He Comes to Make His Blessings Flow

Several years ago on the second Sunday of Advent I was leading children’s time and I asked the children what “Peace” means.  “Quiet,” said one precious, precocious three-year-old, “my mommy never says peace without saying quiet – you know, peace and quiet.”

But even though we sing “Silent Night” the peace of Christmas is not a peace and quiet kind of peace.  Jesus didn’t come to grant us a moment of silence.

What is peace, the kind Jesus came for?  Peace is one of those words that is so abstract that it is hard to really define in concrete terms.  You know it when you have it, and you know it when you don’t have it.  It is easier to define peace by what it is not: peace is not war or hostility, or disturbance.  But, that is not all peace is.

So I started thinking about, “How do we use the word peace?”  We pass the peace, we shout “peace out”, we make peace, we put at peace, we go in peace.  So what does it mean when we say, “peace be with you?”

In the Scripture Jackie read this morning, Isaiah speaks a word of peace to God’s people, who are in a situation that is really anything but peaceful!  They are exiled, the Babylonians have moved into the promised land and moved them out.

“Comfort, comfort my people.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her penalty is paid.”

When Jesus was born, again God’s people were oppressed.  They were living under Pax Romana, the peace of the Roman Empire.  It was the peace of force.  While there weren’t wars, it was only because of fear, and life was hardly peaceful.

Word begins to spread that like the prophets 300 years before him, a man named John has gone to the wilderness.  He dresses like Elijah, he quotes Isaiah, he eats locusts – which were food of the upper, priestly class, and honey, the only sweetener they had, so it was expensive too, he baptized for repentance of sins, which was not a new practice, either.

The people were hopeful.  He was like the prophets, like a priest, he preached preparation for the Lord to respond to their cries!  Could it be?  Could he be?  Was the Messiah come?  The people flocked to hear him preach, to be baptized, and the excitement built.  He promised one would come after him who was more powerful.  One who had the power to baptize and transfer the power of God’s Spirit to those who were baptized.

He comes to comfort, to comfort God’s people and to speak tenderly that their penalty has been paid.  Peace be with you.

In Christ, God says, it’s all going to be ok.  You are like a sheep that has gone astray, but I’ve gotten you back now.  “I am going to feed you, like a shepherd feeds his flock.  I am gathering you in my arms and carry you close to my chest.  I will gently lead you.”    God has made peace with us.

And we are called to pass the peace.  Isaiah says it this way, “All the people are like grass, loyalty is like wildflowers.  They don’t last.  But God’s Word lasts forever.  So, go up on a high mountain and pass the peace, proclaim to everyone in the valley below that God has come, “Here is your God!”

Our penalty has been paid, so peace is with us.  God has reconciled us to himself; God has made peace with us.  We pass the peace on to others as we proclaim that even though life is fleeting, God is steadfast and endures forever.  And so, we go in peace.

Now, back to that original question: What does peace mean?  Listen again to what Isaiah and John proclaim is going to happen, “Build a straight highway; level the roadway for the coming of the Lord.  Let every valley be filled in, lower the hills and the valleys, level the uneven, bumpy places, and smooth out the rough places into a plain.  Then, the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all the people shall see it together.”  We are building a highway!  It takes forever to build a highway.  It takes heavy machinery, hard work, planning, engineers, and hard hats to build a highway!

God calls us to move the boulders, blast down the barriers, and smooth out the rough patches between us and other people – those people we keep right at arm’s length, those people we endure holidays with, those people we disagree with, those people who are not like us, those people…we all have people who come to mind when I say, “those people.”

John the Baptist says, put the road through!  What is keeping you from going in peace?  Peace is unifying; peace brings synergy.  It is straightening the curve.  It is lowering the mountains and raising the valleys.  It is smoothing the rough places down and filling the potholes.

In 1979, the Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel peace prize to Mother Theresa in recognition of her work bringing help to suffering people.  In her acceptance speech, she reflected that peace is the fruit of service and saw her work as trying to bring peace to the world by showing compassion and love to people who were poor and defenseless.  But she didn’t see peace coming in the world because of a program or an institution.  She said,  “Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don’t really want to smile at; do it for peace. Let us radiate the peace of God and so light His light and extinguish in the world and in the hearts of all men all hatred and love for power.
Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other-that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister.”

And we have forgotten because there is a hairpin curve right there in the road.  The mountain between us is impassable.  The terrain is too rough to travel.  Peace is coming together with a unified vision of being the path for God to enter the world.  When will God enter?  The glory of the Lord is revealed and all people shall see it together when the highway is made ready.  We see God in that straightened curve, in the meeting of the mountains and the valleys, in the smoothing of the highway, when the road goes in between my house and yours, and yours and his and his and hers, and we remember that we are all brothers and sisters.  We go in peace to pass the peace because God has made peace with us and said, “Peace be with you.”

Do you hear the flow?  Jesus came to make his blessings flow.  Peace flows.  We go in peace, to pass the peace, because God has made peace with us, and said “Peace be with you.”  And what is the response to “Peace be with you”?  And also with you.  And the response is not back to the pastor.  “And also with you” is praying for peace to flow between you and everyone else.  It is a prayer for that highway to be put through.  Peace be with you, and also with you, and you, and you, and even you, and even that person and even him, and even her.  It flows.  Every time we come to this table, we begin with Peace be with you, and also with you.  We come together to form a highway for God to enter and be revealed in our world.  May his blessings flow,  Amen.