UnCluttering the Heart; Peace

I was at a training this past week for pastors around the conference. Generally when we have a meeting like this, we open up with a time of worship. This meeting was no different. Only this time the words of a particular song just caught in my heart, in a way that only the Holy Spirit can do. “Come and fill our hearts with your peace”. Why were we singing for peace? Because it doesn’t seem like we have it. In our world. In our nation. In our homes. In our relationships. Sometimes even in our churches, it seems like peace is missing. So that day during worship, our hearts cried out in song for it. 

We are now in the second week of our sermon series about how to create space in our hearts for Jesus to reign this Advent season by focusing on what Jesus brings to us when we open up our hearts, as represented by the Advent wreath. Last week we said that Jesus brings hope - even when we don’t expect there to be any hope at all. And this week, Jesus brings peace.

Friends, when we light the candle of peace we are not just saying that we are open to peace in our lives, but lighting this candle is a prayer rooted in the deep belief that we know, we know, God’s peace will come. But we also realize that its not here yet. Or at least not completely.

December is a funny time of year, because a lot of us think that if we only do more that we can make everything perfect. And with perfection brings the glossy promise of peace - if only for one day. So we exhaust ourselves trying to make everything perfect, all the while forgetting that isn’t what Jesus calls us to this season. 

This was captured so well by a commercial that I believe play around this time last year. The ad showed a dad and mom thinking of the ideal version of the day that they told other people about - everyone happily unwrapping their presents underneath the Christmas tree. Then it cuts to the actual version of the day, filled with many tears and much yelling. 

We cannot make peace come by doing more. We can only make peace come when we actually stop and meditate on what God’s peace means.

Enter the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is writing to the people of Israel during a difficult time. The people of God are in exile. They are looking around the world isn’t how they thought it should be. They are on the verge of giving up, but God’s telling them to hold out hope. Something new is coming. Freedom. A return from exile. 

So Isaiah is sharing these powerful words of hope. Of God’s vision for the future. In Isaiah 11, the heading or descriptor of this particular vision is “The Peaceable Future”. And its this place where all of the animosity that you expect in nature, between animals that have hunted and have been preyed upon, it stops. They stop. And they live and lie down together. At rest. At peace. 

But who should lead them? A child.

Could this perhaps be the Christ who was spoken of just a few verses earlier? The one who is the shoot that comes off of the stump of Jesse. The one that the Spirit of God rests upon?

In our Christian tradition, we affirm Isaiah 11. When everything around us seems to be the opposite of peace we say this, this is what we are holding out hope for. This is what we will believe will come. And this is what we believe only Christ can bring. 

And in the midst of all of the chaos of this season, that is the peace that Jesus wants to whisper into our hearts, right here and right now. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, you see all the ways people are trying to force peace by perfection? That’s not it. It’s not about having the perfect decorations, cards, cookies, or family celebration. True peace - that can only begin and end with me. 

Spiritual Author Beth Richardson puts it this way, “Peace is a vision, a hope, a promise made by the Holy One - that there will be a time when peace prevails.” It’s not about a specific season, Church, though we do affirm during Advent the birth of the Prince of Peace. Its about what Jesus calls us to, day in and day out, year round. 

Zechariah, the uncle of Jesus and father of John the Baptist, also knew what it was like to live in the absence of peace. During his day and time folks lived under the oppression of the Roman government. But perhaps even more noticeable than the lack of peace in his land was the lack of peace in his heart. He and his wife had prayed and prayed for a child, only never had one. Until now. An angel had promised him that Elizabeth would bear a son, even in her old age, and that he was going to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. 

After John’s birth, it is like a flood gate burst open in John’s heart as he prophecies over John’s life, that as he prepares the way for the Christ, the mercies of God are going to shine upon them and darkness will turn to light. And the people’s feet will be guided towards what? Towards peace.

I don’t know about you, but I want that to be the prayer of my heart this Advent season. That my feet are guided towards peace. Not the false sense of peace that comes from trying to achieve the perfect holiday season. But deep and abiding peace. The peace we sing about with the words, “Let peace begin with me.”

But in order to be a person of peace, I need to make room for it. Because in order to be a person of peace, Jesus’s peace, I need to be a person who surrenders it all to God. A person who asks what I’m supposed to do for God today and go and do it.

Often we can become so discouraged as we work towards peace. You may have heard people say, “well the world’s so messed up - what can I do?” Or “The problem’s so big, what difference can I make?”

I do not think its a coincidence in Isaiah 11 that the one leading is a child. Kids get that they can bring peace through the choices they make. In the sharing of their lunchbox, or giving of their allowance money or setting up a lemonade stand to raise money for children near and far. As adults we may scoff at that, but friends, our children are trying to lead us in the way of peace. And if that’s what they can do, what can we do?

Howard Thurman was a mentor to the Martin Luther King Jr at the chapel at Boston University. He put this call about what we are to do in the world this way, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. For what the world needs is people to come alive.”

Friends, does peace make our spirits come alive? Then we will live like people of peace every chance we get, if only we create space for it. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom - which is this all encompassing word that means health, peace, wholeness, safety, and rest. We are called to be shalom-bearers. 

When we go forth from this place, let us leave space in our hearts for hope and peace to shine through. And may that light so brightly shine that it cannot help but set the world on fire with the peace of Jesus this Advent season.