John 14:27. My peace I leave
you.
A
man went to the doctor. “How are you?”
said the doctor. “Doctor,” he began,
“I’m worried about the energy crisis, inflation, the situation in the Middle East,
political and social upheaval in Africa, our diplomatic relations with China,
the missile defence systems, the election, the Church, my family, my
neighbours, my football team …” and he
went on and on and on. Eventually the
psychiatrist responded, “Shut up and move over,” after which he proceeded to
get on the couch with the patient.
Jesus said “My peace I leave with
you.” But peace in the world is
fragile. In the last 2500 years we have
had 286 years of peace. Peace is perhaps
the greatest gift we could give the world.
Aside from the conflict in international events, what about peace in
our own lives? Has there ever been a
time when we have so many opportunities, but get so stressed as a result? Stress is a disease which afflicts our
society at all levels. It’s in our
vocabulary now. See if you can complete
these: I'm at the end of my? I'm at my
wit’s? I'm going to throw in the? I've had it up to? The language of stress is common parlance.
Perhaps you recognise stress in yourself more than you recognise
peace. Apparently these are the signs
of stress: Do you
1. Plan your day unrealistically
2. First to arrive, last to leave
3. Always in a hurry
4. Make no plan for relaxation
5. Feel guilty about doing anything other than work
6. See unforeseen problem as a setback or disaster
7. Is always thinking about several other things when working
8. Feel you need to be recognized and overextend because of this?
In a world where time saving devices have multiplied, stress is created
by the conflict between the time we need and the time that is available to us.
On a national scale these figures about stress are worrying:
Stress in the workplace is undermining performance and productivity in
9 out of 10 companies " Industrial Society
About 270,000 people in Britain take time off every day because of
stress" BUPA
Up
to 60% of all absences from work are caused by stress" The Health and
Safety Executive
Sickness absence due to work related stress costs British industry
around £10 billion annually " CBI Survey
Jesus
said, "My peace I leave you, my peace I give you, not as the world
gives." The evidence for the
presence of the spirit in our lives is peace.
The mark of a Christian disciple is peace. The purpose of the Christian community is to bring peace. What we can offer the world and our
neighbour perhaps more than anything else is peace.
But
peace in the Bible can mean two things.
Primarily the Hebrew word shalom carries a sense of well being,
wholeness, integrity, community. It is
much wider than simply feeling nice. It
is about relationships between people and nations, about justice in the way we
relate to each other as communities and individuals. That is, if you like, the outward dimension of peace. But there is an inner dimension as
well. This is a kind of peace which is
not dependent on our circumstances, but it is a sense that where we are and
what we are doing is held within the will of God, whatever is happening to us. And this kind of peace is not something we
can earn, but it is a gift. My peace I
give you, said Jesus.
But
he also makes it clear that peace in each of our lives does not mean detachment
from reality, a kind of floating halfway above the ground and avoiding real
issues. It may be the kind of peace
which hurts us, which makes us cry with compassion, which makes us angry when
we see injustice. It is the kind of
peace that comes from knowing however you are feeling that you are in the right
place, doing the thing that God has called you to do.
Yet
for many of us peace remains elusive.
We are meant to be the ones who can show the world where to find it, and
yet we so often struggle ourselves. So
how can we help each other to know the peace that passes understanding? I would suggest first we can help each other
if we support each other in recognising the presence of Christ with us at all
times.
The
child whispered, "God, speak to me"
And
a meadowlark sang. The child did not hear.
So
the child yelled, "God, speak to me!"
And
the thunder rolled across the sky
but
the child did not listen.
The
child looked around and said, "God, let me see you"
and
a star shone brightly.
but
the child did not notice.
And
the child shouted, "God, show me a miracle!"
And
a life was born but the child did not know.
So
the child cried out in despair,
"Touch
me, God, and let me know you are here!"
Whereupon
God reached down
And
touched the child.
But
the child brushed the butterfly away
And
walked away unknowingly.
Stress
comes from facing things by ourselves, from being unable to see God there. Peace comes from a mind set. And the way to peace is by determining to
focus on his presence, to get to a place where our natural first response to every
crisis will be to realise that God is with us.
That as Psalm 46 says-he is our refuge and strength.
Perhaps
the greatest clue to opening our eyes to peace is in verse 10 of this psalm: Be
still and know that I am God. Let's
just put this in context. When this
song was written in Jerusalem, 180 thousand enemy troops were surrounding the
city. The circumstances weren’t
great. And what was God saying? Relax.
Be still. I am with you.
Pascal wrote, “Many of our human problems stem from our inability to sit still.” We will begin to grasp peace when we can approach life with a sense of timing and not of hurry. Jesus knew when his time had come, and he would not act until the right time. It wasn't a case for him of fitting in as much as he could when he could. Think of all those people he didn't heal. And yet he did not go around stressed because of it. It is the sitting still of the peasant who was seen praying in a church by a nobleman, just sitting there for hours. The nobleman asked the peasant, "What do you do when you pray?" "Well, it's quite simple," said the peasant. "I look at him, and he looks and me." Taking time to learn that God is near, to feel his presence. This is where we begin to touch peace. When we taste that God alone matters. I remember Donald, a few weeks before his death, standing in this church and saying to me, "I feel so peaceful, Guy." In having his life taken away, Donald began to taste in a new way what was important, and felt the peace of God.
But
just to return to the theme of peace being about relationships between
people. I believe many of us fail to
find the peace of Christ because we seek to do so as a solitary journey, not
sharing ourselves. Loneliness can be
the biggest antidote to peace. And so
on our journey to shalom, as a community, we can help each other to know the
peace of Christ by drawing together. A
few weeks ago as you know we started up house groups. The week after they had started someone remarked to me that she
had felt more cared for in that week than in many years of coming to
services. Growing in community and
being committed to it can help us to find the peace of being in harmony with
each other and with God. Together, we
can discover the peace that passes all understanding.