The Peace of Jerusalem

           

            There was a story on television this week in a program called Code Black about a group of young people who all took poison and wound up at a Los Angeles hospital emergency room refusing treatment because their leader had told them that if they all died they would go to a place called Elysium where all was peace and joy and they could forget about their troubles.  That reminded me of that terrible story in the seventies about a place called Jonestown in Guyana where all of the inhabitants drank a poisoned Kool-Aid and died because Jim Jones, their charismatic leader had told them the same thing, that death would take them to a magical place where all was well.

            Finding heaven on earth is what we all would love.  In these troubled political times, it is especially attractive to think that maybe our God has a plan to get us to that heavenly kingdom.  Well, there is such a plan.  It has been in place for all of eternity and it is detailed in the lessons this morning.  

            This is the first Sunday in Advent.  You may be more familiar with it being the beginning of the race toward Christmas, or the Sunday following a great Thanksgiving dinner.  It is also certainly all of those things, things that we have created in our economy and in our culture.  But the importance of the season of Advent can easily be lost in all of the commercial concentration that leads to Christmas.

            All of our lessons today speak of the coming of the Kingdom of God.  There is no certainty to when this will come, but we are told again that we need to be ready because at some point the Son of God will return and come to judge the living and the dead.  That isn’t something that we need to fear, but it is something that we always need to keep in mind.  God is ultimately in charge of what goes on in this world.  It may not look like that much of the time; events seem to go on in their own dynamic. We may think that we are in charge, that we make all of the decisions, but in the end, our God is the judge of that.  That is what our lessons are trying to help us to understand. 

            Jerusalem is a metaphor for the perfect Kingdom.  It is a part of our readings in that we yearn for a perfect place where goodness is the perfect norm and all that we have learned about what God has proposed for the human race resides.  It is certainly only a metaphor.  If you have been to Jerusalem, you are certainly aware of the fact that it is an incredibly divided place. Palestinians are separated from Israelis.  There is East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians live and West Jerusalem which is the home of most Israelis.  The Israeli government is always trying to encourage Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories.  In The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Christian religions fight with each other.  The Greek Orthodox Church claims the tomb; the Armenian Church inhabits the lower level and the poor Roman Catholics are off to one side. The Episcopal Church has no place here, nor do any of the protestant bodies. Among the churches that are in this great place, there have even been fights in the street on important religious occasions.  In some ways, this holy church is a symbol of the many divisions that there are in Christianity.  

            There is much more in that city.  Israeli soldiers patrol the old city and frequently engage and accuse Arabs.  The Temple Mount, where the last Jewish temple used to be is where the Islamic Dome of the Rock points its golden dome skyward and the Al-Aksah Mosque resides.  Outside of the mount, the Western Wall is the remnant of the old temple where prayers are constantly said by the Jewish majority and notes are left in the spaces in the wall.  Again, Israeli soldiers patrol this area to keep out those who are undesirable. 

            Many years ago, when Rosie and I visited Jerusalem, at one point a group of taxi drivers got into a fight about who was going to transport the group that we were in.  One of them got a club out of his trunk and went after one of the others.  Jerusalem was not a peaceful place, as we experienced it; nor has it been over the centuries.  This city has been often ruled by Muslims.  The crusaders under Richard I took it over and strife and division has been one of the constants in this place over the years.  Nonetheless, we are urged in our psalm today to Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper who love you.  Peace be within your walls and quietness within your towers. 

            Those are beautiful sentiments but they are not only for a peaceful city.  This is a prayer for a world where tumult and disaster are no more and the wholeness of God’s creation exists in truth and wholeness.  That is certainly what we desire. 

            We ought not to be surprised that turmoil is a part of the life of that great city.  It is a part of every place in this world.  It is a part of our own lives.  We watched our presidential campaign devolve into terrible accusations and awful language.  Now that it is over, we wonder what is coming next.  Much of the conflict is out in the open and will have to be resolved somehow.  What do we do about racism and homophobia, or the abuse of women?  These are important issues that we need to talk about and to resolve.  We have no idea what our President-elect will do when he takes office.  We can’t let fear dominate our thoughts.  What I pray for every day is that the fear that haunts our hearts will be turned to faith and we all will recognize who it is who is in charge of this world.  That is the ultimate issue that we need to face if we are going to ever have peace.  

            The peace of Jerusalem is certainly what we all need.  We need it in our lives and we need it in our communities.  We need to work toward that every day.  As these days go on and as what will happen begins to become clear continue your prayers, continue your compassion for one another.  That is where heaven truly resides, no matter what else happens.

What Do We Do Now?

            Now that the election is over, the news media is full of all kinds of predictions about what is coming next.  Some of these predictions are worrisome; that there will be deportations and wars, or that bigotry will become a theme.  I want to dismiss most of this because I know first of all that nobody really knows how things will play out and also, that no matter how things go in this country our God is still in charge.  That may not always be very obvious, but I know that it is true.
  

             We have had many moments in this nation when we have been in trouble.  It isn’t hard to look back on history and find places where we could have done things better, or when we could have avoided painful situations.  Certainly the sixties and the time of the Civil Rights movement was a time like this.  We got through it and we got through it by way of good people who cared for each other.  I remember when Martin Luther King was being excoriated for his beliefs and hounded by the FBI.  Now he is the subject of a marvelous monument on the Mall in the nation’s capital because we recognized the value that he created for this nation; how he led his followers in the freedom rides and the march from Selma to Birmingham across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  I have always loved that symbolic march because Edmund Pettus was a Confederate general and also the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.  That Martin Luther King monument is a beautiful tribute not only to Dr. King, but to the great numbers of people who defeated bigotry and segregation and set us on the right path again.

             The other thing that happens when we look back on our history is that we become aware that we are not the only force that makes things happen.  Quietly, sometimes very subtly our God is always in charge of our destiny.

             This is Christ the King Sunday;  a time to honor and to recall the incredible work that our Lord did in this world.  It is strange that the Gospel for this day centers on the crucifixion. Our Lord Jesus lived his whole life in the Middle East, preaching to and healing the people who lived there.  He was loved and sought after but eventually arrested by the ruling powers, tried and crucified. The point of this Gospel is that even at the moment of his crucifixion and the end of his mortal life, Jesus was not done with his ministry.   We hear how on the cross he prays to God to forgive those who were crucifying him because they didn’t know what they were doing.  Then one of the thieves who was being crucified with him told him that if he was the messiah to save himself and them.  He was immediately rebuked by the other thief who said that they deserved what they were getting, but that Jesus had done nothing wrong.  He asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his Kingdom.  Jesus replied to him: today you will be with me in paradise.  Jesus ministry of forgiveness continued right up until his death.

             We may face a rocky road ahead.  Nobody really knows what will happen.  I do know that whatever it is that will come our way, we have the advantage of a God whose love reaches all of us.  God’s caring and forgiveness is stronger than any other force that may come from or at us.  I am confident that this nation and its people will be all right and that we will continue to be a great force in this world. 

             Our response to God’s call to us is extremely important.  We are called to love our neighbors as persons like ourselves.  This means for me to watch out for bigotry and bullying around me and call it out when I see it. We are responsible for one another in this world and listening to and following our Lord is very important to our welfare and the welfare of those around us. 

             This parish has for me always been an example of a place that has excellent relationships with the community.  The taking care of the Boys and Girls Club for lunch on Wednesdays and getting dinners to the people at the Honus Wagner apartments tells the world what we believe in this place.

             In our own lives, it is important that we live up to our calling as disciples of Christ.  He and his teaching is the method that we have for saving this world.  He was crucified for our sake, but even then his work wasn’t done.  On Easter morning, Jesus rose from the dead to show us that resurrection is what we can all look forward to.  That is the time when the issues of this world will matter no more and we will all be a peace with our God and with each other.  As the Lord’s Prayer says, we will see that God’s Kingdom will come on earth as it is in Heaven.  Even in death, as the hymn says, Jesus calls us over the tumult of this life’s wild restless sea.  As St. Julian of Norwich said so eloquently, all will be well, all will be very, very well.  She lived in a time of tumult and oppression.  She was always under threat; but she knew how much she was loved by her God.  We can also be certain of that and it can fill our hearts when the world seems to be at odds with all that we know.

             That is the message that we have for this world and we teach it by the way that we live our lives. Put your worries to rest and know that God’s infinite love reaches over all.

Our Election

            I’ve got to tell you that I have been devastated by this election.  I don’t know how it is all going to work out.  There wasn’t much by way of substance to the campaign; we don’t know what our President-elect will do; only what he will get rid of.  The entire congress in is the hands of his party and I am afraid that the Supreme Court will get more and more conservative, flying in the face of the direction of the country over the past number of years.  It is a time to worry. but I don’t like worry.  I need to find something positive to hold on to, to give some hope for the future.  I feel like the people of Judah who were taken captive by the Babylonians.  They were asked by their captors to” sing them some of the songs of Zion”.  Their answer was: How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?  That is Psalm 137 and is an eloquent testimony to how it feels to be lost and afraid. 

            I can’t imagine a better summary of human history than the Gospel.  It is a perfect description of what humanity has endured over the centuries.  We keep praying for peace and hoping that somehow peace will endure.  Somehow, we seem to contradict what our God hopes for all of us and pursue our own ends. 

            Through this seemingly endless election campaign, we have heard every variety of selfishness.  Narcissism has been often the theme of campaign speeches.  What will happen to our country or what will happen to all of us has been secondary to the hopes and desires of one candidate.  I don’t want to do this anymore.  I want our politicians to care deeply for the welfare of not only the country, but for the welfare of those who are knocked down, abused and left behind.  I think that many of those in that category made their desires known over these past months and I know that they have been heard.  We need care to prevail in our politicians.  Over the last number of years, that hasn’t been the case.  We have had a clogged up congress that has not been able to do much of anything.  They have even refused to hold hearings for a new Supreme Court justice, leading to an eight person court that often ties and can’t give us decisions about important subjects.   What will happen now is unclear.  How will we be governed with a narcissist in the White House and a congress that is in the hands of his political party?  We simply don’t know at this point what is going to happen.

            I have been reading author Ken Follett’s trilogy about the twentieth century. It is an excellent account of the first and second world wars, of the rise of Hitler and the Brown Shirts and then Nazism and how it was defeated and then the rise of Communism in its place.  There was terrible oppression in Europe in all of these times and it took a tremendous amount of effort and capital to get our civilization back to some kind of normality.  I know that prayer and devotion played a large part in the way that all of this was straightened out and I know that going forward after this election will require all of us to be faithful and responsible to the Gospel that our Lord has given us.  Last week’s gospel ended with the words:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Those words are the foundation of a Christian life.  That is the way that we need to behave if we are going to continue to have a faithful community.   I have no political advice for us.  I can only rely on the God who loves us all to show us the way.

            In our Gospel this morning, Jesus talks about the terrible times that are coming.  He talks about persecution, betrayal and even desolation.  He says to his followers: You will be betrayed by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death.  You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance, you will gain your souls. 

            These are not words of comfort from our Lord, but they are words of hope.  Even if the worst happens, God will not abandon us, but will keep us in the care that has been promised to us from the beginning.  Keeping our faith in Jesus Christ is the issue.  Political regimes come and go.  They last for their time, but are not eternal.  Our God’s promises are for the long run, God will be with us no matter what it is that happens and will redeem even the worst occurrences.

            In this time of political uncertainty, we can rely on the promises that our God provides for us.  Never stop your prayers.  They are the antidote to selfishness and bigotry.  If we simply do unto others what we would have them do unto us, we can create a world there bullies have no power and bitterness can be lessened.  The legacy that has been left to us by Jesus’ followers is immense.  They all lost their lives in the course of their work.  Their faith is what has been passed down to us.  In the coming years, our faith is the legacy that we have to give to our children and our followers.  That legacy doesn’t depend on any political message.  It depends on our willingness to give ourselves in the service of others.  God will bless all that we do.