Untitled Sermon (7)

I - Keeping the “Peace” with Foster

and in my relationships

“My way or the Highway/Its not worth it.”

We have this strong desire for peace, but often the ways we find it are destructive

Y - We long for peace, and we find it in destructive ways (2 ways mainly (Power/Violence, Disengagement/Denial/Surrender) (we think of peace as an absense of conflict)

Home, w/ extended family, friends, church, school, work,

Internally

but also

community, state, nation, and world

“When you look at the history of our lives + the history of the world, it seems we are willing to hurt a lot of people to (shed a lot of blood) keep the peace.”

Is this the kind of peace we look for in christmas? Or is there something better, and how do we reclaim it?

G

T- “The bible is fundamentally a story about God reclaiming the world for good. In that story Peace has a very special role, a special meaning, and as humans we have a special role to play in it.”

and to

SHALOAM is different from “Peace”

Genesis -World of Shaloam Shattered

Isaiah - A promise of Peace to come

SHALOAM is different from “Peace”

Where we think of peace as an absence of conflict, Shalom is different.

Genesis -World of Shaloam Shattered

And now our lives are filled with the kind of conflict and the kinds of peace we experience today

Isaiah - A promise of Peace to come

Christmas story - a Time of “PEACE” through bloodshed under rome

Mary’s Song

Peace on earth good will to men and

Genesis -World of Shaloam Shattered

- a longing for Shaloam in a world marked by “peace”

Isaiah - A promise of Peace to come

Peace is more than just stopping fighting.

The opressed are lifted up, the opressors are brought down.

Mary says, “Praise God, my son will do this.”

How does Jesus do it?

He walks , he teaches, he heals, he loves.

ROME kills him to keep the peace, he rises again to defeat them, and the evil at work behind them.

Colossians explains

Where the world makes peace bu shedding the blood of our enemies.

SS- Jesus makes peace, by shedding his blood on the cross.

1:21-23

Enemies now reconciled by the blood

2:13-15

Dead, but made alive

indebted (because of our participation in evil), but forgiven

subject to the violence of powers and authorities, now they are disarmed by the Resurrection.

Where the world makes peace bu shedding the blood of our enemies.

SS- Jesus makes peace, by shedding his blood on the cross.

Y -

T- So what do we do?

Accept his offer.

receive LIFE from death

let go of your debt and admit grace

no longer live as subject to death

And follow in his footsteps.

Let God make peace in your relationships.

Endure the pain of apologizing when you need to.

Reach out in reconciling when you can.

People are not your enemies

Forgive those in your debt

Lay down your life for others in the way you live.

Who are my enemies

Do I live my life like the people I meet and those I don't are not my enemies?

Your family member

Your co-worker

That person you just cant stand

What would it look like to pracitce peace with them, to sacrifice for them, to find restored relationship with them. What would you have to lay down?

W - We have been reconciled by his blood

W

what if we lived like it?

what if we really believed death was beaten?

What if we really believed that peace was possible in our relationships?

What if it really is possible to reconcile?

May we receive his PEACE this Christmas season, and be people sharing that PEACE everywhere we go.

Lets pray