Springwood Presbyterian Church: Whitsett, NC

What’s new?  Well, almost any evening, the folks over at Channel 12 and Channel 2 and Fox 8 report stories like these:  “Gaudio out as Wake coach”, “Unemployment up in Alamance County”, “Guilford County may end curbside leaf pickup”, “Good-looking people get higher salaries”, “Nike launches new Tiger Woods ad”, “Atlantic hurricane season predicted to be harsh.”  That’s what new, and what’s news; and you can get it all in just 30 minutes any evening.

The psalmist asks, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?/ Why do the rulers of the earth set themselves against the Lord and his anointed, saying,/ “Let us be free of them, and do things our own way.”/ God, who sits in the heavens, laughs!

God laughs?  God can indeed laugh at the news we agonize over, because it’s not the really important news.  Yesterday’s news—even this morning’s latest bulletins—will fade from memory as quickly as the lovely spring flowers fade when their time is over.  But here’s the real—the timeless—news:

A break-in occurred.  Not last night—almost 2000 years ago.  The risen Christ broke into a closed house, where his disciples hid out of fear of the people who put Jesus to death.  Their Lord was dead in body, and they were now dead in spirit--entombed in that house as surely as the crucified Jesus had been entombed in Joseph of Arimathea’s garden--shut in by fear, by grief, by passivity, by guilt, by emptiness.

Christ broke in—broke through to them and stood among them.  The opening he made coming in was the opening they needed to get out.  Peace be with you.  Rather than scold or upbraid them: “Where were you when I needed you?”, he forgave them, and, breathing on them, gave them his Holy Spirit.  With a breath, God gave life to human beings—now, with a breath, Jesus Christ gave new life to his disciples.  This is true peace: forgiveness rather than condemnation, and a chance to start over with God.

Forgiveness is hard, even in small matters.  But in big ones?  Some of you may have been betrayed by someone you love, or by a cause you’ve given your life to.  Others have been let down by your dearest friends.  Maybe you’ve been afraid to live and equally afraid to die.  Some of you are unsure about your sense of God’s will for your life.  Some feel utterly alone.  Any of these experiences can leave us bitter, angry at the world or an individual or God.  Forgiveness comes slowly after such times, if at all, for most of us.

Jesus experienced all those wounds—wounds as deep to his soul as the wounds to his body that he invited Thomas to touch.  Yet he forgave those who crucified him, and he now forgives his friends who let him down.

The break-in into the closed room in Jerusalem is our story, too.  The risen Christ has broken into your life and mine—into our fears and grief and guilt and emptiness.  He comes right to the source of our inhumanity to one another—to the roots of human violence—to the place where evil begins: our locked-up hearts.  He breaks in to change us through his own peace and forgiveness, and to send us out to take forgiveness and peace wherever we go, in order to change this world where nations conspire and people plot against one another.

His peace is the peace not to be anxious, nor to despair about the crimes and injustices and sorrows of the world that fill each day’s news—because we trust the world and ourselves to God.  His peace is the peace of forgiving others and receiving forgiveness.  This peace heals the wounded spirit, for it assures us that, despite the terrible things that may have happened to us, despite the terrible things we might have done--God is with us; and such problems will not last forever.  An old woman I knew, who endured many trials in her life, had a favorite saying: “It came to pass—not to stay!”  In Jesus’ death and rising, we see the truth of that.  The cross, separation from those we love, alienation, pain—none of these things last, just as last night’s news isn’t next week’s news.   

What does stay?  …  Hope does.  When we hope in Christ, his peace and his Holy Spirit guide us through the bad parts.  One warm evening, I watched the children across the street from my house spin around and around until they got dizzy and fell down.  That same night, I saw an ice-skating program on TV.  How can the skaters spin and spin and not lose their balance?  They focus their eyes on one spot, and return their eyes to that same spot after each rotation.  God gives us a focus: Christ, raised from the dead, fulfilling God’s promise and reinforcing that we are loved and forgiven.  As long as we remember that, we will keep our balance-- no matter how turbulent life is, no matter how much the world spins us around.  That’s the peace Jesus promises.

“Jesus said, Peace be with you.  As the Father sent me, so I send you.  When he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  We have the power to forgive others—or not; to give peace to others—or not.  If we don’t perhaps we haven’t been truly willing to receive what Christ offers us.  

So that raises the question: do we Christians consider ourselves missionaries of peace?  I gave the blessing at the rehearsal dinner for a wedding not long ago and I ended by saying, “Take Christ’s peace to the world.”   The folks at my table—all good church people, and some Presbyterians—wanted to talk about that over dinner  Here are some of their comments:

-         I’d be laughed out of the dorm if I tried to talk about Christ’s peace.

-         Sounds good, but nobody’s interested.

-         I work two jobs.  Making peace is what you minister-types do.

-         I’ve got 3 preschoolers.  I’m busy all day and half the night.

-         I have to use a cane to get around.  It’s hard enough for me just to go to the store, much less to go around spreading peace.

I wasn’t really surprised.  We’re all busy with the things of day-to-day living.  And yet, “Christian” is more than a name: it’s our identity—who we are and what we do.  Being Christians means we are sent--sent to take Christ’s  forgiveness and peace to the world—the world that’s not 1,000 miles away—it’s right here, wherever you are.

He gave us the breath of the Spirit.  We breathe in Christ’s new life. And we must also breathe out, or we’ll suffocate.  We gather here, to breathe in God’s word—Christ’s peace—the Spirit’s strengthening power.  Here, we’re being healed by God’s forgiveness.  And then we must scatter, out into the community, breathing out to others God’s word, Christ’s peace, the Spirit’s strength, the forgiveness we’re given to pass on.  We move out into the world filled with a peaceful easy spirit that communicates Christ’s peace and his forgiveness to the people we meet.  Breath in—breath out.  Gather and scatter.

So, God in heaven can laugh, because the big news today and everyday is that the break-in into the locked room and into our locked hearts is the break-through for peace in our world.  Be at peace.  Take peace and give it as freely as Christ gave it, even to those who let him down—even us.