Erl Purnell Sermon

cEpiphany 4 ~ January 28, 2007 ~ A sermon preached by The Rev’d Erl G. Purnell at Old St. Andrew’s Church, Bloomfield, CT

Jeremiah 1.4-10; Psalm 71.1-17; 1 Corinthians 14.12b-20; Luke 4.21-32

In this morning’s Collect, we pray “grant us your Peace.” In the short prayer after the Prayers of the People, today, I will use the one that includes Jesus saying, “Peace I give to you; my own Peace I leave with you.” And after the confession and absolution, we celebrate, “The Peace of Christ.” Then, following the post communion prayer—which also refers to Peace—my usual blessing begins, “The Peace of God that passes all understanding…” And finally, when worship has concluded, when the candles are out, and the final hymn has been sung, the dismissal will call us to “Go in Peace to love and serve Christ.” Is it possible that Peace is the central theme of the Eucharist we come to share week by week?

Peace. Peace, of course, is freedom from war or conflict. Peace is also freedom from disagreement among people or groups of people. Peace is that state of being where calm and serenity prevail over anxiety and fear.

When I hear “the Peace of God that passes all understanding,” I buzz with a deep soul-filled Peace, a Peace that takes up all the space in between the molecules of my Being, while also enveloping me in the soft warmth of God’s grace and love.

Can you imagine that, when all is said and done, the Peace of God in our Souls and the Peace of Christ in our hearts is the true goal of living a Christ-centered life? For, when you live in the Peace of Christ, isn’t everything truly OK? When you live in the Peace of Christ, don’t your fears fall away, aren’t your relationships open and honest, and isn’t who you are and can be characterized by love?

Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way. For me, it took a long time to comprehend that Peace is at the very core of the Jesus story. Each of us is called to find Peace, our own sense of Peace that passes all understanding; to be at Peace with God, with ourselves, and with others; to give our Peace away generously and wastefully to both friends and strangers.

Trying to process the notion of Peace in my mind is always quite paradoxical. I hold the definition and concept before me, polishing the nuances of its meaning and even glimpsing its benefits; but when I attempt to turn the “Peace switch” on, more often than not, nothing happens. Do you know what I mean? When you most want or need to be at Peace, it can often be illusive and so you maybe feel distant from God’s Peace. I hate that.

The paradox about the Peace of God is that, as real as it is, it’s ineffable. In other words, words fail to express or capture Peace as a concept, human experience, or Divine state of Being. Peace, the Peace of God, is simply impossible to understand. It does pass all understanding because it’s not about thought and understanding. Peace is about something else, something all encompassing and grace-filled. It’s something in the Soul and heart.

Oh my, here I go, trying to package Peace for you, for me, and for the benefit of this sermon. I don’t feel like I’m doing very well. This Peace thing really is ineffable. But I’m hoping the experience of your own sense of Peace and the Peace of God is something akin to mine.

For, haven’t we all felt Peace, been at Peace, known the Peace of God that passes all understanding? Those moments, fleeting though they might be, are absolutely beautiful and oh-so-real. They’re almost palpable. They’re powerful. They’re usually unforgettable, too.

Speaking of God’s Peace, Carl Jung uses the term numinous, which means having a mysterious power that suggests the presence of Spirit or God. When Peace comes, it’s as real as a dream but, like dreams, Peace is impossible to detain or confine, impossible to save in a bottle. It’s as if, in the human experience, we’re tantalized by the possibility of Peace, kind of like we only get snippets of true Joy and Happiness, and a priori Love. We all know these spirit-drenched, Divine gifts. We want them more than anything imaginable, and yet …

Jesus, back home in Nazareth, stands in the synagogue and speaks the truth as he knows it in his heart. Referring to Isaiah’s words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…”, Jesus then says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” He speaks with authority. After which, at least according to Luke, the town’s folk run Jesus out of Nazareth.

What comes to mind are two things. The first is that Jesus is a truth-teller. In one way, that’s what his “authority” is. He speaks the truth … even in the face of those who think ill of him and chastise him. The second thing, then, is that Jesus stands in the fire of truthfulness because he is at Peace. Jesus knows the Peace of God in the bones of his Soul.

The which brings me to these conclusions that I hope you’ll take home to consider. Just as Jesus is, we are called to speak the truth in love. To do so invites us to be discerning, thoughtful, and fair, seeking to know and understand as best we can … before drawing conclusions. In this way, when we speak, it’s not as a noisy gong or a clanging symbol, but as one seeking the truth through the Peace of Christ.

In this regard, some questions come to mind. Why be here at Old St. Andrew’s Church if you don’t seek Peace? Why be here, if you’re not sowing Peace? Above all else, it seems to me, that most faithful people are Peace-seekers and Peace-sowers and Peace-makers. Jesus Christ has given us the gift of his Peace: “Peace I give to you; my own Peace I leave with you.” Shall we see ourselves as agents of Peace in a parish at Peace and of Peace and in Peace? Yes, let’s make Peace the centerpiece of parish life and let’s spread our Peace to a world easily overcome by war and conflict and disagreement. Let pray as St. Francis so poetically prays, “Make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

Amen.