“Being Peace, Making Peace”

First Congregational United Church of Christ

May 11, 2008

(Pentecost & Mother’s Day)

The Rev. Sharyl B. Peterson

 

Scripture Readings:  Matt. 5: 1-10, Acts 2: 1-4

One of my favorite Monty Python movies is “The Life of Brian.”  It’s a comedic treatment of the life of Jesus, and in one of the best scenes in the movie, Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount – that scene from today’s Gospel reading in Matthew.

            The crowds around him are huge – and in a day before amplifiers and sound systems, those who are far away from him, not surprisingly, can’t hear him very well.  Two men sitting a long distance away on the edge of the crowd are doing what many of us do when we’re in large crowds and can’t hear all that well:  Jesus will say something, then one man will say “What did he say?” and his friend does his best to tell him what he thought he had heard. 

            So, in this scene, what Jesus actually says is what we heard a minute ago:  “Blessed are the peacemakers….”  But the two guys in the crowd don’t quite hear him, so when the first fellow cups his hand to his ear, and asks his friend, “What did he say?”  his friend responds, “Blessed are the cheesemakers.”  “The what?”  “The cheesemakers.  Blessed are the cheesemakers.”  And they then get into a lively argument about why Jesus would bless the cheesemakers more than he blessed people in other occupations!

            While it’s a joke in the movie, I think the writers were really onto something there.  If Jesus had said “blessed are the cheesemakers,” he could well have been perfectly serious.  Because as he was preaching that sermon, it wasn’t directed just to special people – say, to the ones in the crowd who were the most holy … or to the smartest ones in the crowd …or to the ones who were most successful … Jesus was preaching that sermon to the average, ordinary people like you and me.  (To the “cheesemakers,” as it were.)  And so, one message from this part of Jesus’ sermon – this part which implicitly calls those who hear it to be peacemakers – is that peacemaking isn’t just the job of special people – say, of the Nelson Mandelas, or Rigoberta Menchús or Albert Schweitzers or Dag Hammarskjölds —it’s the job of everyone, and that includes us.

            So, what does it mean for us to be peacemakers?

            It begins with being peaceful – peace-full – within ourselves.  Gandhi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Which means if what we want to see in the world is more peace, we need – inside ourselves, in our own spirits and lives – to be more peaceful people.  It’s like that old song we used to sing at Christmas:  “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

            Becoming peacemakers is, in part, about becoming more content with our lives – with both what we do and what we don’t have.  It’s about becoming more serene – instead of facing each day, or the world, with frowns and anger, prepared to be offended, we learn to face each day calmly, openly, prepared to be embraced or blessed.  It’s about learning to feel truly okay about ourselves – and about other people.  Most people don’t.  In fact, numerous studies have shown that as many as two out of three people have low self-esteem – they do not feel good about themselves.  And when we don’t feel good about ourselves, it’s hard to feel good about anyone else – so this is something worth working on.

And the second major requirement for making peace has to do with how we relate to other people.

Carter Heyward, a wonderful contemporary theologian, talks about the concept of “right relationship.”  When we’re in right relationship with others, it means that we are doing everything we can to live in harmony with each other, to live both acknowledging and respecting our differences, and to treat every single other person – of every age, height, weight, physical or mental ability level, gender, ethnic or cultural background, sexual orientation, and every other characteristic that makes us human – with civility and respect.  We cannot be peacemakers unless we live in right relationship with each other.

            Now, right relationship is not something that simply happens – some place we get to in our lives if we simply wait around long enough, or are just open to the possibility that it could happen.  Right relationship is something we create.

            One way we do that is through our spiritual practice.  Like praying for each other … not begrudging the time we take in service for Joys and Concerns; or maybe joining the church Prayer Chain;  or setting aside a few minutes each day to deliberately pray for other people; to pray for peace in our own community … in our state … in our nation … and in our world.  Part of our prayer needs to be not just “God, please help those other people out there act more peacefully,” but “Dear God, please help me act more peacefully.”  And part of our prayer needs to involve taking a long, careful look at our own attitudes – prejudices – stereotypes – even hatreds – and working hard, working intentionally, to “dispose of our aggressions, and empty ourselves of our hostilities[1].” 

            A second part of creating right relationship may be – paradoxically – creating “discord” for a good cause.  Following the example that Jesus set – of challenging injustice – right out loud and in person –, like throwing the money-lenders out of the Temple (which is a sermon for another day), and vehemently criticizing the hypocrites for their greed and mistreatment of the weak – sometimes peacemaking involves challenging the status quo.

            It’s what we’ve been doing as Christians ever since the very first Pentecost – the “official birthday” of the Christian Church, which we’re celebrating today.  If you know anything about our faith, you know that in its own way Chrisianity was a protest movement against many of the forms of social injustice of its day.  Our Christian foremothers and forefathers were radicals – “anti-establishment people” to the core – protesting the existing social order, and demanding change!

            Today we’re also celebrating Mothers’ Day, which interestingly, also began as a form of civil protest.  Julia Ward Howe – who is perhaps best-known for writing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” – was a social activist shortly after the Civil War.  She advocated the very first celebration of Mothers’ Day as a call to unite women across this country against war.  While we take Mothers’ Day for granted today, in her time, there were many fine upstanding citizens who decried her actions as “unpatriotic” and “un-American.”

            And today, people like you and me – people who write their congresspeople, and who march and protest for peace – or for civil rights – or for equal rights for women – or for humane treatment of prisoners – may not look very peaceful.  But they do look very faithful.  Because they follow in a long line of people who love God, and who believe that the most fundamental part of following Christ is to love one another, and so to live in peace with one another.  What does Jesus say in this portion of his sermon?  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

Every one of us has known – has been blessed by – people who have shown us what peacemaking looks like in our very real lives.

People like a woman named Mary Wagner, who Bob and I knew when we lived in Colorado Springs.  Mary was in her late ‘80s –             yet two days a week, she came in and managed the ecumenical food bank that was housed in our church – checking in clients, bagging groceries, sorting donations, greeting every person she met, clients and volunteers alike,   with dignity and care.  She also went on mission trips, or gave money to help others go on those trips.  She was active in her Women’s Circle.  She baked cookies for the Youth Group.  Mary Wagner was peace, and she made peace.

            Many of us who’ve been in this church for awhile knew Harold Hamel.  Harold was a gardener, who shared his flowers and vegetables with other people.  He served on the board of the Salvation Army, and was active in other community service groups.  He ushered for most of the funerals held at this church, he led the Youth Group for many years, and he served on nearly every Board and committee this church has ever had.  Harold was the person who dreamed the dream of our stained-glass windows.  And part of the motivation for that project was not just to beautify the sanctuary, but to do peacemaking between some people who were in conflict.  Harold was peace, and he made peace.

            We are each called to do exactly the same thing.  And one possibility for practice – a really easy way to start peacemaking, if you’re not doing it already – has to do with those blue ribbons you found in your bulletin this morning.  So let me tell you the story of the origin of those ribbons – and how we might use them to be peacemakers.

            Some years ago, a teacher in New York State made some ribbons like these – each one saying “Who I Am Makes a Difference” – and asked her high-school students to come up in front of the class, one by one.  First she told the class how that student made a difference to her; then she pinned one of these ribbons on the student’s shirt.

            This seemed to be so powerful for all the kids who were there, the teacher decided to extend it into a class project.  She gave each of the students three more ribbons, and told them to go out and share the ribbons with others, notice what happened, and report back to the class in a couple of weeks’ time.

One student took one of his ribbons and gave it to a local businessman who had helped him with some career counseling.  After explaining how the man had made a difference to him, and pinning a ribbon on his shirt, he gave the businessman the other two ribbons, and asked him to share the message with someone else.

            After some thought, the businessman went to his boss, and told him what a difference the boss had made in his life.  He told his boss he thought the boss was a creative genius, and asked if he could pin a ribbon on him.  The boss was kind of embarrassed, but agreed.  The employee also gave his boss the last ribbon, explained the students’ project, and asked him to pass it on.

            That night, the boss went home, and sat down on the couch with his 14-year-old son.  He told him about the employee giving him the ribbon, and how great it had made him feel.  Then he told his son that he’d been thinking all afternoon about who he wanted to give the last ribbon to – and realized that his son was one of the two most important people in his life.  He told his son how proud he was of him, and how much he loved him, and how he had made a difference in his dad’s life.

            His son looked at him with astonishment, and then started to sob and sob.  His body was shaking with his crying, and he couldn’t seem to stop.  Finally, he stood up, and walked over to a drawer in a chest, and pulled it open, and took out a gun.  He showed it to his father, and through his tears he said, “Dad, you need to know … I didn’t think you loved me, or that I mattered to you at all.  Tonight, after you and Mom went to bed, I was going to kill myself.  Now I don’t need to[2].”

            I invite you to keep one of your ribbons for yourself – because each of you does make a difference.  Each of you makes a difference to me – and to our church-family – and I know to other people in your lives as well.  Put the ribbon somewhere you’ll see it often, and each time you do, remember what it means.  It’s a first step toward “being peace.”

And I invite you to take the other ribbons, and pass the message on to others.  Tell them how important they are to you.  How they make a difference in your life – and in the world.  One ribbon at a time, it’s a wonderful way to help create peace, to remind ourselves, and others, that we are all children of God.

            Because knowing that we are children of God means knowing that we belong.  Knowing that we do matter to others.  And being children of God means knowing that we are loved, and helping others know that they are loved.  It means being hopeful, and helping others find hope in their lives as well.  It means focusing on what is possible, rather than on what is not.  And it means knowing that none of us is in this alone, but always in the company of our God.

            And so, let us close, together, with the beautiful prayer written by Francis of Assisi, as he called on God for help in being and making peace:

“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love. 

Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith;

Where despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light. 

And where there is sadness, joy.

 

O divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love. 

 

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.”

Amen.