Good Morning Friends,
Well, we just got back yesterday from our vacation in Japan a little later than expected and it had some surprises. The centerpiece of the trip was performing in a concert with 707 other handbell ringers from 16 different countries around the world at the 21st International Handbell Symposium in Hamamatsu, Japan that raised money for UNICEF and World Vision. It had a focus on bringing peace through music that was composed with that intent. The concert was two hours long and took several days to practice. It live-streamed to 12,000 people and a capacity crowd in attendance a few days after the anniversary of the end of World War II. But in advance we also had time to visit sites in Tokyo and ride the bullet train and eat some great food (including more eel and I thought I would ever consume). We also shared several cultural experiences learning about the history and the people of Japan. I participated in a tea party with a Tea Master and meet the people who grow and export more green tea than anyone in the world and practiced the art of papercutting. We visited Temples and Palace grounds with guides and two Museums that enriched the experience. Some people and certainly the devil is a killjoy and despises us when we experience true freedom…true peace. But God can be our peace in the middle of disaster, flood, loss of loved ones and even in our everyday challenges when malice wells up inside us. This trip witnessed time and time again that peace needs to begin with each of us in the face of potential difficulties. That we for the most part were unaffected by the two typhoons that passed by our coast and the earthquake that hit about 20 miles from our Tokyo hotel was truly providential as we practiced one of the musical offerings entitled Rain Fantasy. And though the earthquake did stop all traffic and had us hiding under desks as part of a national training exercise in preparation for the big one we felt very little angst. The amazing thing is that we can learn to live in peace with ourselves and others no matter what struggles and difficulties we face including having our flight back to the United States cancelled due to a volcano erupting in Russia sending a plume of dust into the proposed flight path. Still, we can do our happy dance and seek righteousness in the face of just about anything. We were rerouted through Hawaii and got to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial including a water taxi to Arizona on a layover made up for the two red eye connections that got us back to Tampa and the Church van driven by a couple of Saints back to our homes. Sure, others might want us to get angry or feel ashamed or be prompted to complain when faced with challenges, but it is not the Christian response. So this morning, still slightly jetlagged we look at ourselves in the mirror as we ask, Are We Really Peacemakers?
Scripture: Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Jeremiah 23:1-6 (NRSV)
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2:13-18 (NRSV)
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:30-34 (NRSV)
It was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.
2 Samuel 6:12b-15, 17-19 (NRSV)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)
Message: We can change the things we can. We can invite others. We are to welcome others. We can include everyone into the body of Christ. We can fight suffering, injustice, prejudice, inequality and discrimination. We can stand up for justice in the marketplaces of the world. We can help take care of others. But the real starting place is finding inward peace with oneself. And part of that is finding a peace in praising God with a God given dignity that comforts and confronts others. Until we start with inward peace fueled by the Holy Spirit, we will never have long term spiritual and emotional health. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to do something unusual. He tells them to chill out and take a rest…. And as it turns out, the day becomes a busy time of joy more so than what we might consider a peaceful picnic. But such is the journey with Jesus. No one could deny that Jesus was different. The words He spoke rang true and upset His opponents. His enemies, the Jewish leaders of the day, tried to trip Him up and discredit Him by showing He was a lawbreaker, but none of it stuck. What we make of this man who says and does such outlandish things as healing the poor makes all the difference. Either we are attracted to Him, or we are repulsed by Jesus thinking him as crazy or possessed. But for me, Jesus, like David in today’s text, would have been one fun guy to be around, if you could keep up with him. He really gets immersed in what he does and seems to have such a natural freedom. He loses all sense of self-consciousness. Of course, not everyone likes this in another person, and some hate it. Jesus alerted us to the possibility that people would hate some of the things we do as Christians. With the help of Jesus, we can take steps to establish a peace within and a peace that overflows in the busyness of life. We can share a meal together as a witness to the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can find rest in the unity of Christ being both all human and all divine. And we can find enough peace in our unity with Christ to share.
Pray we realize that the Lord is our righteousness. Pray we find peace with ourselves. Pray we find outward peace with others. Pray we realize that peacemakers are promise keepers and purpose fulfillers. Pray we realize that to be peaceful is to be mature, perfect and complete. Pray we find rest in a belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Pray even in our active praise of God that our spirit and soul reflect an inward place of calm, quiet and rest. Pray we have a mental space where we ignore all outside interruptions. Pray we clear our minds of all anxiety so we might not only find peace and purpose, but help others become not peace-breakers or peace-fakers but peacemakers…children of God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 