SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 33:14-16
TEXT: THEME: INTRODUCTION This year, to gain of copyright permissions for our YouTube service we decided to write our own Advent Candle lighting materials. What this meant, was that we could come up with our own themes for each of the Advent Sundays. So, following the thought of the Reign of Christ from the Last Sunday in Pentecost, we are preparing for Christ’s Reign, with the candles of the Reign of Peace, the Reign of Hope, the Reign of Love and the Reign of Joy, with the Christ Candle on Christmas Eve marking the Reign of Christmas. SCRIPTURE Jeremiah is a prophet warning of an impending invasion. But the people of God are so divided, no one wanted to listen to his message from God. In fact, to silence the voice of God, Jeremiah was imprisoned. Our world is divided in so many ways. We are pulled to line up on one side or the other. In the past there may have been one issue or two at a time; slavery, civil rights, women votes, but today, we have so many issues all at once that divide us: Vax or no vax, Trump or no Trump, Black Lives Matter or only my life matters, Global warming or climate hoax, Science or intuition, Facebook/Fox News or NPR, Immigration wall or amnesty, LGBTQ?+ or abomination, Law enforcement or systematic racism, the women’s soccer team being paid just as much as the men’s soccer team or sexism, anti-abortion or a women’s right to determine what to do with their own body. The People of God were divided in a civil war. Israel to the north and Judah to the south. On the horizon, the Babylonian super power was poised to be the hand of God to bringing the civil war to an end by becoming their common, conquering enemy. The Babylonian invasion will put an end to Judah’s rebellion against God and gives them a new beginning. We want peace, but on our terms. We want things to be resolved in our way. We want to have the force, or power to do things our way, but we are not always privileged to be on the side of the victor or the dominant culture. Jesus brings a disruption to our long-held positions, in order for us to yield, to see the world through a different perspective. To understand things in a new way. For us to be willing to adjust, accommodate, compromise, re think our position for something greater that God is showing us. We are not grateful for the Babylonian Invasion and the many lives lost fighting for Israel. But we are grateful for the record of the Bible that began to be written down during their captivity in Babylon. We are thankful for the values preserved in stories of faith that are still applicable in the stories we live today. Our first response, is for a powerful God to defeat our enemies, but found in the stories of God and God’s people is wisdom, long suffering, folly, a moving away from our selfishness towards being loving and caring for everyone, in forming communities of care, like a family, that are expressions of the Kingdom of God. Jeremiah predicts a tremendous destruction of the empire they have built, for a springing forth of some old roots, to create something aligned with the dream of God at Creation. APPLICATION Even in the coming Reign of Christ, there will still be times of struggle. In preparation for Thanksgiving Dinner Conversation, NPR asked when was the last time that we heard such a convincing and compelling argument that we changed our minds to begin to live our lives differently? If that rarely happens, then what makes us think that our argument would be that piece of information needed for the non vaxer to vaccinate or for a mandate resister to think mandatory or a Trumpster to throw their hat in for Biden. Instead, NPR recommended listening to the root cause of their fear and to try and understand things from their perspective. We don’t have to agree with them, just understand where they are coming from during the Thanksgiving meal. Maybe this is one of the ways that we can learn to live peaceably with others. When the Reign of Christ comes, there will still be struggles. Some of our struggles will be with fellow Christians over issues such as abortion, immigration, LGBTQ+? And more. To have peace will not mean all of us believing in the same way, but having a respect for each other, that we can listen, understand what the other is feeling and then finding ways to work together. Uniformity was never the goal of our creative, imaginative, colorful God. But finding ways in which we can live in relationship with each other has always been at the forefront. At our Church’s annual state wide meeting, the Aha Pae’aina, and I would often find myself on one side of an issue and this colleague, consistently stood on the other. Year after year I criticized his liberal agenda apart from any Biblical mandate. Then in the late 1990’s, his Church, like ours were one of the Pilot churches that participated in the New Creation Initiative sponsored by our Hawaii Conference. We were broken up into small groups around Biblical Texts. We ended up in the same group. As we shared our insights on the passage, I was amazed at what he saw, his knowledge and scholarship. Then the turn came when we took that truth of this passage and tried to figure out how our lives would be lived differently because of this truth. And there it was. What I thought that was only a Social Gospel, was actually a Biblical application of the truth of God in our neighborhood. We were on the same side all along. More than any liberal agenda was a common heart, to live truth of God in practical ways. Listening and understanding, where my colleague was coming from has brought us peace. CONCLUSION With the Reign of Christ, comes a Reign of Peace, but not in the way we think, with the end of all wars, held under, by a power so great, that it is useless to resist (I can almost hear Darth Vader’s theme song in the background). There will always be rebel forces that will fight against the Empire with resistance for something better, freed from oppression, and liberated to live in relationships with others (now I hear the triumphant music played at the end of Star Wars as the Death Star is destroyed and Han Solo, Chewbaka, Luke Sky Walker, Princess Leia, C3PO and R2D2 are recognized for their heroics.) But that back ground music ends with trills as the X wing fighter flies into space, indicating that this peace, that was bought at tremendous price, is only this part of the story with more to come. After all, Empire, if given the chance, will Strike Back. The Reign of Peace is an ongoing work of relationship, with listening, understanding, respect, nurturing, accommodations, adaptations, reconciliation, forgiveness, compromise, consideration, mindfulness, learning, conversations, communication, agreements, covenants, love, grace and joy. I threw those three in at the end for good measure, all to say that the Reign of Peace is not a one-time event, but something we live and work into all of the time. This is how peace has its reign in us.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Pastor robbSermons Archives
May 2024
|