Peace Requires Change

It’s interesting that this second Sunday of Advent is about Peace and the gospel is about John the Baptizer antagonizing the Pharisees and Sadducees.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t expect calling a group of people a “pack of snakes” to be a precursor to Peace.

In fact, I’d imagine that that might rile those people up a bit.

And, to no one’s surprise, it does.

But that is John’s role in the New Testament.

He is an agitator.

His role is to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Change rarely happens without conflict.

Because most humans resist change.

They prefer consistency.

But John understood that change was necessary.

He understood that they needed to change the way they thought about the world.

They needed to change the way they thought about their relationship with God.

They needed to “change their hearts and minds” in order to prepare for the Messiah.

John’s practice of agitating—his propensity for “poking the bear”—was precisely about peace.

The source of our confusion is that we misunderstand what peace means.

In our cultural context, peace means the absence of conflict.

However, in a biblical context, “peace” actually has its roots in shalom.

And shalom has a richer meaning with broader implications.

Our understanding of peace is the absence of conflict.

It is the work of humans and is almost always temporary.

Shalom, on the other hand, is not just the absence of conflict but it is also a deep sense of wellbeing and wholeness.

It is a permanent frame of mind and has a divine association with it.

It implies being in right relationship with God.

So, viewed in that context, John’s actions were about the shalom kind of peace.

He didn’t care about creating some temporary conflict because the end game was welcoming the Messiah and the coming of God’s Kin-dom.

Change was necessary.

Humans needed to change their hearts and minds to get in right relationship with God.

And change creates conflict.

Because people don’t like change.

It can be uncomfortable.

It upsets our normal routine.

But John knew—he understood—that the one who was coming after him—Jesus—would bring about the Kin-dom of God.

And the Kin-dom of God means true shalom—everlasting peace and authentic wholeness.

In corporate speak, John was a change agent—as was Jesus.

For those of you that have been watching The Chosen with me, you know Jesus often says, “Get used to different”.

It means that not only that they did not fear and resist change but also that they celebrated and implemented it.

I am also one of those odd people that likes change.

And back when I was an executive in corporate America, I too was called a change agent.

In fact, one of the biggest adjustments I’ve had to make as a pastor is that not everyone is as comfortable with change as I am.

Although I haven’t called out anyone as a pack of snakes, I imagine I’ve made a few people upset.

Changing how we do communion.

Introducing a new hymnal and new music to our services.

Speaking a language during worship that some of you don’t understand.

Now, I don’t mean to imply that those things are on the same level as what the Baptizer was doing in the Judean wilderness.

But there is a parallel.

Several times, I have shared this quote that’s been attributed to St. Augustine, “Without God, we cannot; without us, God will not.”

I believe it has particular relevance for us today.

True peace—of the shalom variety—can only exist in the Kin-dom.

While it may be true that the Kin-dom will only be realized in the Second Coming, we can work towards the Kin-dom now.

But it takes change.

I would even say that it takes becoming comfortable with change—or at least more comfortable.

In Isaiah, we read, “Forget the events of the past, ignore the things of long ago! Look, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth—can’t you see it? I’m making a road in the desert and setting rivers to flow in the wasteland.”

And again, in Romans, we read, “Don’t conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you can judge what God’s will is—what is good, pleasing and perfect.”

I don’t know what changes lie ahead for us.

All I know for certain is that there will be change—and probably many of them.

Because who we are today is not sustainable.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the opportunities before us are unlimited.

We are embracing the people in the neighborhoods around this church.

We are emulating Jesus and living out his message of good news to the oppressed and marginalized.

We are loving our neighbors as Jesus first loved us by welcoming people and inviting them to make Emanuel their faith home.

That is WONDERFUL!

We are also investigating possibilities for converting unused or underused spaces in our church buildings into affordable housing.

We are trying to become better stewards of the many gifts that God has provided to this congregation by making sure all of our spaces are efficiently utilized.

We are heeding Jesus’ command to feed his sheep by helping some of our neighbors into more stable living arrangements.

We cannot solve homelessness, but there is freedom in knowing we don’t have to do it all.

That freedom will enable us to do this one small thing.

And maybe follow it up with an even larger thing across the street.

It will be an incomplete solution, but it is a beginning—a step along the way and an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

The good news for us today is that our Emanuel family is a vibrant community.

The opportunities before us are unlimited.

But seizing those opportunities will require change.

And with change comes discomfort and, sometimes, even conflict.

Our determination to preserve tradition can be very strong.

There are strong emotional ties to tradition—happy memories of childhood or our younger selves and longing for friends and family members who have moved away or passed on.

But what holds this church family together is not tradition.

It is the love we have for God and for one another.

That is what will carry us forward.

That is what will help us weather the challenges ahead.

John the Baptizer said, “Change your hearts and minds, for the reign of heaven is about to break in upon you!”

I’m going to say the same to you.

Don’t fear change.

Change is inevitable.

While you may never be able to embrace change, at least do your best not to resist it.

Maintaining the status quo—trying to preserve things they way they always were—does not move us along the path to the Kin-dom.

Keeping things the same is about us—and our comfort level.

Helping God co-create the Kin-dom—that is about our neighbor.

That is about feeding Jesus’ sheep.

We cannot become the Kin-dom without change.

Because we aren’t there yet.

The Kin-dom is a community of truth and justice, where “the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; the calf and the lion cub will graze together, and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear; their young will lie down together.

The lion will eat hay like the ox.

The baby will play next to the den of the cobra, and the toddler will dance over the viper’s nest.

There will be no harm, no destruction anywhere in God’s holy mountain; for as water fills the sea, so the land will be filled with knowledge of YHWH.”

And, in that Kin-dom, we shall find the peace that passes all understanding.

The shalom promised to us by God.

The peace that is not only an absence of conflict but also an innate sense of wholeness.

The peace that comes from knowing we are always in the presence of God.

The wholeness that comes from knowing we are loved unconditionally by the One who created us.

May this contemplation on God’s word keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus.

Amen.