Proper 25B’24 The Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
27 October 2024
Mk. 10.46-52 (Gal.5.22-26)
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
O Lord, may we know your peace, which is the eye of the hurricane, the calm in the storm, the stillness in the midst of chaos; and passes all our understanding, through Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. Amen. – Frank Topping, The Words of Christ: 40 Meditations (revised)
Peace… what a beautiful word, it originates from the Latin word Pax spelled P-A-X and it means “tranquility, the absence of war.” The demand for peace is great but it’s in short supply. As we stand on the edge of a monumentally momentous election, I wonder what our percentage of tranquility might be, 90% – um -no 50% – probably not – 10% that’s probably a lot closer. As for the absence of war, well, with all-out war in the Ukraine, Gaza, and Lebanon, and most recently Israeli air strikes in Iran, we’re still waiting for peace on that front.
With all of this going on all around us, no wonder a song came into my mind this week that I haven’t thought of in quite a while: “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”
Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me;
let there be peace on earth,
the peace that was meant to be.
As is often the case, such beautiful and heartfelt music didn’t come to the composer while sunning themselves on a Hawaiian beach. No, these lyrics came to composer, Jill Jackson, after experiencing a devastating divorce that was followed by a suicide attempt. In an interview on NPR, she related her experiences: “When I attempted suicide and I didn’t succeed, I knew for the first time unconditional love—which God is. You are totally loved, totally accepted, just the way you are. In that moment I was not allowed to die, and something happened to me, which is very difficult to explain. I had an eternal moment of truth, in which I knew I was loved, and I knew I was here for a purpose” and added, that she was only able to write such a powerful and peace filled song after discovering the “the life-saving joy of God’s peace and unconditional love.”
What was the waterloo of her ego, became God’s opportunity to shower her with love. She remarried another composer, Sy Miller, and they continued to write and perform together, touching many lives in the process. Jill’s definition of the word peace was different and was one closer to Christ’s definition.
Jesus in St. John’s gospel (14.27) said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” The peace the world offers is based on success, and positive circumstances. We can have peace only if the bank account is full, the pantry is full, only if the jobs going well, and the family are all healthy, peace only in the absence of conflict and wars.
Jesus, on the other hand, offers us something a whole lot better. God’s peace is much more robust and resilient, and is not dependent on any of the things I previously mentioned. The peace of Christ is the peace in the eye of the hurricane, and is felt most deeply in the midst of life’s storms. The Peace of Christ and the shalom of God is a journey toward wholeness, the same root word as the words “holy,” and “holistic.” At its core God’s peace is about the restoration of a relationship with God, with ourselves and with our neighbors.
What’s the first thing that happens in Genesis after the creation, Adam and Eve sin and results in their estrangement from God as they were cast out of the garden. The very human journey throughout time is about our finding our way back home to the heart of God, to find reconciliation within ourselves, recovering all the parts of us that are fragmented, and to reconcile with our enemies and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
The peace of Christ offers us a way back home, where we find God no longer distant but as close as the very breathe within us at our center. This is the kind of peace Jill Jackson-Miller found and it affected every area of her life.
In our lives there seems to be a constant pull toward anxiety, especially concerning finances and resources. But as we align ourselves with God and place our trust in God’s abundance, peace grows, as a fruit of the Spirit, and invites us into a different relationship with these concerns. When we live in the Spirit, we are reminded that God’s provision is faithful, just as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not worry about your life…your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:25, 32). The more we open ourselves to trust God, the peace of God can empower us to let go of the scarcity mindset that grips so much of our world. As we rest in the peace of God, we are able to get back in step with God’s promise of abundance, trusting that God’s resources will be enough for us, and enable us to spread the Good News of Christ’s reconciling love that breaks down anything that can separate us from God, that turns foes into friends. When we feel the Spirit’s peace, we know that everything we have in our lives are gifts given to us by our gracious God. The more we recognize God’s abundance in our lives, the more we long to share generously the gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord, when distress, fear and anxiety threaten to overpower us,
Breathe your Holy Spirit into our souls that we might find your peace, and rest in your love, as we place our trust in you, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.