God just as well under a live oak, down by a river, or in a warehouse somewhere… but we do have to admit that there is something special about gathering in a place… sitting in pews, where people have sat for 130 years.  Generations have gathered in this place to worship our Lord and Savior… They built this building, the second sanctuary on this property, as a testament to our Lord… Every aspect of the construction was completed in such a way to draw us closer to God… even the windows.  So, we are taking time to consider these beautiful windows and the symbolism and stories behind them.  This week, we are going to discuss the dove window. 

Sermon Slide

But before we do, let us pause for prayer…

<Prayer>

In the description of the windows, this window describes the dove as the symbol of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at his Baptism.  We can read about that in the Gospels, but today we are going to read it from Luke,

Luke 3:21-22

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

The Holy Spirit is probably the most recognized symbolism of the dove in the New Testament because of this passage.  We are a part of the lineage of a denomination that recognized fully the presence, power, and ministry of the Holy Spirit.    I often joke that in the early 1900’s, as the Holiness Movement split from the Methodist church, they took the Holy Spirit, and we took Intellectualism and went our separate ways.  Today, the Global Methodist Church is reclaiming that lost heritage that includes the power, presence, and ministry of the Holy Spirit. 

While that is a prominent image, it isn’t the only time we see a dove within the life of Jesus.  Flip back a couple of pages in your Bible and you will find the story of Jesus’ birth.  He was born in Bethlehem, about a 2-hour walk from Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary came to the Temple to present a sacrifice to the Lord, acceptable for their firstborn son. 

You see, the Jewish culture was surrounded by a culture of sacrifice.  Of the giving of life to the god or gods.  It wasn’t uncommon for some of the pagan religions to sacrifice their firstborn child to their gods.  It was common practice in the region, but not for the Jewish people.  Yes, in Exodus, it is stated that every firstborn male child, animal, and first crop was the Lord’s… it was set aside for the Lord.  Often, the firstborn livestock were offered on the altar to God, but the child could be redeemed…. They could be bought with a price.  The concept of literal child sacrifice is universally prohibited in the Torah. Instead, firstborn sons represent a symbolic "giving" to God, and families pay a specific redemption price to "buy them back" from Temple service.  What was that price?  Well, let’s read what Luke wrote about that day…

Luke 2:22-24

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

What sacrifice is fit for the Prince of Peace?  The international symbol of peace.  The dove, symbolic of the Holy Spirit, is known as the international symbol of peace.  Described another way, it is “The premier international icon for peace, harmony, and the end of conflict.”

But, in the end, that is actually not all that this window is…

While I love the imagery of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove…

and I love the symbolism of the sacrifice of the animal of peace for the Prince of Peace,

this dove window isn’t depicting those images…

Sermon Slide

Instead, it is depicting hope.  Hope from what?  Well, that is why we started with the passage from Genesis 8.  The world had been flooded… and yes, fossil records confirm that there was at least one massive flood event affecting the Earth.  Cultural stories around the world confirm that there was a massive flood event at some point.  So, Noah was warned by God, and he built a ship that housed animals and his family.  The animals boarded the ship, his family boarded the ship, and then the rains began.  It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, flooding the region and beyond.  Then Noah and his family floated for what must have seemed to be an eternity with no land in sight.

Desperate to know if there was land, he sent out a Raven… it didn’t return.  Then a dove… the cooing, soft, tender dove… that flew out and about, then returned to Noah, because it couldn’t find a place to rest.  A time of completion later… 7 days… Noah sends the dove out again, this time it returns with an olive branch in its beak… just as depicted in our window.

This image, the dove with the olive branch, is not only the international symbol of peace, but also an international symbol of hope after destruction. 

After floating for days, weeks, even months, Noah had hope when he saw that there was life beyond his ark.  Soon, the ark would bump into land, and the animals and people would exit the ark and begin a new life.

So, this pretty little window says a lot. 

It is a constant reminder of the presence of peace in our midst.

It is a constant reminder of hope, even when we think the worst thing that could happen happens… There is hope in the Lord.

And it is a reminder that Jesus became the dove… the sacrifice… that would redeem us.

And so, we gather at this table… We gather at this altar to receive our Savior anew.  The Prince of Peace became the sacrifice to ‘buy us back’ from our sin…. He gave himself for us.

And so we gather at this table as a remembrance of that sacrifice… as a constant and continued reminder that our sins have been forgiven… that we have hope beyond this life…

And that as we live in this life, we are to bring God’s peace to this earth… we are the presence of peace today on this earth as we fulfill the Lord’s prayer… that God’s will shall be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Would you pray with me?