Sermons

Minister: Rev. Margaret A. Beckman | These are the things we mean by saying, Peace.
 
Second Sunday of Advent: Peace
READING Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem was first read by Dr. Angelou at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. in 2005.

AMAZING PEACE:  A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

 

READING “The Peoples Peace” by John A Holmes.
First published in the July 10, 1937 issue of The New Yorker

The People’s Peace

Peace is the mind’s old wilderness cut down –
A wider nation than the founders dreamed.
Peace is the main street in a country town;
Our children named; our parents’ lives redeemed.

Not scholar’s calm, nor gift of church or state,
Nor everlasting date of death’s release;
But careless noon, the houses lighted late,
Harvest and holiday: the people’s peace.

The peace not past our understanding falls
Like light upon the soft white tablecloth
At winter supper warm between four walls,
A thing too simple to be tried as truth.

Days into years, the doorways worn at sill,
Years into lives, the plans for long increase
Come true at last for those of God’s good will:
These are the things we mean by saying, Peace.

by John Holmes (set to Sursum Corda by Alfred Morton Smith)

 

SERMON

Since I was a child, I’ve heard the phrase “The peace that passes understanding” used as a blessing, a benediction, a promise that God’s will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And . . .

At this Christmas season, like every Christmas season, we will hear the mantra “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All” over and over again.

 

What is this peace on earth?

It is, I think, the very peace that passes understanding. The peace that comes as a gift from the divine source – whether now or at some imagined future time. We cannot grasp this peace. We await this peace.

We may long for this peace, but it seems that we cannot bring it about despite wishing for it and singing about it and praying for it.

This is indeed the peace that we do not, maybe cannot, understand.
Today’s message, however, is about the peace we CAN understand.
I want us to focus for a while on the peace NOT past our understanding.

We just sang one of my favorite hymns and it was just recently that I had one of those head-slapping moments of AH HA.
I am used to saying the hymn as The Peace Not Past Our Understanding.
Now, I say it: The Peace NOT Past Our Understanding.
And it makes all the difference.

We can get so caught up in what is beyond us that we may overlook or ignore what lies right front of us.

In his poem, The People’s Peace, John Holmes reacts against the notion that peace is beyond human understanding or creation. Sure, there may well be that ultimate peace that will come about in the final moment or at the instant of Enlightenment, but most of us will live our entire lives without actually experiencing that peace. So, why dwell on it? Let’s focus, if you will, on what we can know; what we can have; what we can bring about.

I’m all over this notion that there is peace that is not past our understanding and it is perfectly and completely within our human capacity to manifest it. Ordinary peace. Amazing peace. The peace of our daily living. The peace in our hearts that spills out into the world.

Here, listen to the words again – or follow along in your hymnbook.

The people’s peace comes not from scholars, not from church, not from state. It does not come with death’s release from this life into some more desirable everlasting realm. It comes, simple as it is, from a white tablecloth on a table laid with a winter supper; it comes from tucking into the warm spaces between four walls lighted late; it comes with harvest and holiday. These are the elements of the people’s peace. All the people. Our peace.

What are the things we mean by saying peace?

This is beautiful … it is our daily moments and movements; it is “days into years, the doorways worn at sill, years into lives, the plans for long increase come true at last for those of good will: these are the things we mean by saying Peace.”

Days into years. Years into lives. Intentional and astonishing all at the same time. There is a comfort, and yes, a peace, that comes with the familiarity of our days and years – a comfort that wears the sill of our doorways smooth and polished through use.

A peace that is ours because we have lived in goodwill and with intention. We do understand this peace. We may not set out to work for it as a primary goal, but we can feel its presence as we live honestly and authentically in relationship with others, with our world, and with our own deep soul.

Take a moment right now and call to mind the things that you mean when you say Peace – the simple yet precious peace of your life.

When Katie Couric asked Maya Angelou about her poem, Amazing Peace, in an interview shortly after her first recitation at the White House in 2005, Maya Angelou said, “I though it was time to speak about peace.”

I thought it was time to speak about peace.

It is time to speak about peace.

Dr, Angelou went on to say:
The need for peace lives in heart of every human being. Hawks and Doves.
I don’t mean just an absence of war, I mean our daily movements. 

Try not to be just a peace maker, be a peace bringer. Bring it with you.

Be a peace bringer.

Whoever you are in this moment
Wherever you are on your journey
Whoever are your companions
Bring peace with you.

“In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.”

Finally, ….. Thich Nhat Hanh prays like this:

With humility, with awareness of the existence of life,
and of the suffering that is going on around us,
let us practice the establishment of peace
in our hearts and on the earth.

Let us practice the establishment of peace in our hearts.

If there is to be peace in the world, we begin with the practice of establishing peace in our hearts. This is a peace worth everything we can give it. It is not past our understanding. It is not beyond our reach.   It is in our hands, our minds, our hearts, our very souls.

Peace, My Friend.
Peace, My Neighbor.
Peace, My Soul.
Peace.

This Holiday season, may we not hear this message of peace and simply nod in silent prayer and agreement; let us pause and remember the peace that we have already brought into our world. Let us notice the things we mean when we say we have peace in our lives and our hearts, for this is a peace that is not past our understanding or beyond our resources to increase for the good of all.

This Holiday season, may each of us have peace; our own peace – cultivated and brought to life, even sometimes in the midst of suffering, and shared in the company of friends, neighbors and loved ones.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.   Amen.