Second Sunday in Advent

The readings today from Isaiah, Paul and Matthew are disconcerting.  They are intended to make us think and pay attention to the idea of peace, the theme for the 2nd week of Advent. 

As I look at the attempts of peace being made around the world at the moment, as leaders try to bring an end to the most terrible of conflicts, it is really clear peace is not easily achieved.  Enemies don’t become friends overnight, long held injuries, injustices and the desire for vengeance, bring a range of calls for justice and judgement, making us realise there aren’t many people in the world who might be capable of such wisdom and courage.

In times of war, we seek to kill the enemy; and the enemy may well remain the enemy for decades after the war has ended.  Memories can be long and it is the victor, the conqueror, the winner who gets to decide who and what is remembered and how.

Sometimes the hard-won peace is short-lived.  It turns out it is merely a pause in the fighting, as we have seen in Sudan, with Russia in Ukraine, and in the middle east with Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah.

We also know our sense of peace is fragile, and can be disturbed very quickly and easily. For those traumatised by war, violence, conflict and disagreements, the shift from peace to violence and defensive reaction can happen in seconds.

People change churches, community clubs and sporting memberships to avoid people with whom they disagree and who they have argued with, or made life difficult for them, while refusing to acknowledge their own part in the disagreement, not capable of owning the consequences of their own actions.  Individuals struggle to make peace before coming to God’s table, as we focus on denial, betrayal, and the complexity of our relationships. We put off dealing with it until we can be sure we will win.   I know we can all think of times when we have disagreed, lost friends, argued with family, walked away from something because of a conflict and our inability or refusal to right the wrong.

Isaiah speaks really clearly about the quality of the peace God desires for humanity; and what it is the Messiah, will bring to our peace in this world and what it will look like in the next. We are told the spirit of the Lord will rest on him, and God’s Spirit of peace will embody wisdom, understanding, the capacity to take and give counsel, and courage and strength in such decision-making processes. God’s Spirit will bring a commitment to listen, learn and have the necessary knowledge to bring justice to the decisions made about peace- building and restoring relationships.   

We hear also God’s Messiah won’t just decide based on what he sees or hears.  This means he won’t be taken in by lying and deceitful ways.  We are also reassured, the Messiah will judge with justice for the poor, and equity for those who have no voice in how the world is run and who it benefits.  We’re told with relief and joy, righteousness will be embodied by the Messiah, who will also bring justice and faithfulness into all his actions.  

It is an extraordinary description of what is needed to be a peace-builder, a peace-maker, a peace restorer.   It means we too can reflect on what we need to learn, focus on and work towards in practicing God’s peace.

Paul reminds us for peace to flourish, we need to live in harmony with one another, so we can worship together with joy and hope. 

Like Isaiah, the prophet John the Baptiser is also clear and uncompromising in his description of God’s peace and what the Messiah is bringing forth for everyone.  He challenges those who only pretend they want God’s peace.  John calls them out directly, saying to them: ‘You brood of vipers!’  (Matt. 3:7)

Let’s be really clear, the peace Jesus brings into the world as God’s Son intentionally disturbs the world’s peace.  It will not allow for pretence or superficiality, half-hearted commitment, it cannot be purchased or manipulated, it will not be involved in deals or lies.  Instead, God’s peace will come with fire and the Holy Spirit.  It will bring justice, restoring the world to its true likeness.

God’s peace is challenging.  We as Christ’s followers, are invited to spend time this week to think about God’s peace.  Where are you not at peace and why?  What has your harmful behaviour or your words meant for someone else, whether intentionally or not? 

Being Christ’s peace-makers takes courage, prayer, hope, justice and love.  It takes faith and trust in God.  It asks us to change ourselves with God’s help because our church may not always be a place of peace, nor our homes, our communities, sports clubs and community organisations or our politics. They may all feel unsafe for those who are forgotten in the world’s peace.

This week I went to the commissioning of my brother in Christ, the new priest-in-charge at Caboolture, Revd Mamuor Kun Peter, by Bishop Sarah Plowman.  Mamuor’s journey with faith from war torn Sudan, into refugee camps and eventually through the UN into Australia, his encounters with war, violence, grief, loss and endemic racism have not dented his faith in God or his love of fellow human beings.  He knows what peace looks like and feels like from the inside out.  He is a disturber of the world’s peace as he shares Christ’s peace personally. 

I have the same sense of the importance of Christ’s peace when I talk to First Nations peoples, so long denied peace, of those whom the church has rejected and refused to include in God’s peace, of returned Veterans and ADF Chaplains for whom peace is brought with fire and the Spirit, of those who have experienced gender-based violence in their own homes; all occasions where peace seems foolish and naive, and with all of us who have watched the hallmarks of peace and our understanding of it, change over time, over the last century. 

God’s peace is powerful, inclusive, welcoming and brings us safely home to God.  But God to whom we come home is not a God who makes peace in the way the world expects.  We too, as Christ’s followers must be disturbers of the world’s peace.  May this Advent prayer be yours: ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’  Matt. 15:13

The Lord be with you.