Peace Made Possible

(im)POSSIBLE • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Jesus invites us into a change of mindset, to be agents of peace, offering us a new possibility for relating to others, a way of peace.

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Scripture Passage

Isaiah 2:2–5 (NLT)

2 In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. 3 People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. 4 The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. 5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

Focus Statement

God, in Jesus, invites us into a change of mindset,

to be agents of peace,

offering us a new possibility for relating to others,

a way of peace.

Point of Relation

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.

While this season brings excitement, it can also be difficult.

As a pastor, and our worship team can attest to this, the season brings on all different kinds of stressors.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the season…but it is a source of anxiety for me.

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

There’s all of the planning that goes into it...

The different moving parts...

First the planning of the worship series through advent,

Then the planning of music...

AND LET’S NOT FORGET ABOUT CHRISTMAS EVE

Which this year falls on a Saturday and Christmas Day falls on a Sunday.

Plus, during this time we also engage in extra services such as the Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service which we had this past Tuesday,

And the Blue Christmas Service as well...

And this year we’re having COOKIES with Santa on DECEMBER 10th...

#ShamelessPlug

And that is just on the worship planning and executing front.

I also happen to be the President of the Newton Rotary Club with its various projects...

I am a son, a brother, a friend, a husband and a father as well.

So do I need to remind you all about the stress of Christmas Shopping...

Having the money and the time to go and make everyone’s season a little brighter with gifts.

And, bringing family into it, I have lost many people I love over the years...

And my Grandpa Lattig, Charles Richard Lattig…My middle name is his middle name…So I am named after him...

We were very close he and I.

He had dreams of bringing me up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to show me where he went to school and lived for a time.

That is where he met my Grandmother, Jeanette Elizabeth Todd...

Can you tell who I got my first name from

My grandpa died right around Christmas time and I cannot help but think of him this time of year...

And it’s hard…it is a point of sadness…of grief....even all of these years later...

And bringing my being a pastor back into it again...

It is hard watching my church family members suffer under the weight of grief this year.

Things to Consider

We all realize that the Hallmark family Christmas season is not reality.

The chaos and busy-ness around the holidays can cause us to and others to be impatient and irritable with one another.

Those who are mourning or experiencing sickness may experience emotional or physical difficulties during this time.

Inter-family relations around the table and the tree can be difficult to navigate.

What Scripture Says

In the midst of these trying situations, God is at work offering peace.

Peace is “shalom” in Hebrew.

Shalom is not simply an absence of war but rather,

an abundance of life.

The kind of peace Isaiah speaks about might seem impossible to us both globally (nations getting along, no more war), and in our own hectic lives.

This prophesy comes from a time where the people were experiencing conflict, war, and stress too (see Isaiah 1).

The peaceful scene described in our passage is “in the last days” (as it says in verse 2:2).

In Advent, too, we are in a period of waiting and longing for a time of peace that might seem far away.

But we are also invited to prepare, to “go up to the mountain” and receive instructions on the path of peace.

The path of peace is God’s way, not our own way or the world’s way.

In Jesus, we are given a model of “God’s ways that we may walk in his paths,” (Isaiah 2:3).

We are taught to prepare for, work for and walk in the peace that we trust God will bring to full fruition.

The prophet talks about beating “swords into plowshares” and “spears into pruning hooks.

” God’s peace does not just stop conflict. It brings about transformation.

The tools once used for violence and destruction in war, are now used to bring new life in harvest.

We are invited to the mountain to have our mindset reshaped too, just like the swords and spears.

Jesus already transformed a tool for death (the cross) into the gift of new life (resurrection).

How can we let Jesus transform us and reshape the way we approach our own lives,

especially in this Advent season?

Give some examples that will connect with your congregation.

The prophet paints a picture of the day when the mountain (Zion) will be a place where all the nations learn about God’s peaceable ways.

That means as God’s people we are called to be agents of peace–

“not lifting up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore,” (verse 4).

Even though the passage is talking about a promised future,

it ends with a call to “come, let us walk in the light of the Lord,” (verse 5)!

We are to model for the world how to walk in the light of the Lord.

How do others see Jesus’ light in our lives as peacemakers?

**Preachers should do some research background on Isaiah for this series.

What This Means For You

Let me ask you a few questions: When have you allowed the stress of a relationship to bring more disharmony?

[Pause]

When have you modeled for others a peaceful resolution?

[Pause]

Who in your life has modeled peaceful resolution or been an agent of peace or peacemaker?

{Pause]

Where can you act in your own life to model such peace?

[Pause]

What are some ways you can prioritize the peace (shalom) of wholeness and abundance

rather than the false peace of keeping everyone happy or ignoring problems?

[Pause]

What This Means for Us

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

He came to bring peace to everyone.

As a congregation we have. been peacemakers plenty of times...

We have worked to make Shalom possible.

For instance, we aren’t a faith community that simply says we believe all lives matter...

But we stand up for individual communities whose lives are being devalued by others.

We did that when Swastikas were drawn on a local Jewish family’s house.

We did that when we marched for the lives of our black community members when George Floyd was murdered.

We bring an abundance of life to the lives that are touched by our Treasures of Hope ministry...

showing all of our patrons that they are valued no matter their socio-economic status.

We have provided our community college-level educational opportunities.

Think about the impact we have had over the years our community.

Think about the individual lives we’ve impacted. Think about different communities of people we’ve impactd.