The Same Old Song and Dance

Warrington, United Kingdom, 1993

Most of you, I am sure, are at least passingly aware of the conflict that raged between England and Northern Ireland for decades, between the Irish Catholics and the Protestant British. For those unaware, this was referred to, at least colloquially, as “The Troubles.”

The Irish Republican Army, or IRA, waged a campaign of terror and war all in the name of independence. Despite the religious differences between the two factions, this was not, in fact, a religious conflict, but a political one. Regardless of the reasoning, however, was the bloodiness of the conflict, with casualties (that is both killed and wounded) reaching over 50k people in the over thirty years when it had begun in the 60s. Although taking place primarily in Northern Ireland, it spilled into other parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and even mainland Europe.

This came to a head in 1993 with the infamous Warrington bombings, where a large number of civilians were killed, including two boys, one three, and another 12. The fallout from this attack was tremendous, and any sympathy the IRA had previously held was now in serious jeopardy, although it did not actually curb their attacks. That is, until the following year.

After the attacks, Irish singer and songwriter Dolores O'Riordan, lead guitarist for the band “The Cranberries,” wrote a song titled “Zombie.”

Part of the lyrics go thusly:

Another mother's breaking Heart is taking over When the violence causes silence We must be mistaken

It's the same old theme Since nineteen-sixteen In your head, in your head, they're still fighting With their tanks, and their bombs And their bombs, and their guns In your head, in your head, they are dying

The song was an instant hit, in the UK, Europe, and the United States, and literally EVERYONE knew exactly what it was about. A few short weeks after the single released, the IRA declared a ceasefire after more than 25 years of conflict. Some critics of the Cranberries wondered if the IRA was willing to call a truce for no other reason than to ensure that a popular Irish rock band wouldn’t write any other songs about them.

Fast forward to 2018, and where do we see the world? Well, the lead singer for the band Bad Wolves didn’t see much difference between what was going on then and what is going on now in the world. Contacting Ms. O’Riorden, he had an idea for an update to the song, to which he wanted to perform a cover of. She was excited and agreed. Unfortunately, Ms. O’Riorden passed away the day before she was due in the studio, but with the rest of the Cranberries’ permission, released the song and allowed the proceeds to go to Ms. O’Riorden’s children.

Here is a sample of those lyrics:

Another mother's breakin' Heart is takin' over When the violence causes silence We must be mistaken

It's the same old theme In two thousand eighteen In your head, in your head, they're still fightin' With their tanks, and their bombs And their guns, and their drones In your head, in your head, they are dyin'

Okay, pastor, I hear you all say. That’s really interesting and all, but what does it have to do with anything?

For those that may recall, my health took a dip at the end of December/beginning of January. It was a miserable time for me, and towards the end, for Stacy and Gideon as well. I remember that I was on the end of it all, and Stacy and Gideon were still sick, and I had a VA appointment in Huntsville, and was on my way home, when I was flipping through the music channels looking for something familiar that I could hum to because my singing voice was shot and still not recovered. In any case, I ran across the 2018 remake and noticed the subtle differences, and I got to thinking. And thinking. A restless sort of thinking.

Well,

Saints, you all know me. I am a veteran who proudly served my country with honor for about 12 years, spanning 9/11, the war in Iraq, and into Operation New Dawn before I stopped serving in one capacity or another. But I thought about something that had been troubling me. I ran across a very interesting graphic while browsing an internet site that I enjoy reading, and it showed this:

Show graphic for percentage of lifetime at war

Place holder for graphic

Find your birth year on the table. The number with it shows approximately how much of your life our country has spent in armed conflict. I know this is not super accurate, but a pretty good approximation. If you were born on or after September 2001, your entire life has been spent seeing armed conflict on the news with our country as a primary participant.

So, yeah, I got to thinking about this. And then I thought about the recent release of the Afghanistan papers. For those not following the news, these papers show that we have had zero true goals in Afganistan since the 2001 invasion. What are we doing over there? Why are we still there? How will we know when we are done? NOBODY KNOWS OR HAS KNOWN SINCE 2001!! Do we hold the current commander in chief responsible for this? Absolutely! But there’s a problem here, saints! According to the documentation, the last THREE presidents knew ALL ABOUT IT! EVERY SINGLE PRESIDENT SINCE 2001!

Then it got me to thinking more. I served in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are still fighting both wars, despite what anyone in the media will tell you. We are. New names. New labels. Just the same old song and dance, though.

Saints, we are called to live in the world, but not be of the world, right? Isn’t that what Jesus has called us to be and to do? The world, that is in its death throes. Wars and rumors of wars? The love of many waxing cold? Sounds familiar. Mahap someone preached on that topic in this sanctuary?

Turn with me in your Bibles to today’s Scripture reading, :

English Standard Version Chapter 22

6 Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. 8 But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’

Let’s set this up. David is counselling young Solomon, as his days are coming to a close. Oh, did David want to build a home for the Lord! At first, he didn’t want to do it with the right heart, no! Over in 2 Samuel, when we read this story there, Nathan gets told by God to tell David that his motivations for building the temple are faulty. You see, David had political motives for building God’s house in Jerusalem. He wanted to cement his new capital city as a unifying entity; to be the center of everything cultural, political, and religious in Israel. You see, David spent so much of his life in the pursuit of warfare and taking lives, that it took a part of him. We just don’t see exactly what part until we look at this story in 1 Chronicles!

You see, saints?! A life of violence, even violence in GOD’S SERVICE had DISQUALIFIED DAVID FROM BUILDING GOD’S HOME! The one who builds GOD’S house MUST, by their very nature, BE A PERSON OF PEACE!

Even the name of David’s son, Solomon, has the same linguistic origins as the Hebrew word for peace, that is šālôm!

So, if we, as a church, want to bring folks into God’s House, we want to bring folks into His Kingdom, we MUST be people of peace. We must understand what peace is and what it is not. And we must be willing, above all political, social, ethnic, and cultural reasons, to be people of peace

Peace

There are several words for peace in the Bible. The Hebrew word for peace, as we have said, is šālôm. In the Old Testament, this word (Heb. šālôm “well-being”) was used to describe a wholeness and security embracing both the physical and spiritual dimensions and relating not only to the individual, but also to entire communities and relationships among persons. As experienced by communities, it included economic prosperity and political security, but the word itself had a relational aspect to it that was intrinsic in the Hebraic.

In the New Testament, though, we find an interesting word that is defined as “peace.” That word is “irene” but the Greek word, denoted something far different. The Greek word in non-Biblical context, was the cessation or absence of hostility. There is a vast difference!

Pax Romana: A Brief Biblical History Lesson

When God was looking at having His Son come Incarnate into the world, several things needed to be in place, and thus God would set His plan in motion. For the Gospel to spread throughout the world, God had to make three things happen:

When God was looking at having His Son come Incarnate into the world, several things needed to be in place, and thus God set His plan in motion.

A Common Language for people to speak

A relatively (for that day) easy mode of travel

For that travel to be safe

Before the Romans marched on the known world, Alexander the Great rose in Macedonia. To this day, his name is used as a synonym for “great military leader.” He conquered the known world, which included Greece, and much of the Mediterranean, extending eastward into as far as many scholars believe, western India. The Greeks, particularly Alexander, had a belief that the best way to conquer people is to bring them your culture and/or incorporate your culture into their own. Your temples’ gods were replaced with Greek ones. Your customs and languages were replaced with Greek customs and language. There were a few exceptions, namely, Israel, who it is said, opened their gates to Alexander, who let them keep their religion, and as long as they learned the Greek language and customs, could still continue their own. In fact, there is a legend that says that the son of Ptolemy I, one of the generals who split up the territories after the death of Alexander the Great, requested that the Hebraic Scriptures be translated into Greek, and thus the Septuagint (the Old Testament in Greek) came into being. This is, of course, not able to be supported by most serious scholars, but you see that the first requirement had been fulfilled! A common language.

The second and third requirement came after the rise of the Roman Empire. Wherever the Romans conquered, they established “peace.” Note that I say “peace” with quotes, and not, like…peace. They brutally put down all resistance to their rule. The territory of the Roman Empire spanned over 5 million square miles, taking the entirety of the Mediterranean Sea. When Caesar Augustus came to power, there was no one left to fight. The second condition had been met.

And where the Romans conquered? They built huge, straight, wide roads. Connecting every major city in the empire. The better to move armies and supplies with, you see. Many of these roads can still be seen today and some are actually still in limited use! The third condition.

So, when all this was done, the Father sent His Son into the world. At the fullness of time. During a period known in history as the Pax Romana, or, the Roman Peace. A time with no wars and a time of general prosperity throughout the Roman Empire.

That is the kind of peace that the non-Biblical Greek “irene” was offering. So, then the question we must ask, is what is the BIBLICAL version of the irene peace?

Turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of .

Myers, A. C. (1987). In The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (p. 807). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Here we see Jesus, after the Last Supper, trying to tell His apostles good bye. How it must have hurt Him to see them so confused and without truly understanding what was going on and what was about to happen! Jesus has told His betrayer to go do his thing, and then continues to try explain the unexplainable to a group of men who had no concept of a suffering Messiah. In the midst of this whole discourse, Jesus says something so profound, many people just gloss right over it:

English Standard Version Chapter 14

27 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.

Did you catch that? “Not as the world gives...” you know, the kind of peace that is defined by the cessation or absence of hostility. In Jesus’ day, the Romans defined peace this way. How did the Romans gain said peace? By conquering all of their enemies, and waging war so hard, so powerfully, that there was literally nobody left to actually wage war against them.

So what kind of peace does Jesus give? He gives the same kind that His Father gives, the only true source of peace, but a peace that “surpasses all understanding.” A peace that lives in our heart because that is where the Holy Spirit dwells. A Peace that is found in the person and works of Jesus Christ. A Peace that settles our unquiet and weary souls because, unlike an earthly peace, a peace based on the love Jesus has for me and we for Him is a peace that no war, no conflict, no hostility, can possibly overcome or upset.

To this day, among my favorite hymns begins:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul!

It is Well, with my soul!

It is well, it is well with my soul!