Advent 2-Let It Begin With Me
Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 10:1-6
In the 1971 film version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, WW (played by Gene Wilder) takes the guests on a boat ride through the tunnel of terror. Wonka sings a song to his terrified travelers as they go.
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing?
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing.
Wonka delivers each line with more and more intensity as it goes. By the end your heart is racing, and my anxiety is up just hearing it and re-imagining the scene. (Feels a lot like watching national news these days, doesn’t it?!)
The second Sunday of Advent invites us to hear the call to peace. From the manger, peace grows. I thought writing a sermon on peace would be easy. It’s peace. Everybody wants it! What could be controversial about peace?
The world is impoverished of peace. According to online sources, there are at least 29 countries engaged in war or significant armed conflicts. Every corner needs more of it. If we could only tap into a reservoir of peace and turn on a spicket when we need to wash the despair and hatred off of us. If only peace like a river could wash us clean at the end of every day… renew us, restore us, reform us.
Today’s gospel reading from Luke 10 shows us that Jesus intended to teach peace as he went from place to place. Jesus appoints 72 people and sends them out in pairs to spread a message of peace. The mission of the seventy-two, a number that correlates to the number of nations in Genesis 10, anticipates the universal mission of the apostles in the book of Acts. These advance teams go out ahead of Jesus to prepare the people for his coming. The twelve apostles and many women were among them (according to Luke 8).[1]
Now, Jesus, who comes with divine power, could have chosen an imperial way of enforcing peace.[2] That is a top down, heavy-handed way of demanding peace. Can you imagine Jesus and the disciples acting like the Peacekeepers in The Hunger Games trilogy. They were the law-enforcement throughout all of Panem, a post-apocalyptic, dystopian society. [3] The so-called Peacekeepers are the brutal enforcers of the Capitol’s authority over the 13 districts. Their methods (from public floggings to controlling access to resources) are designed to instill fear and maintain strict order.
This was not Jesus’ way!! Can you even imagine?! The movement John the Baptist started, and that Jesus was growing was disturbing to the peace, but it was the way of non-violence. Always and every time he entered a new place, or encountered an adversary, he told the truth about them and TO them; but he never suggested violently overthrowing the people in power. Jesus admits in Luke 12 that peace would not be the result of his ministry, division would. He was trying to overthrow hearts and minds. Transform beliefs and thinking. It was a grassroots movement. This kind of change, of transformation, takes time. It takes preparation. Minds need time to marinate. Hearts need time to tenderize. This is why Jesus sent messengers out in front of him to introduce the ideas that he would follow behind bringing – this good news of great joy.
Jesus sends folks out in pairs. We are not meant to go about this work alone. That does not mean that we will never have to stand on our own. Sometimes, we have to stand on our own for things (or people) we care about, but you are never alone in this work. We are meant to do this work of peace-making and justice-serving together. That is the way of Jesus.
To the seventy-two he said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” In other words, the market is ripe and ready for this good news, for peace, for the kind of kin’dom we are trying to build.
This verse reminded us this week of the Adidas shoe rep who went out into the bush and said, bad news guys. There is no market here. These people don’t wear shoes. But the Nike rep on a similar R & D trip came back saying, Good news! We can sell a ton of shoes here. Everyone here needs shoes!
When you are confounded by the number of countries at war; or the multitudes of people who aren't going to church anywhere; or the culture wars that wage division among people who would otherwise be neighbors. Don’t get stuck on ‘the workers are few.’ Remember, “the harvest is plentiful.” It’s a scarcity vs. abundance mentality. The One called the Lord of the harvest has bushel baskets of transformational Peace, Joy, and Love. The Lord of the harvest is the one who calls.
Jesus instructed the seventy-two, “Whatever house you enter, say, ‘Peace to this house!’” If that house is open to peace, if that neighbor’s heart is open to transformation, peace will land there. If they are not open to the kind of peace that reshapes hearts and minds, move on. You cannot force peace upon someone who isn’t open to receiving it. That’s the work of the Spirit.
In Luke’s gospel, peace is the blessing for those who accept Jesus’ message. And Jesus’ message is summed up in his first sermon in Luke 4… When the poor receive good news and the oppressed are set free; and when the blind receive sight and when captives are released from their bonds – THEN the angels’ doxology to the shepherds will come to be: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Peace and goodwill to them the Lord favors!” [It is the vertical and horizontal convergence of the manger, where peace grows!]
In 1963, the Reverend Robert L. Archibald, Jr. was a United Methodist pastor in Alabaster, Alabama. He said in a sermon, “In a world that is so filled with hatred, it is easy for us to fall into step with it and become hate-mongers ourselves.” Rev. Archibald’s son, John, has been a writer and reporter for the Birmingham News and AL.com for many years. John wrote a book about his father’s life (Shaking the Gates of Hell) in which he lamented the man who was known for his moral values and lived a life that supported equality, but who often avoided direct confrontation with the issues of racial injustice. Like so many of his white clergy counterparts in the deep south during this significant period in the Civil Rights Movement.[4] Not only was the country steeped in the culture wars of the 1960s, but it was gridlocked by the Viet Nam war. It was a dark, dark time in our nation’s history – a devil-of-a time to be a preacher… in Alabama. [5]
With great humility, I say I don’t want to be like Rev. Archibald – too afraid to preach a sermon that calls a congregation of retired military, or missile defense engineers to practice transformational peace! Nor do I want to be like the priests the prophet Jeremiah spoke of when he said, “prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious .‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:13b-14)
In 1971 when Gene Wilder was confronting entitled children and their parents through the character of Willy Wonka, the country was still at war on both fronts – civil rights and Viet Nam. Not a speck of light is showing –So the danger must be growing! Wonka sang. Art was imitating life. Many things felt out of control then. Just like many things do today! There are wars and acts of war, and culture wars as dangerous as any weapon on all fronts! Peace feels elusive given the turmoil in our world. We are confronted every minute of the day with death tolls in Gaza and Israel, Yemen, Sudan, Myanmar… Ukrainians and Russians still dying. Intolerance and hateful threats in the US, against immigrants, people in the margins of society – people with black and brown skin, LGBTQ+, the poor, the disabled. So many people at war within themselves with mental illness or addiction… Peace seems elusive. If we stay zoomed out on these big, societal issues, it is overwhelming! We read and scroll the newsfeeds. We troll the haters and if we are not careful become hate-mongers ourselves – picking sides. Reading the comments! Commenting on the comments. This is not the way of transformational peace-making.
[Sing: Let there be peace on earth… Congregation responds: And let it begin with me.]
Friends, I don’t know what transformational peace-making looks like working at a place called the Arsenal. But we are all called to this mission of peace-making and need to figure that out together. I can imagine transformational peace-making for those of you in law-enforcement, health-care, education, social work. I can imagine the work we must do together to protect and advocate for our black and brown and immigrant neighbors or for gay, lesbian, trans people and their families who need to feel seen and supported. It’s true… We cannot force transformational peace upon anyone who is not open to it, but we can introduce it. And we don’t have to understand the needs of brothers or sisters exactly to see them and support them. Thanks be to God – We are only responsible for preparing the way… It is Jesus who saves. It is Jesus who comes in with heart-shaping grace. It is the Spirit of God who has the power to transform lives and to bring life-changing peace.
We are like shepherds who have seen the manger. Let us sing, in hopes that others will hear, Glory to God in the highest! Let there be peace on earth!
And let it begin…. Simply begin, in me. Amen.
[1] Common English Study Bible notes from Luke 10:1-12
[2] Advent Two Peace Grows From the Manger, Illustrated Ministry ©2024
[3] https://thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/Peacekeepers
[4] Archibald, John Shaking the Gates of Hell ©2021
[5]https://abcnews.go.com/US/culture-wars-identity-center-politics-america/story?id=100768380#:~:text=The%20culture%20wars%20begin&text=As%20Americans%20grappled%20with%20how,of%20rights%20for%20Black%20Americans.