Coloring Outside the Lines

Each week we have a Wednesday evening service at the church I serve. Often I will deliver reflections on one of the lessons I will not be preaching on on Sunday. Sometimes I will reflect on one or another themes that my preparation for preaching the upcoming Sunday has turned up. But this coming Sunday's lectionary offers a choice of texts for the Gospel, so this Wednesday, my homily was based on the gospel text we will NOT hear on Sunday.

 

John 14:23-29

Jesus speaks of his word in our text today. Just what is the “word” of Jesus? Jesus’ word is truth.

But then that begs the question: What is truth?

Here is truth – the gospel of John has spoon-fed it to us over the past several weeks.

The truth is that God is love. The truth is that God loves us and that God loves the whole world. The truth is that God desires that all people know the life-giving mercy and grace made possible in Jesus Christ.

The truth is that the love of God is for all people.

The truth is that Jesus shows us and calls us to servant love – love that places the needs and good of the other before our own.

The truth is that if we follow the first and most important commandment, to love God with all our being ; to love God above all else and then to follow that with loving our neighbor as ourselves, then God makes God’s home with us. 

But there are so many competing voices in our world who want to define the truth of Jesus by their own self-serving vision of holy hierarchy, where their own needs and desires, status, prosperity or whatever it is that is most important in their lives must be met and anything that threatens or impacts acquisition of the same creates fear and animosity. Those voices all too often seek to place boundaries like lines on God’s love, and color it in.

When I was little, I loved to color. I’m not sure that kids today color the way we colored. It was a major activity and we had loads and loads of coloring books and crayons – good, old0fashioned crayons – in our house to prove it. I was a perfectionist even then. I abhorred coloring outside the lines. So, I discovered that if I outlined the portion of the picture I wanted to color first, then I was more likely to be able to keep within the lines of the picture and not cross the crayon boundaries I had created.

The competing voices that confront us in our daily lives are a lot like the coloring pages I created, and the theory behind my outlines. They declare that all God has drawn borders around us. God wants our individual happiness and well-being, and Jesus came to achieve that for us. Since Jesus died on the cross for it and for us, we’re all good, right? We can color away – just stay inside the lines.

And anything that might threaten our personal goal of happiness for ourselves at all costs – even the cost paid on the cross, is what extends past the lines, and induces deep fear in us.

Next week we will be observing the ascension of Jesus into the heavenly realm, and once again in our text tonight, Jesus is in preparation mode. Not preparing himself – but preparing the disciples for what is to come.

Following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus spent some time with his disciples in the time between Easter and the ascension. But this time, when Jesus leaves, they will not see him again on this side of glory. We will not see him again until his return.

After the ascension, no longer would Jesus walk in the world and continue to school his disciples as he has done since the resurrection.

That might have been a really scary realization for the disciples. Jesus is leaving them with an enormous mission, and it’s up to them to carry on this work of loving and caring and showing what godly compassion and mercy look like.

Jesus is leaving them with a message for those in the world that will be cherished by some and despised by others. It will be dangerous at times, and it will be challenging, but it’s a vital message and will also be work worth doing; and Jesus promises they will not be alone in it.

Once again, Jesus wishes the disciples peace. It is the thing that they need the most, perhaps because Jesus will be sending them to color outside the lines. Jesus eradicates the boundaries we place in order to keep our lives neat and pretty. They – and we – will need the peace of Jesus when we are going to color outside the lines. So, Jesus wishes them peace – so that their hearts will not be consumed by fear and grief once more. Indeed, they need peace, and they need faith. [which the Holy Spirit will grow in them as the Holy Spirit does in us.]

It might feel like a pretty tall order that Jesus is leaving them with, and that by extension, Jesus give to us. But Jesus reassures them that it really will be okay. Because Jesus doesn’t leave them – or us – alone. God sends the Advocate – that pesky and wondrous Holy Spirit, to guide us in the ways of truth, to us them, and to remind us of what it is that Jesus commands of us.

This promise that God will be sending forth the third person of this symbiotically working godhead, the Holy Spirit, is God’s investment in the continuation of the work of Jesus in the world.

This Holy Spirit will, teach, remind, console, empower, and enliven the work they – and we - will do in Jesus’ name . The Holy Spirit is, in fact, God’s power unleashed in us, enabling us to tell truth, to show love, to invite in, and to go out.

The Holy Spirit inspires us all to share God’s word.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to speak truth to the powers of the world.

The Holy Spirit gives each of us gifts to use to further the work of the Kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit comes to us and goes forth from us in prayer, in sighs too deep for words.

Keeping Jesus’ word is the primary point of order for disciples, and will be the proof of our love for Jesus. It’s all about keeping Jesus’ word. And therein lies the rub, because we human beings are so good at deceiving ourselves, and convincing ourselves that keeping Jesus’ word as Jesus’ gave it is negotiable. It is hypocrisy to claim to know and love Jesus but to act in ways contrary to the ethic of love of neighbor and care for all people that Jesus himself illustrated with his life.

This text appears in what is known as the Farewell Discourse of Jesus. Because Jesus knows that following his word and speaking his truth will get us rejected at times, thrown out of the groups to which we belong at times, and will make us hugely unpopular at times. So, Jesus drives home again and again this truth: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them”.

Because here’s the thing: abiding in Jesus’ love and keeping Jesus’ words are the only things that will make it possible to withstand the rejection that comes with believing that God really does love the whole world – that God loves all people, and all means all. Those people who are inside the drawn lines and boundaries of our society, and those who are outside. Those who keep the little world we try to create around us neat and clean, and those whose inclusion makes it a bit messy.

But Jesus reminds us that we are created for this, and so we are not left alone to be the hands of Jesus in the world. Jesus came that all people might have life in his name, and Jesus shines the light on us, as we carry out life-giving love and mercy through sharing the truth known through Jesus Christ. through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, dear friends, we are encouraged, empowered, and strengthened through the Holy Spirit to keep Jesus’ words. We are not alone. The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all the words Jesus has spoken to you. Let it be so.

Instructions for the Journey

Matthew 10:24-39

Late last summer, I saw the movie “Hacksaw Ridge” for the first time. The movie tells the story of a young man, Desmond T. Doss, who served as an army medic during World War II, and specifically during the Battle of Okinawa. Before the war broke out, Doss was for the most part a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist, his faith was very important to him, and that, together with some early life experiences, led him to make a decision to live his life as a pacifist. He didn’t have a great deal of education – his family was too poor for that, but Doss did have an interest in medicine.

Then World War II broke out and Doss felt called to serve his country. As a pacifist, you can imagine the dilemma this created for the young man. Added to the tension, was his relationship with his father, who himself had served during World War I, and today would likely be diagnosed as having PTSD – his action during World War I left him scarred for the rest of his life, and his family bore the brunt of his war-induced mental illness.

The elder Doss was vehemently opposed to his sons serving in the war. Going against his father’s will created huge conflict and ultimately a schism between them. But the young Doss made up his mind. He had it all figured out. He liked medicine; he would serve his country as a medic. He couldn’t bear arms, but he could still serve, and he seemed to have an understanding with his recruiter that that would be exactly as things would go. But of course, they didn’t.

No sooner had Doss arrived as boot camp than he ran into problems with his drill sergeant and his fellow soldiers over his decision and refusal not to bear arms. He excelled physically but became an outcast in his unit for his refusal to handle a rifle or drill on Saturdays – his Sabbath. He was assigned physically grueling labor. An attempt on the part of his superiors to have him discharged for psychiatric reasons failed, and one night he is pretty badly beaten up by some of his fellow soldiers.  Still, he resists going against what his faith – and the Scriptures – had taught him.

He ultimately completed basic training but was then arrested and court martialed for insubordination. He refused to relent. He would not bear arms, could not go against biblical teachings nor his conscience. All he wanted was to serve as a medic, come what may. Finally, his father barged into the military tribunal bearing a letter from a former commanding officer of his, pointing out that pacifism is protected by an Act of Congress.

The charges were dropped, and Doss was assigned to the 77^th Infantry Division, deployed to the Pacific theater, which is how he ended up at the Battle of Okinawa, where through his actions, he saved the lives of 75 men and earned Medal of Honor, the first conscientious objector to ever earn that coveted award.

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not easy. You and I might never have to make the kinds of choices and decisions that Desmond Doss did, but I think that looking at this morning’s gospel text through the lens of Doss’ story might help us to understand what Jesus is telling his disciples about the cost and meaning of the mission in his name.

In this chapter from the Gospel of Matthew Jesus, in fact, has very pointed advice for his disciples, and his words help draw a picture of the cost of Christian mission and ministry. The picture isn’t all that pretty.  Jesus paints a picture of discipleship that is more than just a little off-putting.

The Gospel text we heard this morning is a continuation of what is referred to as the mission discourse, or “Sermon on Mission.” It was being delivered to a people who were persecuted, who were needing to make tough choices about what following Jesus means, who were experiencing opposition and divisions among families and friends, and the cost of being disciples.

Last week our gospel contained the words of Jesus that come just before these: “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me…..  ²¹Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ²²and you will be hated by all because of my name….”

As this Sermon continues today, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one own household.”

Between last week’s text and this week’s, the Sermon on Mission has moved from the sources of mission (Jesus’ compassion, praying disciples, spiritual gifts, and church fellowship) through Jesus’ travel instructions (travel light- “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff”), and now move on to the “trouble instructions” which basically, boil down to: “expect the worst”. Finally, we come to Jesus’ “trust” instructions - believe in me, acknowledge me

, and love me.

With all these instructions, Jesus seeks to bind the disciples to himself. He wants them to remember their bond with him, and to honor their relationship with Jesus and their identity as his disciples even and especially in the midst of the hardship and suffering they will surely face, as they serve this mission and ministry in his name.

“So, what does it mean to be a disciple of Christ?”

Bible commentator Frederick Dale Bruner puts it this way: “Jesus comes crashing into history, and then into our lives, and takes over, preempting our most instinctive loyalties, presuming on our deepest affections, usurping our natural ties, and asking (and so claiming) to be the most important person in our lives.”

Jesus knows that for the mission to be served well, the whole lives of his disciples must be marked by our relationship with him, by loyalty to him and that they be consistent with his own cross-shaped life, where the decisions we make, the interactions we have, and our every choice be made with God’s mission in the forefront of our actions.

Jesus knows well how difficult this journey will be and he isn’t pulling any punches. To follow Jesus is to cause the same kind of trouble Jesus caused, because Jesus’ way is countercultural. Absolute adherence to the ways and commands of Jesus are what Jesus demands from his disciples. Anything less brings destruction and chaos.

The thing is, Jesus knows that we like our comfortable little lives. We strive to make a “good life for ourselves” – for most of us, that kind of comfort and security is our ultimate goal and priority in life. Our lives include the relationships we have with family and friends. They include attaining and maintaining a certain status, perhaps living in the best neighborhood we can afford, to have the best things in our homes, to make the best connections in our community, all those things that go into making our lives pleasurable and secure. Given a choice we will choose the “easy way” of things.

And so, Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Jesus isn’t advocating violence here. These words have been misinterpreted in that way over the centuries. Rather, the peace that Jesus is here to disrupt and even tear apart is the “peace” of the status quo – the “peace” of self-sufficiency; the “peace” that allows tyrants to oppress and persecute those with little power; the “peace” of keeping about our neat little lives safe and secure while scores of people face death, disease, hunger, abuses and persecution.

The sword of Jesus is meant to cleave us from our complacency, our blindness to the inequality happening all around us, or our adherence to earthly values, idols, even those relationships that keep us from being wholly centered on Jesus and on the mission he sets us forth to serve.

Jesus says to us, “You know what? If your life passion is to “make it” you will be lost. If security is what you are after, your search will only lead to your destruction.”

We hear those words and realize that really, truly, this Jesus is trouble.

So central is trouble to the Christian mission that Jesus says that his purpose in coming to earth was division. Jesus will bind disciples to himself in faith and then move them out into life to love people on the edge, but the historic consequences of faith and love have always been as much persecution as reconciliation. A few will believe the truth of Christ, but most will oppose it. Jesus shoots from the hip here. This is as true today as it was in Jesus’ time.

Jesus is not triumphalist about the future of Christian mission; he knows that his mission is a rugged minority movement, a tough, divisive affair, and he prefers to make this clear rather than to give false hope. “The gate is wide and the way pleasant that leads to destruction, and many people [a majority] go this route; but the gate is narrow and the way tough that leads to real life, and very few people find this way.”

            Yet in the midst of all this sobering news, there is gospel good news for us as well. In the midst of this passage Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid.”  These words for us are both challenge and promise. God will always be with you. God does not leave us alone to face this battle, but with the kind of care and love that knows and counts each hair on our heads, the Lord God will strengthen, supply, and keep us in steadfast love. Jesus encourages his followers to step out into the light and tell the truth about their lives – a truth that is seen as healing, as life-giving, as witness to the goodness of God who cares for the little sparrow, the faithful soldier, the struggling, disciple, and all those who cling to Jesus and to his Way.

            Jesus tells us that in losing our life we will find it. Paul reminds us in baptism we died to sin, and we were buried with Jesus in death, that we might arise and walk in newness of life. As disciples of Christ, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, going without fear, knowing that though this new life, the life of discipleship might be costly, by his death and resurrection, Jesus has already made us alive to God, counted, treasured, accompanied and restored, for the sake of the kingdom of God.

Amen.

What's In a Name?

I was supposed to be a Debbie. It was a popular name in America when my mom was pregnant with me, and that was the name she and my dad had decided upon if they had a girl. My older sister Patty, already had the “family” name, - both my grandfather and father were “Patricks.” I’m not quite sure what the attraction was with the name Debbie other than its general popularity, but my mom really had her heart set on the name.

The only problem was that my aunt was pregnant at the same time. She wanted to name her baby Debbie, if she had a girl. Her baby was due three months after me, so by rights, I should have had first dibs on the name. As my mother tells it though, my aunt is a seriously stubborn woman. She wouldn’t budge. She promised that even if my parents had a girl they named Debbie, she still planned to use the name. And they believed her. So, I was called Karen, named after a soap opera character, I think. One from The Guiding Light. I’m not really sure. Sure enough, three months after I was born, my aunt gave birth – to Debbie.

Names are important. They have meaning. “Noah,” for instance, means “rest,” or “comfort,” while “Ethan” means “strong, safe, firm.” The meaning of “Emma” is “whole” or “universal,” while we get the name “Sophia” from the Greek word for “wisdom.”  Whether a couple chooses the name for their child based on its literal or historical meaning, or to emulate a famous person or after a fictional character they admire or whether they choose the name carefully following religious, social and cultural cues, or simply because they like the ring of it, most parents take the naming of their child as one of the most significant things they do in the early life of their child. Therefore, for most parents, this act is deeply meaningful. Names serve a legal purpose but also convey social, cultural and spiritual meaning. This is especially true within many traditional groups.

For instance, Jewish children are often named to honor a family member. The particular line of tradition you follow would dictate whether the name would be of a living relative or a dead one. Either way, the person honored through those traditions is kept alive in a deeply metaphysical way. Never was this more true perhaps, than during biblical times. The bible reflects the importance of naming. The Lord himself sometimes even instructed people how to name a child, or what to call themselves in the future, changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah, for instance.

Today we remember two of the earliest saints of the church, the apostles Peter and Paul, because tradition has it that they each died on this date, though in different years. Both lived and worked to build the early church; both died as martyrs for their faith. And both were renamed by Jesus as they set out to do the work he was calling them to do.

It was the fisherman Simon, also known as Simon Peter, who was one of the original disciples of Jesus. We know a bit about Peter. He could be a bit of a blockhead. He often missed the point with what Jesus was saying or trying to teach. He could be impulsive. It was to this disciple that Jesus once became so perturbed that he blurted out, “Get behind me, Satan!” Yeah, Peter was like that – he could even make Jesus lose his cool.

We all remember that it was also he who denied Jesus while Jesus was undergoing his trial and persecution just before his death. And yet it is he whom Jesus set apart to lead this church, this people whom Jesus entrusts his mission and ministry to when he leaves. It is this flawed, impulsive, seemingly inadequate individual that Jesus addresses in our text today.  “Simon,” Jesus says, “son of John,” and then three times he asks Peter, “do you love me?”

Ironically, the name “Simon” means “he who hears.” Yet despite his close proximity to Jesus and Jesus’ mission and ministry, Simon Peter seemed to miss out. Hearing, it turns out, is not the same as understanding. So Peter made some blundering moves and often failed to understand what Jesus was telling him. Despite that fact, Jesus not only uses Simon Peter, but he gives him a special charge. The name “Peter” means “a rock” and Jesus tells Peter that this is the name he will go by. “And upon this rock I will build my church.”

Paul, whose original name was Saul, on the other hand, was well connected in the Roman and Jewish world. He arrived at apostleship in a very different way from Peter. He wasn’t one of the original disciples. He didn’t follow Jesus, didn’t follow “The Way” of Christ, in fact as we know, he persecuted the early church. Aggressively. And he was good at what he did. In fact, he was on his way to snuff out a bunch of those early Jesus-followers, when Saul had a blinding encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus and was converted into not only a follower of Christ, but a leader in his church. His name was changed from Saul to Paul. And his life was transformed.

We can learn something from Simon/Peter and from Saul/Paul. We can learn that Jesus takes broken sinners, deeply flawed, misunderstanding, imperfect people, and he makes disciples out of them. Over and over again God calls broken, awkward, impulsive sinners like Peter and Paul and transforms us through Christ to feed and tend the world. Jesus takes our weakness and turns it into strength. Jesus takes our doubt and turns it into faith. Jesus takes our failure and turns it into compassion for others. Jesus takes our names – Peter, Beverly, Karen, Jeanette, Sharon, Kevin, Dave, Ellie, and changes them too. Jesus calls us brothers and sisters, calls us disciples, and calls us to serve in his name. Through baptism, we get not just a new name – Christian – but also a whole new identity as disciples of Christ.

Jesus repeats his question to Peter three times in this passage. The threefold repetition of these words points to their importance. “Do you love me more…” Jesus begins. Then, “do you love me?” again, and again and with each response and affirmation that yes, of course, Lord, of course I love you” Jesus removes any question that there is a distinction between loving him and serving those whom Jesus gives us to care for – to feed – to tend. For Peter, loving Jesus means caring for Jesus' sheep. And so, Jesus asks each of us – Christian, do you love me?

 The most committed disciples are often those who come from the deepest, darkest of places because they can testify to the radical transforming truth of God’s love. Perhaps you could say they have less to lose. You might say that once you’ve hit bottom the only way is up. You might just say that it is when we lie closest to death that we come to appreciate life the most. But isn’t that what might be said of each of us?

We are each disciples of Christ, who, through God’s love and by God’s grace and mercy, died to sin and death in baptism. Loving Christ means appreciating the life-giving nature of Jesus’ love and discipleship. Martin Luther said we are simultaneously saint and sinner. And as sinners we come alive again, daily, through God’s amazing grace and forgiveness. Then, we are inspired – no, compelled to follow Jesus. To love Jesus, and to follow him in the caring and tending of the world.

Yet, as Jesus pointed out last week and even again here in this gospel text, discipleship is not easy. Transformative, yes. Easy, no. It requires us to look carefully at ourselves and make better choices, discipleship choices. There can be no such thing as a complacent disciple of Christ. Jesus calls us, as he called Peter and Paul, he names us his own, and he gives our lives meaning as we tend God’s sheep, care for those God is giving us to serve, and become the church Jesus intended for us to be.

And yet, we have to admit to ourselves that discipleship can be a scary thing. Just look at what happened to Jesus; to Peter; to Paul. If we are to follow him, if we are to follow him all the way to the cross, does that mean his fate is our fate too? How far do we follow him? To death? To resurrection? To life after death?

If you love me, you will feed my sheep, Jesus told his disciples. If you love me, you will care for my lambs. If you love me, you will follow my commands. If you love me, you will love those I give to you and you will love me by serving them.

Learning to follow God in Christ Jesus so deeply transformed both Peter and Paul that even their names were changed. In powerfully sparse language, the African American spiritual "Changed Mah Name" tells the story of call and sacrifice threaded throughout this day's texts: "I tol' Jesus it would be alright if He changed mah name / Jesus tol' me I would have to live humble if He changed mah name / Jesus tol' me that the world would be 'gainst me if He changed mah name / But I tol' Jesus it would be alright if He changed mah name."

          As resurrection people, transformed, empowered, loved and gifted for ministry in Jesus’ name, may we know life-giving blessing of changed names, changed hearts and changed lives, for Jesus’ sake.

Let us pray. Lord God, we pray in baptism we make public promises to "live among God's faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord's supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” Grant us the patience, wisdom, strength and joy in so doing, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Can You See them Now?

Isaiah 2:1-5 ~ Advent I, December 1, 2013

Blessed Advent to you all, my friends.                  

With the singing of these beautiful hymns, reflecting themes of hopeful watching and waiting, the lighting of the first candle on our Advent wreath just a few moments ago, and the changes within our sanctuary, we truly know that the season of Advent has begun.

The blue paraments that now adorn our pulpit, and lectern and the beautiful new banners, gifts from another congregation, and the quilt depicting the coming of the angel to Mary all provide visual cues that alert us to the fact that we have entered this holy season. But not all is happy and holy, is it? Did you hear the Old Testament reading?

During Advent this year, all the Old Testament texts are pregnant with hope and expectation, and come from the prophet whose writings are often used to prepare for the coming of Christmas. But it’s not an easy pregnancy. These texts are chosen for the poetic way that this prophet spoke about the house of God that would one day come, bringing with it deliverance for the people of God. They are used for the ways they invite us into imagining a future where fully God reigns, where the world is transformed, where suffering is stripped away, where unity and peace will be more than a dream but instead are a reality. Where all peoples are part of the peaceable kingdom.

Because these readings from Isaiah contain some of the most vivid imagery we have, I thought that for these four weeks of Advent, I would preach a sermon series, “The Things Isaiah Saw.” Together, let’s discover the link between these precious texts written by the prophet centuries before the coming of Christ, and our lives today.

What do we know about the prophets, like Isaiah? We know that they were not popular in their own time. We also know that prophets rose up during times of great distress and tribulation and lament. They all have one particular thing in common. Their central message went something like this: things are bad, they are really bad, and they are going to get worse (hence the unpopularity business). But, they continue, take heart. Repent! Because something is coming that will astound you; God has heard your pleas, and be assured, there will be a grand reversal, the likes of which you cannot even imagine. God will bring this about, and although there will be judgment, there will also be great vindication for God’s faithful ones, and what will follow is going to knock your socks off. There will be salvation in a kingdom that is beyond anything you can imagine. So, wait for it. Look for it. Prepare for it.

Just before the text we have before us this morning, in the first chapter of the book, Isaiah has just described the reality of what he observed around him. And it was bad. It was really, really bad. What did Isaiah see? He saw violence and devastation, destroyed cities; he saw officials selling their constituents out and taking bribes; he saw the people living unfaithfully; Isaiah saw treachery and he saw people trampling on the poor and vulnerable. He saw wickedness, children corrupted by the evil all around them. He witnessed rebels and sinners intent on destroying what God had built up. Yet he declares that “Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.” (1:27)

Then comes today’s reading and Isaiah moves to a different vision – one that comes out of the future. He describes a glorious vision of what he saw coming for Judah and Jerusalem. And what were the things Isaiah saw? He saw God’s house established as the highest of mountains – a position of dominance and authority; and he saw all peoples, all nations streaming to it (even enemy nations, no longer at war). God will judge between them, and they shall war no more.

God shall teach all these people the ways of the LORD, Isaiah prophesizes. They will learn from the great teacher and judge how to live in God’s ways, so that they could “walk in his paths” – that is, so that they could be transformed into righteous ones, doing godlike work for the future glorious kingdom of God. And “they shall beat swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Killing fields will be transformed into life-giving gardens of plenty. Can you see it?

What an image! Can you see the hammer of the blacksmith or the metal worker or a soldier or a king coming down on the sword and spear, pounding again and again, beating the tool of warfare into an implements used to plow the field and harvest good food?

If I could have found one and managed to get it in here this morning, I would have set an old plow up, right in front of the altar, right in front of the table of the Lord. Because I think the visual might help us to see and imagine what this text is saying to us today. And we need to see and hear what this word of God is saying for us today.

Instead, you’ll find an image of a plow like the one Isaiah spoke of right there on the front of your bulletin. Imagine this farming implement, this tool for planting the life-giving grain and vegetables and fruit that are so necessary for life and for strong bodies, and imagine that it was once a weapon of war, once used for cutting off life. Imagine it has been transformed. I wonder, where have you seen killing fields transformed into life-giving gardens of plenty?

In contemplating this question, Barbara Lundblad, a Lutheran pastor, author and teacher, relates this image: Can you see Christian and Muslim women all dressed in white? In 2003, the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, organized by social worker Leymah Gbowee, started praying and singing for peace in the fish markets of their towns and cities, places that were for years torn apart by a horrible, tragic, devastating civil war. They organized nonviolent protests. And at one point, they lay down on the ground, side by side, on their bellies near the main highway in Monrovia, Liberia, where everyone could see them. It was a huge embarrassment to Liberian President Charles Taylor. They protested until he finally agreed to attend peace talks in Ghana. When those talks faltered, the women came to Ghana. Can you see them? They linked arms around the government building until the talks started up again. The tragic civil war in Liberia finally came to an end. Things aren’t perfect in Liberia, but they are not at war any more. Can you see the women dancing in the streets?

Can you see the young black woman holding on to her seat on the bus? Today is the anniversary of the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, an action that spurred a boycott. Things didn’t turn around right away, but Rosa Parks became an icon for social change and the end of segregation and beginning of a new reality for civil rights in this country. Can you see her later working with the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr. bringing a new kind of freedom for many Americans? Things aren’t perfect yet. Racial tensions still exist and devastate communities. But laws were changed, lives and visions for a future were transformed, and the doors of opportunity were opened through the peaceful protest of Parks and so many others like her.

“They shall beat swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Killing fields will be transformed into life-giving gardens of plenty. Can you see it?

This summer, several churches in Talbot County, Grace among them, participated in the Migrant Worker Ministries, providing basic provisions for migrant workers in the area. Because of the outpouring of generosity of members of Grace, one Monday in August, two cars pulled right up alongside the church, right here on Hanson Street, where they were filled to the brim with necessary supplies and clothing and other items which were then delivered to the residents of three different migrant worker camps just up the road. Many of the residents there are alien workers. Many are working here to provide for families in countries devastated by poverty and drug wars.

There I literally witnessed tears of joy from men who live and work in harsh conditions, far from home, toiling in poverty for meager wages and no benefits. “They shall beat swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword again nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Killing fields of poverty transformed into life-giving gardens of plenty through the generosity of strangers. Can you see it?

In the text, Isaiah admonishes the people to come and to learn God’s way. It is more than an invitation, it is a summons to walk in the Lord’s light and glory, to follow God’s instruction, to eventually cross the bridge of truth and justice for all people, and arrive at a place of peace. Isaiah tells us that people will be transformed by this teaching. It won’t be easy; it will take courage and obedience and justice – and patience! But this text offers affirmation that history will one day reach its goal – and the full reign of God will come. And God’s kingdom requires radical transformation of existing conditions.

At the beginning of the journey there is yearning, but take heart; expect the unexpected, where tanks for warring are transformed into tractors; where minefields designed for destruction are transformed into soccer fields; where stories of a future, where hope burns for justice, and peace and plenty will be appreciated by all peoples.

As we prepare this Advent for the coming of Christ, may we find in this living Word of God a word that speaks to us today, calling us to beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, and urging us to transform killing fields into life-giving fields of peace and plenty, through repentance, through courageous love and action, and through hope-filled expectation at the coming of Emmanuel, the final judge and ransom of the world. Amen.