Peace Out

Psalm 67 ESV

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

John 14:22 ESV

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

John 14:23–29 ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

Peace Out

We are nearing the end of Easter. I know that the Peeps are all eaten (I hope they are anyway. If you’re one of those stale Peeps eaters, I don’t know what to say to you). I did find some easter eggs in the back of the fridge the other day, but it’s been long enough that I was surprised. It’s strange to think that as we get so near to the beginning of summer, it’s still Easter. That’s one thing that makes me sad about the loss of the church calendar in so many contexts. We miss out on entire seasons of celebration! We have 40 days of Easter. It’s as long as Lent. Easter is longer than Advent and Christmas combined.

Next week, we will celebrate the ascension. Technically, ascension day is Thursday, but many churches now observe it on the last Sunday of Easter rather than hold a midweek service. The following week, June 9th will be Pentecost.

I like to go all out for Pentecost because we don’t get a ton of “Holy Spirity” scripture in the lectionary and we Presbyterians can be a bit wary of too much Holy Spirit. The Spirit is unpredictable and might do things the committee hasn’t approved yet!

Not only that. We don’t have a good solid “This is what the Holy Spirit is and does” definition in scripture. Is the Holy Spirit what makes those charismatic people put their hands in the air? Will the Holy Spirit make the preacher preach extra long? Does the Holy Spirit just give us words to pray with when someone asks us to pray out loud? One of the podcasts I listen to every week is called “Lectionary Lab” and one of the hosts this week said this about the Spirit:

The Spirit will lead you somewhere you don’t want to go, because if you wanted to go there, the Spirit would not be necessary.

That is both a terrible and humbling and wonderful thought, isn’t it?

The Holy Spirit is hard to pin down. The Spirit is elusive. The Spirit is described as a dove, fire, wind, a guide, so many things.

Maybe that’s why peace is so elusive.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 2 Theological Perspective

In modernity the struggle over why some believe and others do not has taken an intellectual twist. Skeptics have asserted that all religious claims are empty because they cannot be scrutinized through any kind of public means. The question has been raised in various forms: is religious language meaningful if it makes sense only to its adherents? Is private truth really truth at all? The repeated challenge of secular critics has dominated much of theology.

Trouble in the Text

So imagine being one of the disciples who have been following Jesus for a few years now and suddenly Jesus announces he’s heaving out. Jesus is leaving. The disciples have not yet seen him do what they thought the Messiah was supposed to do (overthrow a corrupt and oppressive government) and here he is saying he’s headed out.

They have been studying under Jesus, helping him spread the word, but they are not feeling ready to head out without him just yet. Earlier in their time together, Jesus had sent them out to various towns to spread the good news, but they weren’t sent far and Jesus was still waiting for them when they got back. This would be different. he would be gone for good.

He’s not leaving them alone, but he’s leaving them with this mysterious helper. At least when we talk about the Holy Spirit, we have the Pentecost story to look back on. They didn’t even have that yet. “Great. Thanks, Jesus. A Spirit. That’ll help.” They are left wondering what good this elusive, mysterious Spirit will be when what they’ve really been seeking is freedom from the oppressors.

The old ways to peace needed to change.

Grace in the Text

So Jesus says, “Look, guys. You’ll get your peace. The Spirit is going to be here to help show the way to it, but it’s not the peace that you are thinking of. This is a peace that will change you.”

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 2 Theological Perspective

In the absence of a physically present Christ, our daily practice makes real the living presence and love of God. Love in action is the route to experiencing Love’s grace-filled indwelling. Love in action is the closest we come to evidence of God. The problem of “Why some and not others?” is unresolved. However, the first step in engaging it is not theory but practice, not argument but passionate love.

It’s important to remember that when John is writing this gospel, he is reflecting on his time with Jesus, based on his current context. And John is almost certainly the newest of the gospels - it was written the longest after the events of Jesus’ ministry. This means two things: John has had a great deal of time to think about everything, so he tends to be a great deal more theological. He’s more ready to help us interpret things than Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who are doing more reporting or recording than reflection. He’s also writing out of a much changed situation. The other three gospels are writing as the early church is created. John is writing from the context of that church.

In this context, they are in a place where the way they used to worship could not be the way they continued to move forward. They were transitioning from being a Jewish Sect that worshipped in the synagogue to being a separate thing. The world around them was changing dramatically and they were trying to figure out what it meant to be church in the midst of all that change. Sound familiar?

The man doesn’t answer that he wants to be healed, he just comes up with excuses as to why it hasn’t happened yet.

Think of a good illustration of this.

The old ideas of peace and love and how to be a Christian community needed to change for John’s church, just as they do for the church today. So the hope that John is offering that very early church is the reminder that Jesus promised the Spirit will guide them in these times of change and confusion, and disconnect.

The Holy Spirit is the stuff disturber, the wind that moves the water around so it’s not so gross to get into.

Grace in the World

It does seem like a mean trick, in these times of confusion and change, to leave us with a confusing, ever changing guide.

I remember the first time I dropped each of my kids off for their first day of preschool. Alex cried and clung to my leg. I had to pry her off. Gloria was very matter of fact, adjusted her backpack straps, and just told me she’d see me after big kid school. Levi nearly cried, but his teacher could see it in his eyes and was quick to sweep him away and help him find some fun kids and interesting learning tools to engage with.

She was a great teacher. Levi’s preschool and kindergarten teacher Ms. L. - at Montessori they have the same teacher for 2-3 years - was a bit wacky, although that’s exactly what we loved about her. You were never quite sure what to expect from her. She lined the kids up by having them recite the presidents in order - these were 3, 4, and 5 year olds, mind you. They didn’t celebrate birthdays, they celebrated trips around the sun. She was completely unexpected and unconventional and she was wonderful. Sometimes, when I reflect on what the Holy Spirit is like, I picture a quirky teacher like Levi’s preschool teacher. A loving, unpredictable, wacky someone who knows us and is there to teach us how to be out on our own.

You always wonder when you take your kids to school for the first time. . .

put them on the bus for the first time. . .

leave them home alone for the first time. . .

let them use the oven. . .

help them move out on their own. . .

Are they ready? Like really ready?

Taking your kids away to college.

But there is usually someone there to guide them. If you’re lucky, they’ll have really great guides like Ms. L.

And then you realize you don’t have to drive them to and from school every day now because they can take the school bus. You realize you can go out to dinner without them and they will be just fine. They might eat frozen pizzas with little actual nutritional value, but in the long run, no major harm done. You realize that they are an adult who has learned everything you’re able to teach them at home.

Jesus broke out of kid jail.

Our 10 year old can make himself dinner now, but he still comes in to give us each a hug every night before he goes to bed. Our 13 year old takes the bus across town each Tuesday for her cello lesson, but she still needs us to help guide her days as she builds her independence. (And also to pay for those pricy cello lessons.) There are still times that our grown up kids call home with questions about how long yogurt stays safe in the fridge and how much will it cost to get a cat neutered. There are still times they come home and eat all the food and drink all the milk and can they run a load of laundry while they are at it? There are times I still hear my own mother in my head. There are still times I call my mom to ask her something or vent or cry about something. She’s in Tennessee, but she’s not really gone. Well, actually, she’s in Italy right now, but that’s the exception and I can still talk to her even when she’s in Italy. We’re never leaving them alone. Not really.

But. . . when do we learn how to be with one another? We have to move on from being with our parents.

Live lives as one who has been made beautiful by God!

Love! Love will keep us together!

Note: The parent analogy isn’t perfect. Some parents weren’t good parents and we have to undo some of that shaping later in life. Some people have multiple sets of parents, like our foster son does. He still has a relationship with his biological mom and with us. Some people became parents unexpectedly or even without wanting to. Others have not become parents when they desired children or just don’t want to be parents. Please know that this my intention is not to create a perfect picture of what “family” looks like. No human parents are perfect.

Sometimes, we sit and hold our children’s hands as they cry about how the world is broken and it’s not what they expected: When they struggle to see the peace Jesus promised.

I’ve Got peace like a river!

Just as we go through different stages and find ourselves in different seasons of life as we grow up in our physical life, that is true of spiritual life and of community life as well. To think that a church should look the same today as it did in 1985 is right up there with thinking that a 45 year old adult should be in exactly the same life circumstances as they were when they were 15. That’s not healthy. To think that our spiritual life, our relationship with God should not have changed at all in 10 or 20 or 40 years is the same as expecting a 9th grader and a 4th grader to have the same level of independence from their parents.

Yes. It is hard to “grow up” and to try to figure out the world out there. Sure. The Holy Spirit is a bit unconventional and hard to pin down. There are absolutely times we will feel like God has abandoned us or given up on us.

Don’t worry, Be happy!

As we wind down Easter (the celebration of what makes it possible that we can become new), move through Ascension (the celebration of Jesus’ departure from this plane of existence and of his kingship in heaven), and prepare for Pentecost (the celebration of the Spirit God gives us to guide and teach us in that process of becoming new), let us remember that God our creator and loving parent hasn’t left us alone. Not really. Sure, Jesus is no longer physically walking the earth as a part of our time and space like he did 2000 years ago. Sure, God isn’t walking in the garden with us like in Genesis. () But the Spirit is still here. Like our mother’s voice in our head or on the other end of the phone, the Spirit is there to assure us we’re not alone. Like the teacher guiding us into how to be ourselves when our parents is at work, the Spirit is there to teach us the ways of peace and love.