Instruments of Peace

 “Christmas”

 Jericho Ridge Community Church – Christmas Eve

Sunday, Dec 23 ad Mon, Dec 24, 2012

How many of you did a road trip in 2012?  Growing up in the Sumner home, the summer and sometimes winter road trips were part of our annual traditions…  We criss-crossed the continent 7 or 8 times west to East.  Sometimes we would drive through Canada and sometimes we would go through the States.  Now, how many of you have done that trip?  What is the least interesting part of the journey?  That’s right…  South Dakota!  Nothing but endless flat hills and boring prairies as far as the eye can see.  With apologies to the good people of that state, there really is nothing going on in South Dakota. 

I can remember as a kid, however, driving through that area and all of a sudden my interest picked up – what to my wondering eyes should appear but a billboard with a cowboy on it inviting us to stop in an upcoming town.  It used the words “world famous” to describe this place.  Then there was another billboard that said that this place gave free ice water and coffee was only 5 cents!  Then another sign that said they had a T-Rex.  This was getting good!  Then another sign that said this place was really something to crow about.  Now we were feeling differently about South Dakota…  Pressing our little faces to the truck windows to see what this magical place might be and what curious sign was coming up next. 

Those of you who have driven this stretch of highway know by now that the place in question is Wall Drug store.  From its very humble beginnings in 1931 offering free ice water as a marketing ploy to get travellers to turn off the highway, Wall Drug is now, according to the New York Times, “a sprawling tourist attraction of international renown [that] takes in more than $10 million a year and draws some two million annual visitors to a remote town” in South Dakota.  How many of you have been there? 

But for my money the real story is still the signs.  There are 500 miles of billboards stretching from Minnesota to Billings, Montana with many people making their own signs as to how far it is to Wall Drug.  9333 miles from Antarctica and 6964 miles from Afghanistan, respectively.  In the state of South Dakota itself, there are thousands of billboards scattered throughout the countryside all pointing to Wall Drug.  There are so many signs, in fact, that by the time you reach it, you feel deeply and inextricably compelled to pull over and see what all the fuss is about in this sleepy little town.

But why do people stop?  Well, mostly because something or someone had told them to.  Invited them to, really.  As human beings, we are wired up to stop and take notice of things in our world when a compelling case has been made to us that the invitation is worth accepting. 

This was certainly true on that first Christmas in the little, out of the way hamlet of Bethlehem.  When angels appeared to lowly shepherds and announced, in the most compelling heavenly sign ever imagined – a choir of honest to goodness angels – that there was something worth attending.  Some-one was born in that sleepy section of the world that was well worth paying attention to. 

But it wasn’t just the compelling delivery of the angels’ message that compelled the shepherds to take note on that night.  It was also the powerful content.  In Luke 2:14 we are told that the angel’s message was: “Glory to God in highest heaven, and PEACE on EARTH...”

Any announcement by angels is big, but the declaration of peace into a world racked with conflict and strife like the Ancient near east was at this time in history must have seemed even more unbelievable to their ears than a choir of angels was to their eyes!  Could this declaration be true? 

But a closer look at the signs shows us that this wasn’t the first, or the last, or even the greatest announcement of peace in the big God story…

God declared his intentions in A Birth Announcement Like No Other.  It was delivered hundreds of years prior and thousands of miles out from this small town of Bethlehem.  In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah puts up the first billboard:

“For a child is born to us,

    a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

    And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

                             - Isaiah 9:6 (NLT)

And as that first Christmas draws closer and closer, the signage becomes even clearer and more pronounced.  When Jesus’ first cousin John is born, his father, Zechariah makes an audacious statement of hope: Audacity of Hope

         “Because of God’s tender mercy,

    the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,

To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

  and to guide us to the path of peace.”

                             - Luke 1:78-79 (NLT)

What does a billboard or, in the language of the carols we sang earlier, a herald, do if not guide your feet or your car, to places where you want to go?  Places that are pointed out to you.  Places like Wall Drug store! 

The challenge, however, is that places we want to go are not always easy to get to.  Peace, as a destination, a place of interior and exterior peace, even at times of relative calm like today, have a vapourous, elusive quality to them.  I mean, let’s be honest with each other…  Many of us have been rushing about for weeks leading up to today, baking, shopping, working extra hours…  Still to come is the challenge of confronting those “some assembly required” toys and trying to wrestle things out of over-packed hyoe and rescue ourselves and others from pains of disappointment when the exact request isn’t fulfilled. 

We watch the news and so often, whether it is the events of Friday, Dec 14 in Newtown, Connecticut or the chaos in our personal lives or trouble at school or tensions at work or trouble at home, the unrest globally and challenges financially all seem designed to pull us away from peace.  In the wake of so much tragedy in our world in 2012, the stanza of the carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” gives voice to some of our deeper and darker feelings and questions: “And in despair I bowed my head; ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said; ‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song  of peace on earth, good-will to all!’”    

But it is precisely because of the state of the world and the state of our own lives that we need to visit again the manger and to hear the promise of peace that was pointed out not just to shepherds, but also to you & me

Jesus’ Promise to us: is articulated in John 14:27 where He declares…

“I am leaving you with a gift— peace of mind and heart.                          

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.

So don’t be troubled or afraid..” - John 14:27 (NLT)

It is here that we come to learn that peace isn’t found so much in a place, as it is a person.  Peace isn’t the product of circumstances, it’s the presence of a relationship with God who has the most wonderful gift to give to each one of us.  This gift is God Himself, born that night long ago in Bethlehem to guide not only our world but also our lives into the paths of peace.  God’s promise is And He will be the source of peace…”   

The Christmas bells declare this ultimate hope: “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to all!’”

The temptation for me, and perhaps for you, however, is to reduce peace to a passive yearly pit stop during this season.  As the video aptly says: we prop Christmas up for love and peace and we tear it down in January and start back at work.  We can’t live that way all year, after all.  Or can we?”   What would it look like throughout the year to be active heralds or instruments of peace?  I love the Advent tradition in some French homes where children prepare a manger in the days leading up to Christmas.  “For each prayer or act of kindles that they perform during the season, they place a piece of straw in the manger.  With each token of straw, the children are creating a place for Christ to be born – literally, by creating a soft bed of straw, and also figuratively, by preparing their hearts with acts of kindness and prayerful devotion.”  In this season of busyness and tension, I think small acts of peace that we choose to do are like those little piece of straw – they prepare our hearts and our homes to be places of peace where we can receive the Prince of Peace. 

We sometimes think of peace as distant place which would take this insurmountable effort to obtain let alone sustain.  But what if each of us daily allowed our feet to be pointed to places where peace can be found?  To become instruments of peace.  By choosing not to speak that harsh word when our brother or sister wrongs us.  By giving generously of our finances or our time to organizations who stand against oppression and violence.  By doing the dishes when it’s not our turn.  But standing up to those who bully or belittle others.  By taking the initiative to make peace in our families.  When we do so, we become partners with God in His desire for peace on earth and good will to all.  It’s not always perfect, but it’s a step onto the path of peace, which is always a step in the right direction. 

In the recently released movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the character of Gandalf is told that peace can only come by big things and influential people.  His response is helpful: “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love.”  Small, everyday words and deeds of ordinary folk is what will bring peace.  Not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.  Each of us can choose to work hard a small but meaningful acts of peace in our world and in our relationships, in our schools and places of work and homes - not only for today and this week, but all through the New Year.  What a difference it would make in 2013 and beyond if we truly allowed our lives to become instruments of peace!

Prayer: Lord, make us instruments of your peace.  “In a world as cruel and unjust as it was at the time of Jesus’ birth in a stable, we desire something better.  And in desiring it, we come to believe that it is possible.  We await its coming in hope” 

Benediction:  This language comes to us from the 13^th century catholic Prayer of St. Francis

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy….

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.”

May it be so in your heart this day and may you go into the world living as an instrument of peace this Christmas. Amen