Peace's Pieces

PEACE’S PIECES

VARIOUS PASSAGES

#PEACE

This sermon is going to be a little different. I am going to talk for a few minutes, but then you all are going to participate with me in this sermon and interact… I hope. Please interact. It will be a bit like a responsive reading. As we dig into the Bible, I will ask a question, and then you will respond with the answer which will be a Scripture passage. The passage will be projected on the screen. We will read it together.

THE SITUATION

My hope is that we will understand that the only source of peace for us in this life is God. I hope we know that. I hope we believe that. What I want to make sure of… is that we actually draw our hope from God in the midst of unsetting things.

2020 was an unsettling year. 2021 so far, based on the first few weeks, does not seem like it is going to be much better… but then I am a pessimist by nature and it has only been two weeks. There were three primary things in 2020 and now 2021 that are unsettling and have caused a great lack of peace among many folks.

First, there were racial tensions in 2020. It seemed like every time we turned on the news that police and African Americans were clashing and people were dying. Some of them seemed like accidents and other times we wondered. Some called out words like “injustice” and “systemic racism.” There was arguing and vastly differing opinions on things that some had long thought settled. Adding on top of these things were riots and the burning of businesses and looting that were terrible.

* Racial tensions stole our peace because of what we read on social media and what we posted on social media and from the news and terrible events we read about.

* Racial tensions smash our peace because we think we are not racist, and then we have certain thoughts when we watch the news.

* Racial tensions stole our peace because in Sunday School we use words like “those people” and we struggle for words how to even describe a person of color and it shows we really have no idea what we are talking about when it comes to racial issues. And yet, we have an opinion.

Second, 2020 will be remembered mostly for the COVID-19 pandemic which shut down normal life. Business, travel, school, sports, entertainment, and every aspect of life was disrupted because of the spread of a virus. Even church was disrupted. 2020 brought about disconnectedness in a new way and isolation that seemed necessary for health, but also was painful in and of itself. The pandemic brought much stress to a whole lot of people and broke up long standing traditions and life did not happen as normal.

* COVID stole our peace because our senior’s in school could not have graduations and somehow our entire lives were ruined and their entire time in high school was useless… because one one-hour program had to be changed.

* COVID kicks out our peace and makes us serious hypocrites. We go out to eat and to the store and yet we claim we can’t be around crowds at church. We go to sporting events and yet we don’t come to church because we are “limiting what we do.” We know we do this and we don’t care. Peace gone.

* COVID steals our peace because our health is threatened by a virus that may or may not kill us. There are all kinds of bad illnesses out there already… for years… but this one seems to be the worst of the worst. We are believers and know that to die means we are with the Lord, and yet we irrationally cling to this life ignoring the promises of God if we did get the virus and pass away. Peace gone.

Third, 2020 also brought a contentious presidential election and lots of fake news and allegations and things that could be true or false. 2021 saw unrest in Washington DC did not surprise me personally, for various reasons, but it is very concerning nevertheless. News is hard to watch because we cringe and wonder if this report is true or that report is true.

* Politics steals our peace because we think that because an election didn’t go the way we wanted that somehow it is the actual end of the world and we spiral into worry.

* Politics steals our peace and we “reasonably” think that if a certain person gets elected “we are all dead.” And not only do we believe this, we say it and our children say it and our grandchildren say it. Peace stolen from several generations.