“I’ve got peace like a river, peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul”
Question for you: on a scale of slight dribble to roaring river, how is your peace?
I hope more than a few of you will say “like a river in my soul, alleluia” and for that I am cery grateful.
I suspect for others it might range from “babbling brook” to “downspout in a mild rain storm” and that too is something to celebrate and build upon.
And for a few it may be nary a trickle - and for you friends I offer many prayers. It is hard to be in. Place where you find little peace - in particular because peace is the kind of thing that once you have lost it can be hard to find again.
The lectionary this week is filled with people seeking peace - the people of Israel demanding a king. The Corinthians looking for guidance amidst their own strife, the people of Nazareth angry at Jesus for the disturbance he has wrought — are all communities in their own way looking for someone to bring peace back to their livev.
In our world today we see similar, and often competing, demands for peace. We have lost it. We can’t find it. We want, maybe demand, that it be brought to us.
Amidst all that chaos why does Jesus do?
He doesn’t leave. He doesn’t give in to the pressure of family and friends asking him to stop for the sake of peace. He doesn’t declare war. He simply looks to his left and his right and says:
Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
For Jesus and for us reclaiming peace in our hearts, our minds, our souls begins by simply doing the will of God, together, as people of faith. It begins by restoring a sense of peace among the chosen family doing the work right here.
To borrow my favorite line from Bryan Stevenson, it starts by “getting proximate.” There is so much out in the world that is beyond our control. So much chaos and strife that is put in front of our faces to intentionally drive us crazy — and the answer is to simply focus closer to home.
How can we bring peace to our church? Our block? Our neighborhood? Our city?
How can we find common cause with our neighbors here?
You can drive yourself crazy hoping for peace out there - or you can get to work building peace right here.
The choice is yours - but Jesus has shown us the way, and I hope we can follow suit.