Tag: peace

Praying for Justice and Peace

by Innermost Being, posted in Prayer

When asked how people should pray for the United States, David French said to pray for peace and justice; grace and mercy.

Red states versus blue states. Us versus them. Division. Discord. Name-calling. Blaming. This is the state of America today. The country has been torn apart at the seams.

Mr. French described peace as a band-aid and justice as the stiches. Peace without justice is a temporary fix for what ails us. We will never have lasting peace as long as injustice abounds. No justice, no peace.

Pray for justice for the poor, the sick, the homeless, the oppressed, and the marginalized.

Mr. French noted that justice should be holistic. Justice requires balancing the needs of immigrants who are fleeing danger with the needs of legal residents. Justice is impossible without the due process of the law.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:15

The Lord calls me to live in peace with others. His love and peace must rule in my heart. And yet… I am also called to stand up for justice. That’s what Jesus did.

Jesus had compassion for the sick and the marginalized. He defended the woman the crowd wanted to stone for adultery. He spoke out against greed, hypocrisy, and self-indulgence.

I must also speak out against injustice. I can’t ignore the fact that immigrants are being mistreated by our government. I can’t ignore the fact that the nation’s leaders are breaking laws, firing people who stand on principle, and denying due process.

The United States is in great need of spiritual healing. Pray that God will change the hearts of the people and our leaders.

An Unexpected Sermon on Peacemaking

by Innermost Being, posted in Spiritual Growth

My church is going through a sermon series on The Sermon on the Mount. The scripture for this week’s sermon was from The Beatitudes.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Matthew 5:9

My pastor noted that Jesus did not say, blessed are peace lovers or blessed are peace demonstrators. He said blessed are the peacemakers.

Peacemakers are peace doers. Jesus practiced peacemaking when he healed lepers so they were no longer social outcasts. He made peace when he freed people who were possessed by demons.

Today, Christians spread messages of peace throughout the Christmas season. Peace on earth! Goodwill towards men!

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:14

We don’t say much about peace the rest of the year.

My pastor asked, “Do you know peace today?” My answer to that question is yes and no. God brings me peace, and I am at peace with God. I am at peace with myself. I live in peace with almost everyone because I do absolutely do not like conflict. But I am not at peace with what is going on in the world today. Corruption, deception, and injustice bring distress and unrest to my life, not peace.

My pastor then made an unexpected detour from the Beatitudes to Matthew 10:34-36, where Jesus says that he did not come to bring peace to earth.

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a mother against her daughter, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

Matthew 10:34-36

I am very familiar with Matthew 10:34-36. I have reflected on it many times. The sword is the truth of the gospel, and it divides those who believe from those who don’t. When you choose to follow Jesus, you may not be at peace with people who are not following Jesus.  The sword of truth divides the faithful from the unfaithful.

Why this unexpected dissonance? Is Jesus for peace or not? Pastor Bob explained that while God is committed to peace, he is not committed to false peace.

So then, what is false peace? The Munich Agreement of 1938 is an example of false peace. The agreement allowed Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain thought that appeasing Hitler would bring peace. It did not bring peace. It emboldened Hitler.

Appeasement is false peace. Avoiding conflict is false peace. Being afraid to speak up and tell the truth is false peace.

False peace asks very little of us. It doesn’t require bravery. We risk nothing.

Is there false peace in your life? If so, ask God to help you.

A Prayer for Serenity

by Innermost Being, posted in Spiritual Growth

Several years ago, I bought pictures of seashells for a bathroom we remodeled in a seafoam color that reminds me of the ocean. One of the pictures has the word Serenity on it and the other has the word Peaceful. There is nothing more serene to my land-locked mind than a rare, blissful walk on the beach. Yet in my perfectionist mind, the noun Serenity and adjective Peaceful don’t go together. I wish the artist had used the words Serenity and Peace or Serene and Peaceful. Oh, how I pray for serenity, that blessed state of being at peace and untroubled when things aren’t the way I want them to be.

I know the first four lines of The Serenity Prayer by heart. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. The first part of the prayer encourages people like me to change the things we can control and to accept the things we can’t. But there is much more to The Serenity Prayer than the lines I’ve memorized.

Living one day at a time; 

enjoying one moment at a time; 

accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.

God grant me the serenity to live one day at a time. Is this not a perfect prayer for times such as these? Our lives have been disrupted by a pandemic. Many of us are living under stay-at-home orders, perhaps working remotely, keeping a safe six feet distance from other people, and wearing masks in public. Millions of people have been infected already and the death toll rises daily. Millions of people have lost their jobs and face financial hardship.

I have to admit that I am a natural born worrier. Instead of living for today, I anticipate and worry about the challenges I will face tomorrow. And I pin my hopes on something in the future (my retirement). But there is no point in living my life for tomorrow. As Jesus said, each day has enough trouble of its own.

Even in difficult times, there are moments of joy – moments that should be treasured. These moments of joy are the spice of life. During the pandemic, I have been enjoying my quiet time in the morning with a cup of coffee before I head to the gym or my home office. I’ve even taken up watching and listening to the birds in my backyard.

The one thing I disagree with in Reinhold Niebuhr’s Prayer of Serenity is the idea that we should accept hardships as a pathway to peace. I believe that hardships and struggles and failure are a pathway to character. Salvation is the pathway to peace. I have been justified by faith. I have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am not afraid of anything that can kill my body because it cannot kill my soul. If I lose my life, I can say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

Romans 5:1-4

The last part of The Serenity Prayer is: taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will. This part of The Serenity prayer points to a path to spiritual growth. Jesus took the sinful world as it is. He loved sinners just as they are. But he did not accept the sinful world as it is; he came to change the world and to testify to the truth.

There is love in accepting the world as it is. There is serenity in knowing that in the end, God will make all things right.

****

A Prayer of Serenity

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;

taking, as Jesus did,

this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that You will make all things right

if I surrender to Your will;

so that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr

One Incident Commander

by Innermost Being, posted in Spiritual Lessons

My pastor recently started a new sermon series on spiritual disciplines we did not choose. Topics will include persecution and suffering, aging, God’s silence, difficult people, rejection and loneliness. Pastor Brad had planned to talk about aging on Mother’s Day but a couple of things happened during the week that caused him to change his mind. A friend of his passed away and there was yet another school shooting in our community.

At the time of the Columbine High School shooting, my pastor was serving as a chaplain for the county sheriff’s department. He got a call to go to the elementary school to be with the parents who were waiting for their kids. After the Aurora theater shooting, he spent hours in the waiting room and at the bedside of a survivor from our church. About five years ago, there was a school shooting at the high school his daughters attended so again, it hit close to home. Last week, there was a school shooting at the STEM charter school in our community.

I can understand why my pastor had too much on his mind to talk about aging. It is hard enough to deal with the grief of losing a friend. But once again, Brad had to counsel parents who feel sad and helpless about school safety and to try to find something positive and encouraging to say to mothers.

So he spoke about trouble instead.

Jesus did not tell us that life would be easy. No, he said you will have trouble. Trouble comes in many ways. The Greek word thlipsis means pressure, affliction, tribulation, anguish, persecution.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Timothy wrote that there would be terrible times in the last days. Every time I read this scripture, it strikes me that the last days sound a lot like now. People today are just like Timothy described – self-centered, greedy, brutal.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

Pastor Brad told us that police have learned a couple of important lessons from Columbine. Too many people tried to take charge at Columbine and the response was not well directed and coordinated. In an active shooter situation, police used to set up a secure perimeter around the building and wait for SWAT to arrive. Now police officers know that there must be one and only one incident commander and it doesn’t have to be the highest ranking person. Now, instead of waiting, the first officer on the scene acts immediately to get to the shooter.

It’s easy to get discouraged when you see how messed up this world is. Jesus wanted us to be prepared for trials and tribulation. But he also wanted us to be at peace. He wanted us to take heart. He was not defeated by this world and he has equipped his followers to be overcomers.

God is the first incident commander. He is with you. Do not be discouraged. Do not be afraid. Put on his armor. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:14-15). In good times and bad times, commit yourself to him and continue to do the right thing.

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

1 Peter 4:19

Breaking down the wall of hostility

by Innermost Being, posted in Faith and Culture

Before church on Sunday, my pastor placed a long piece of blue tape down the middle of the sanctuary. When he began his sermon on Ephesians 2:11-22, he pointed out the tape in case we hadn’t noticed it. Those of us on one side of the tape were to imagine that we were God’s chosen people of Israel; the others half were Gentiles, excluded from the Jewish community. The blue tape represented the wall of hostility that once separated Jews and Gentiles.

The apostle Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus that as Gentiles, they were excluded from the covenants of the promise, without hope and godless. Jesus reconciled Jews and Gentiles. Because of Jesus, Gentiles are not considered foreigners or strangers to God’s promises. Now all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, may come to God the Father with the Holy Spirit’s help because of what Christ has done for us. We are not lost. We are not without hope.

God made a new covenant with the people of Israel; Jesus made the old one obsolete. Jesus annulled the old system of Jewish laws. Jesus broke down the wall of contempt.

Paul wrote that Christ’s purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two. He made peace between us.

My pastor said that many Christians still think in terms of us versus them, black versus white, liberal versus conservative, Christian versus Muslim. This is not the way of Jesus. This is not the model of the kingdom of God.

Given how divided the United States is and how divided the Church is, I was pleasantly surprised that my pastor specifically mentioned a few of the walls of hostility that exist today, though much more could be said. I was very happy that he said this is not the way of Jesus. God-and-Country Believers need to hear this. Too many Christians forget that people of all nations are children of God. Too many Christians forget that we are all temporary residents of God’s world.

How incredibly timely was this sermon, coming in the midst of a huge, costly debate about building a wall to keep people south of the border from entering the United States. Today the president demands that we spend billions of dollars to build a physical wall to protect Americans from murderers and rapists. But the truth is, he is building a wall of hostility to shut out the brown people he has always despised. This is not the way of Jesus. This is not the model of the kingdom of God.

No matter what happens in the coming days, I take heart in knowing that my brothers and sisters south of the border are loved and welcomed by God. God does not see them as foreigners or illegal aliens. Jesus will break down the walls of hostility and one day a great multitude of people from every nation, tribe, people and language will stand before the Lamb of God (Revelations 7:9-10).