Peace

 And so shall the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus 

Philippians 4:7

 Reflection by:  Sharon Nelsen

I was on the phone conversing with my friend who said, “I had the most unusual experience yesterday; I felt enveloped in peace at the same time I was experiencing a deep sadness.”

For the past thirty years he has worked with at-risk youth, and presently is entrusted with youth on probation, so I certainly related to his experience of deep sadness.  He works in areas many of us are not inclined to drive through, much less stop and visit the families that live there.

His comment inspired me to think about how I view peace.  I realized that often I think of peace as that sense experienced when everything works out well; when a challenging situation has good results; when what I have hoped and hoped for, finally happens.  Is that the peace promised and given to us by Jesus?  The peace bestowed not as the world gives?  I would name what I experience, “relief,” for it is the same sense I have when the ache in my shoulder goes away.

I went to the Gospel of John where we find so many comforting, challenging words of Jesus.  The first passage I read showed me that the Peace Jesus gives us is connected to who we are.  Knowing our identity and that God's desire is to preserve us from evil, is perhaps our foundation for receiving this peace,  a peace that exists because it is based on truth, the Truth that is grounded in the reality that we are not OF this world, but here to sanctify it in the power of Jesus.  

(John 17.14-18)  “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them.  For they are not of the world, just as I, too, am not of the world.  I am not praying that you would take them out of the world, but that you would preserve them from evil.  They are not of the world, just as I also am not of the world.  Sanctify them in truth.  Your word is truth.  Just as you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

Another aspect of this peace is, as in my friend's experience of deep sadness and comforting peace, that it can coexist with all circumstances of our lives.  (John 16.33)  “These things I have spoken to you, so that you may have peace in me.  In the world, you will have difficulties.  But have confidence:  I have overcome the world.”

And yet another mark of this peace is that it sets us apart, again because we rely not on passing circumstances but on the transforming power of God.   (John 16.20)  “Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall mourn and weep, but the world will rejoice.  And you shall  be greatly saddened, yet your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” 

It is a peace we lose only through sin.  This thought came to me as another friend and I were chatting about his work experience:  He said.  “I can't do less.  I have realized that even though it is tiring, challenging and sometimes seems impossible, I need to stay with my job.  Years ago, I got tired of it.  I took another job that was a lot less work, thinking this would give me a respite.  But I had no peace. I was miserable.  I had less demands upon me, but I was upset all the time.  So, I went back to my former job.  I am sometimes tired, worn out by the demands, frustrated by the slowness of some aspects of it, yet I am at peace.  This is who I am and I can't settle for less.”

My friend illustrated in a most powerful way, what sin is.  So often we think of sin as a list of do nots

and weaknesses, when actually, it is a deliberate, knowledgable choice; we decide to settle for less even though we know what we are called to do.  We'd like an extended vacation and we're tempted to take it.  When Jesus lived His Truth,   “ ... many of his disciples went back, and they no longer walked with him.  Therefore, Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” Then Simon Peter answered him:  “Lord to whom would we go?  You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6.67- 69) When we are trying to live our true calling, where else do we have to go except to the Source, who strengthens us constantly with His Eternal Peace, the first gift He gave as Risen Lord:  (John 20.19)  “Then, when it was late on the same day, on the first of the Sabbaths, and the doors were closed where the disciples were gathered, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and he said to them: 'Peace to you.' ”

Nothing had changed in external circumstances;  everything changed internally with the Presence and the Promise of the Risen Lord because His Peace transcends the physical stage of tranquility; it is an  internal dynamic that empowers us to endure.  It is a gift grounded in truth, not circumstances, that we can receive in the midst of our trials.  It is a gift that only our choice to settle for less can affect, and even then its very absence is often the most effective message to return to truth.  In that way and in others beyond our full understanding, this Peace of Christ is our protector.   “Be anxious about nothing.  But in all things, with prayer and supplication, with acts of thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.  And so shall the peace of God, which exceeds all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4.6-7)  And not only guard, but elevate, encourage, inspire, put things in perspective:  “And let the peace of Christ lift up your hearts.  For in this peace, you have been called, as one body.  And be thankful.”  (Col. 3.15)

Peace is wonderfully contagious.  If you've ever been upset and you move into the presence of a peace-filled person, somehow, you catch that peace.  It goes beyond words, answers, solutions, or any changes in circumstances. It's just there, and you know it.   A world filled with individual bearers of this Peace of Christ, can be powerfully contagious.  With that in mind, let us greet each other this Lent with the prayer of 1Peter 1.2:  “May grace and peace be multiplied for you.”   

Psalm 131

This Sunday's readings contain one of my favorite Psalms:   Psalm 131,  it is short and it is humble.

Psalm 131: 1,2, 3:
Lord my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes haughty.  I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me.  Rather I have stilled my soul, like a weaned child to it's mother, weaned is my soul.  Israel hope in the Lord, now and forever.

The response that we are to say is:  In you Lord, we have found peace.  Is that where you find your peace?  Why is peace so elusive?  Do you go to the Lord daily in prayer and give to Him all the things you busy yourself with through the day?  Do you fill your mind with the word of God, which is living and active? Could it be that we think that exterior peace leads to interior peace?

I know that there are times that my heart and soul get so wound up with activities great or small, debates about issues, great or small, that I am far from peaceful.  And when I am agitated and restless, I want to change everything around me, to do something that I hope will transform my turmoil into tranquility (or at least distract me from it). If I get everything in place around me, or if I can control my surroundings, I think that I should be able to attain peace in my soul.  I attempt to quiet my restless heart with what I do, what I have or who I love and am loved by in this world, so that I will be satisfied.

 But it is not so.  And it takes humility to realize it.  To humbly be weaned of the temptation to create false peace and to try so hard to control how others see you, treat you or honor you. We need to be content and humble in the presence of the Lord, or else we can fall into the trap of the Pharisees, who "preach but do not practice",  or the priests of Malichi 2, who" do not listen" and "do not lay it to heart".  They have achieved the places of honor, but have not submitted their hearts and minds to the Lord with humility and love.

 Thus, the Psalm is about prayer, and even great kings, who do have to busy themselves in the world with great and sublime things, must humble themselves and sit at the feet of the Lord where we all should submit our worries and joys, our successes and our failures to our true King.    And, if I do not understand that all true peace and lasting joy come from the Lord, and are gifts that are nurtured in prayer and quiet listening, even if I say I believe and trust in the Lord, I will fall prey so easily to false notions of peace, and false notions of faith. This Psalm calls us to a deep reliance and a stronger trust in the Lord, who at times seems to let the world spin out of control.

 The mother of a child who is being weaned knows that there are greater things for her child, and her child is ready to move on.  The child only knows that mother is withdrawing a comforting form of her nurturing love from him or her, and a very anxious child may be desperate to maintain this comfort with their mother. Here is where this child can grow in trust; the weaning process is not just the removal of a consolation and leaving the little one to comfort himself; what mother does not console her anxious child as they grow and mature leaving behind childish comforts?  But upon weaning they are beginning to understand that mother is still near, and still delighting in her child, and they can quietly rest in her lap without being upset at having moved on from earlier stages of nurturing.  She has not weaned them to burden them, but to free them.  Peace and humility are found in the trust and firm hope that even in middle of chaos and anxiety, when the Lord feels far away, He is still there, and nothing will separate you from His care.

Grace and Peace,
Heidi

Here is some wisdom from Deacon Paul Rooney about the readings for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The Vineyard of the Lord

I have been pondering this Sunday's readings, and as always I respond, in varying degrees, at first to each reading individually. Isaiah 5: 1-7 is the song of the vineyard, and in it, the house of Israel is likened to a vineyard that, despite the best of care, produces only wild grapes.  The vineyard is left for destruction and ruin:

Yes, I will make it a ruin:  It shall not be pruned or hoed, but will be overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to rain upon it.  The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, the people of Judah his cherished plant;  he waited for judgement, but see bloodshed!  For justice but hark, the outcry! (6-7)

The justice of the Lord is a terrifying thing, revealing what we would rather not know about ourselves, and to endure it is to be refined and renewed.  To refuse it is to allow the wild grapes to crowd out the life of God in you, to evict your soul from your body and be reduced to a mere wild creature. In the Song of the Vineyard, the Lord mercifully withholds his care of the vineyard, to reveal that there is no true life here. The language is dire, a response to the Lord is urgent, our very soul depends on it.

But do not despair, for there is more to you than your failures! The responsorial Psalm ( taken from Psalm 80) is a cry to the Lord to restore His people, and they will no more turn away from Him!  And it is spoken with a confidence in the Lord, that though they are enduring great trials, they know that they are still His chosen people. "Give us new life, and we will call upon your name."

The Gospel from Matthew is yet another parable about the vineyard:

Matthew 21:33-43

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: 

"Hear another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,

puts a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower.

Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

When vintage time drew near,

he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain produce.

But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,

another they killed and a third they stoned.

Again he sent other servants, more numerous that the first ones,

but they treated them in the same way.

Finally, he sent his son to them thinking ,

'They will respect my son.'

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,

'This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

What will the owner do to those tenants when he comes?"

"He will put those wretched men to a wretched death,

and lease his vineyard to other tenants

who will give him the produce at the proper times."

Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

and by the Lord has this been done

and it is wonderful to our eyes.

Therefore I say to you,

the kingdom of God will be taken from you

 and given to a people that will produce fruit."

And of course it picks up on Isaiah's theme of the vineyard.  A theme that will allow those who he is telling it to to pronounce what the owner of the vineyard should rightfully do to those wretched tenants, and, if they have the heart to hear this parable they will recognize themselves as individuals and, collectively as a people, the children of God. God has given them many chances to produce fruit, but he will give them up to their own wretchedness if they do not hear his voice with their heart, and repent like the Psalmist!  His kingdom will prevail, without you if you so choose.

These vineyard parables that Jesus has been telling the past few Sundays have sunk deeply into my soul, they have gently stirred up the envy, resentment and fear that have become tenants in my heart.  And these tenants hold me back, or provoke me to respond to situations in ways that can never produce good fruit (but they do produce some fruit, it is I who lack the will to determine if it is fruit that is of the Lord or not).

And unless the Lord, in his merciful justice, allows them to be stirred up, I might never recognize them as evil and needing to be purged from my soul. I now must choose to act, to allow the Lord to reclaim what is his.  Even when I am made aware of these tenants, I am weakened and powerless to demand that they leave on my own. I cannot bear to face their devastation in my soul. I cannot endure in my struggle against them.  Here is where these vices, now stirred up to my consciousness begin to bring down despair and discouragement.  I am the  wretched one who gave entry to the vices. Vices that have taken the choice plants that the Lord has sown and degraded them to wild grapes. They cause me to doubt that I would ever be capable of producing the type of fruit that God demands  They murmur that I will  be utterly destroyed if I allow the wild grapes in my soul to be rooted out.  If I allow the owner to rightfully access his vineyard!

And, I have learned, that I will be. I will have to die to the false identities, that are protected through envy and fear. The vices I have nurtured have diminished me, killing my soul, and are so integrated in my heart that upon the coming of the Lord I quake with fear because I know what will be found, ruins,desolation and rotted fruit.  And I know that the only remedy is the painful uprooting of the wild grapes.  The hedges that were meant to protect the choice vines are now protecting the wicked tenants, and they will need to be torn down. I will have to live in the briers and thorns that have overtaken my vineyard, exposed, to fully know that I am not a mere tenant in my soul haunted body.  I can now cry out to the Lord as the Psalmist does:

 "Give us new life, and we will call upon your name."


Hope is kindled, because in the merciful justice of God, he has allowed the enemies of my soul to be stirred up, and revealed.  But reviving me is a grueling battle, and I am tossed between self-justification and self-condemnation.

Paul's words to the Philippians now rain down just enough refreshment for my soul, they encourage me to open my eyes and see, see with the mind and heart of Christ!  To open wide my heart, and let go of my fear!  The temporal defeats are only that, temporary.  The ultimate victory is assured, and we can see the fruits of them already if we reach out to the Lord in earnest and honest prayer!

Phil.4: 6-9


Brothers and sisters:
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.

God's merciful justice can be extraordinarily hard to endure, and there sometimes seems to be no point,only defeat.  Ask the Lord for what you need today to endure in the struggle, know that there is more to gain in enduring in God's mercy than a halo and wings.  The messiness of the moment are parts of the masterpiece.  But today is the day, do not let the unlawful tenants in your soul have one more day, for the Lord is coming.

Peace, Heidi