Let Peace Begin With Me
Tony E Dillon-Hansen
10/13 December 2017
A Sermon based upon Isaiah 40:
1-11; Psalm 126; John 14:27, Mark 1:1-8
Will you pray with
me? Let God guide our senses, our hearts and our ears to receive the
lessons given to us. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our
hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our Rock, Our Redeemer.
And All God’s Children Say:
Amen!
We have talked about turning anxiety into hope.
Today we turn to peace!
I remember in the early
1990s, threat of national debt was fresh,
the Berlin Wall was crumbling
against freedom,
the Iron Curtain was coming
down
and the threat of mutual
annihilation seemed almost a distant memory.
Freedom was flowing through
Eastern Europe
as dictatorship after
dictatorship peacefully stepped into history.
There was much to rejoice
at new “peace,”
and we did it without
“war.”
Instead of a great divide
and shadows or folklores,
People were singing songs
with one time enemies “Peace in our time, Peace in our time!”
All of that seems like a
distant quiet memory with the many new challenges that face us today. Our world continues to be full of issues that
want to disrupt “peace” in many different ways.
The “Soviet menace” has
been replaced.
We have “terrorists”,
criminals, ugly politics,
and we have devilish
prejudices running rampant.
Yet, all of these bits of
disturbance take away our Peace
--when we let them.
Violence and destruction
have been part of our history,
and life seems out of
control.
The picture of Star Trek-type idealism
where people have become “somewhat more enlightened senses” (as
Picard would say)
feels like an insane notion and not possible.
How do we reclaim our
peace?
The path is simple but not
easy.
Our Scripture from Mark kind
of highlights this.
We read how John the
Baptist humbles himself and gives into the will of God.
John finds peace in the
hope and believing that greatness is coming
and so he humbles himself
before God.
We read from Isaiah
the call to “rise up”,
to get up to a mountain,
and “lift up your voice.”
Isaiah invokes the image of
the shepherd
–sounds like Gospels and an image of Jesus before
us.
From darkness, we saw a
light.
From the mountain and the
valley, t
he “voice” calls us to be
guided and to respond.
You practically hear the
Scripture calling for an “Amen.”
Can I get an Amen?
Whether we reclaim peace by
humbling ourselves or shouting our joy,
we do not have to let
darkness rule us.
Instead of being complacent
and content with darkness.
Throw off the shackles and “rise
up.”
Find the hope, the peace,
the love and the joy of the season.
When we shout out “Amen”
and when we humble ourselves,
we may suddenly see the
light, the shepherd, and feel the peace.
We are here today because
of the Guidance of God
and the assurance that real
hope and real peace is on its way.
We only need to prepare our
hearts and minds to receive this.
How do we reclaim our
Peace? I am glad you asked.
When the world is full of
chaos,
We let peace begin with me.
You have a choice of how
that works
..be humbled or cry out .
Instead of reacting with
violence,
maybe react with humility,
Instead of reacting with
scorn,
maybe we react with
compassion and a hug.
Instead of reacting with
anger,
we understand that life can
be humbling.
Instead of expecting the
world to serve us,
Perhaps we serve the world,
or least our little part of it.
This is something I learned
from martial arts
and from some Buddhist
colleagues.
No matter how hard our
workout, sweat rolling down across the eyes
or what was on my mind,
We come to silence in
meditation.
Walk with me on this
meditation.
That peace begins with me
With every breath I take
and to live each breath.
-- In and out
To take each moment and
live each moment.
Let the darkness fall around
you
and feel the harmony
No war,
No pain,
no worries, and no hunger.
Just you, your breath, and
God.
That is the essence of
meditation, a way to pray.
Yes, some breaths and some
moments may be hard,
but those moments are
miracles given to us to explore now
Another sample of this
might look like,
When you come to dinner,
No matter where you are on
life’s journey,
no matter what time it is,
or what obligations you
have…
let go of outside and just
be here.
No matter what you hear, or
what you are thinking,
Have dinner with God at
your table,
sitting next to you.
Feel the warmness,
relish the friendship,
Enjoy the pleasant smells
and delicious tastes together.
Like hope,
Let Peace begin with you.
Start here.
Experience peace here and
now.
We all have struggles and
hardships
(I know my past couple
months have been loaded with them.)
When I walk into the
sanctuary door,
I bow,
take a breath,
and thank God for this
moment
(no matter how tough life
has been).
Breathe and pray.
Relax, lift your chest and
let your lungs lift you.
Be there with God’s
blessing.
When you breathe in,
hold it for moment and feel
every bit of life fill every corner of you
When you breathe out,
let go of the violence and
anxiety that has captured you.
If you feel the intensity of
real peace rising,
you may feel compelled to
“lift up your voice” and to “rise up.”
Go ahead!
Let your voice be heard –
Can I get an “Amen!”
Let go of anger, illusion,
anxiety and just be,
just be the hope of the season,
just be the peace of the
season.
You may then find the love
and joy of the season.
The verse from John is a familiar one that some invoke to sharing
peace in worship.
27 Peace I leave with
you;
my peace I give to you.
... let not your
hearts be troubled,
and do not be afraid.
Continue to turn anxiety into hope.
In that regard, Build on
the hope we have and let us share some peace…
Thanks Be to God.