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SERMONS

Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 13, 2007

By The Rev. Alston Johnson

They cast their nets in Galilee, just off the hills of brown; Such happy, simple fisherfolk, before the Lord came down. Contented, peaceful fishermen, before they ever knew The peace of God that filled their hearts brimful, and broke them too. Young John who trimmed the flapping sail, homeless in Patmos died. Peter, who hauled the teeming net, head-down was crucified. The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod; Yet, brothers, pray for but one thing -- the marvelous peace of God.

This morning I would like for you to open your blue hymnals to hymn 661. The verses are written by a Mississippian, William Alexander Percy, of Greenville. Please read the verses with me.

It seems that Percy is telling us something about the peace of God. It is something that can fill our hearts to the brim, and break them as well. Something that is not actually what we know of as “peace,” but simply the old human story buried in the earth; and yet God’s peace remains something that we must and should long for. I believe that Percy is telling us something about appearance and reality. I believe that this hymn is telling us that sometimes God’s peace will look anything but peaceful in the eyes of how the world knows peace. In fact “God’s peace” might unmake the world a bit, unmake our worlds a bit.

The picture that our minds conjure of “the peace of God” may be the figment of imaginations shaped in this world, while the peace that is actually of God is something alien to this world. Something in fact that might stridently challenge what passes for peace in this world.

Jesus says as much to his disciples as He prepares them for his leave taking.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Jesus is preparing his friends for the day he will leave them, and he is giving them a promise that they will not be left alone. I do not give you the peace that is of the world, a peace that is transitory, of appearances; I give you true peace, a peace that is real, Jesus seems to be saying.

Each of us knows how hard it can be when life suddenly changes, when our peace is threatened. We can feel panic. There are the questions of why and how. There is the anger and the sorrow and the reminder of how little we control in this life. When someone dies suddenly, when someone leaves us, when perhaps we take leave of ourselves, we grope for reasons, for answers, we seek to make our “peace” with events. We want things to make “sense” in the face of what seems non-sensical.

It is hard for us to know true peace in the midst of any crisis. More often than not it is a peace that can only stand briefly, perhaps for the day of our trouble. As Paul reminds us, “For now we see in a mirror dimly.” And so we do the best we can standing before that dim mirror demanding our answers, demanding our peace, we often assemble whatever assortment of answers that will give relief for the day of our heart’s trouble.

Our hearts suffer when we make our peace with half truths, but isn’t that what we sometimes settle for. Although the world would say to us “Peace, peace, that is just how things go, it will all work out in the end, time heals all wounds.” there can remain an ache in our souls.

For some of us, there are days when what the world calls peace is not enough blanket to cover us from the cold. It is not enough. We need the power and presence of something and someone who will do more than just make “sense” out of our troubles; we need someone who will walk a mile in our shoes with us, and who will open the doors of new life for us.

The Holy Sprit is the friend and the guide who illuminates the dark forest of our own doubts and fears; the one who finds a passage through the superficial platitudes of a worldly peace, carrying healing balm for our aching hearts. It is the Holy Spirit who stands with us in the day of our trouble, reminding us that there is a peace from God that overcomes this world, although it might seem foolish and be misunderstood by this world.

The Holy Spirit is that unseen hand that does the deep gardening of our hearts and souls. It is the Holy Spirit who brings a lasting peace, not as the world gives, but as Jesus gives.

We are like the disciples, our lives will never be without others taking their leave from us. Like the disciples, our lives will sometimes look anything but peaceful in the eyes of the world, but that is what Jesus promises. The promise made to this small band some two thousand years ago is a promise that stands today; we are not left alone in this life to die a thousand deaths of the heart and soul in the hands of the world’s half-truths; left only with peace as the world gives it to us. There is always someone greater standing with us, someone who pushes aside the peace that the world would give us, bringing the healing balm for our hearts and food for our souls; the true peace that is of God.

So, in the words of Mr. Percy, let us pray but for one thing, this marvelous peace of God.