Peace on Earth
Transcripts are AI-generated and may not be 100% accurate.
Reader: In our effort to speak and in our exhaustion from going unheard in the healing we've postponed and the empty chairs that stay cold, God of the warm blanket, study our bodies as your presence pulls us close.
Child reader: When our dreams are closed and our screens are lit, God, our neighbor, pull us into the arms of where we discover the cleansing embrace of you.
Child reader: We light a candle tonight for peace, the dream of it, and the struggle for it. As we hold the hand of those who hold our hearts.
Reader: God of peace, give us the courage to take in your cure and the clarity to see that there can be no peace for anyone until there is peace for everyone. Together we say:
All: we light this candle for peace. May we rise up together with all and for all.
Matt: Third through fifth, you can go out that way and then kindergarten through second go out this way. We good? Is that all the children? Pre-K pre-Ks pre-K. Wow. Okay. Quite the fumble twist in a row. Hey, good evening everybody. My name is Matt Moberg. I am, uh, one of the people that serve in this community and I am…Do you want me, Nell? Did you want Matt? I can help if you want it. Uh, we're glad that you are here in this advent season. It's the craziest season. Uh, it always ends up being that way and I'll probably talk about that in a little bit here.
But, uh, welcome. This is the space in our worship program where we, we make space to take our stories and root 'em inside of a scriptural story and try to find some kinda nutritious value, something that edifies and empowers us in our lives Monday through Sunday when we're not all together.
Um, before we do that though, in the off chance that, uh, you know, it's not a very helpful sermon at all, Matt, what I do want you to know, what I want you to walk out of this room with at least is the awareness, the felt reality that who you are is more important than what you do. Even if what you do gets more attention than who you are, we sit in that truth. That the song that Maggie led us in, beloved, you belong echoes throughout our lives day in, day out. We do not forget that. That's part of our Christian conviction is we are committed to reminding ourselves that, to reminding one another, that now we are gonna talk about peace.
You know, I'm gonna try to be an adult tonight and, uh, stay on my stool and not wander and keep my hands to myself. Most people just think these things in their head, but I shared it 'cause I love you guys. Okay, so in accordance with the candle and the reading we just did on this night, uh, we are going to talk about peace. This hallmark, this highlight that always comes with the Christmas season where we join the angels that broke over the skies. Well, lowly shepherds were in the hills and they say glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. That's how the story goes.
Is that how the story's going? I mean, like personally, geopolitically, because if I look to my left and I look to my right and I look high and I look low, if I go to Gaza or I looked to the grocery store the other day when it was crazy, or Ukraine or your house or the mirror. When you deal with that gap between the me I am and the me I aspire to be, is, is that how it's actually working out in your life? Because it makes me go peace doesn't seem very palpable to me. Is God not pleased by anybody? Angels broke up in the sky and they said peace on earth to those whom God is well pleased by.
You know, typically when we talk about peace and we've, we've scattered this kind of message throughout many series that we've done. My mind goes when we talk about peace to the evasive realities of peace, geopolitically, conflict uh, tribalism, fundamentalism, all those things. But I'm not gonna go there tonight because in the past 14 days I think I've had 18 different meetings with different individuals and there's been people in coffee shops, in parking lots, AA meetings, funeral parlors, FaceTimes in the middle of the night. Uh, my crazy fifth grade basketball team today that lost to Hudson by 42 points. A bunch of Beinlich blood on that team. I don't know what was happening. Didn't feel good. Not much peace happening there either.
What I've concluded though, throughout these 18 games in 14 days, our 18 meetings in the past 14 days is you guys are a hot mess. Like, I mean I think everyone is so stressed out right now. There's not a lot of conversations. People are like, can we get some time? Just so I can share how peaceful I've been, like how easy and smooth sailing it's all been for me? No, I mean it's like even last night we're, my wife and I we're going to a party and we just started not hitting that was, but like we was like, oh, okay, and miscommunication and it got weird. Then it got better, then probably got weird again. And after I say this loud too, probably get weird even more. So I don't really know how it's all gonna shake out.
But my point being is that like again and again, people that I run into, people that I have these conversations with, everyone seems to be stressed. And when I asked somebody about it the other day, they said kind of par for the course with the season that we're in. Like, happy birthday, Jesus, in honor of you, we created chaos and commercialism that is driving us all insane. Thanks for being born. That's how it feels again and again in this season right now.
And so I want to just check in with you all, and I want you to be honest with me in you right now, just you right now, the things that you came into this room with, the things you tried to leave behind, but they're inevitably caught up inside. How are you doing? Like how is your stress level today? If the scale of like one to 10, where would you put it at? 10 being like, I am, I'm done. I'm gassed, I'm exhausted, I'm frustrated. The thing that was supposed to happen didn't end up happening. Or like two is like, I'm 83 years old and I realize the crap a lot of people care about, I don't have to care about anymore. So I'm good. Where are you at? Put some fingers in the air. Just gimme like, if you're brave enough, let me know. Are you 1, 2, 3, 4, or somewhere the five to 10 range? How are you guys doing? Yeah, I see fours and fives and threes. Sixes, fives, yeah. So it's real. It's there.
Follow up question is this, and do me a favor, will you just close your eyes for a second and take a deep breath. Now with your eyes closed, I want you to get on the forefront of your mind, the thing that is, um, the greatest source of stress in your life at this very moment. And you better not be picturing me or we will start excommunicating people immediately after the service. Just take a moment. What is the greatest single source of stress? What jumps out to you? Now open your eyes and hold that for a moment.
I read this article the other day and they talked about how we all have unique burdens that we all carry. Everyone's got their own battle. We all have different things, they have different implications, different kind of roadblocks that stand between us in peace as we perceive it at least. But this writer of the article said, you know, as unique as all of our burdens are, you could actually kind of categorize them in four different places, many different burdens, but they all come from one of these four different categories So the writer says, not think it's true, comes from either place, pace, problem, or person.
The single thing that you just brought to the forefront of your mind. Where does that come from? Which one does your one call home? Is it a place, might even be this place coming back to church. Maybe it’s been a minute since you've been to church, maybe you had a terrible experience at church and you don't wanna darken the doors of a church again and yet your friend brought you here and you don't know how to get out 'cause the guy up front keeps talking and there's no clear exit plan. Maybe it's going back to a Christmas like family table that you no longer feel safe at. Maybe it's showing up at the office tomorrow. At school tomorrow.
What about pace? Everybody I ask, and I am probably the worst at this. How you doing? What do people say? Busy. Busy. I'm busy. So busy, busy, busy, busy, busy everyone. And I don't even even know, like if I say like I'm good, I'm go in my ADHD mind, I'm like, well I'm also like not all good. Like I have problems. So I feel like busy is a good default, but how many of our lives are being sabotage by unhealthy pace of life?
Is it a problem? You know, maybe it's uh, uh, you know, you have no money. Maybe it's, you know, you have a lot of money. More money, more problems is how the gospel of Puff Daddy said. He said, maybe your problem is something in your body. Maybe your problem is an addiction. Maybe your problem is a sense of like stuckness and you can't even name why mental health.
Maybe your problem is a person. Maybe your problem is people, all people, every homosapien on planet Earth has. Yeah, maybe that's it because admittedly like, you know, when I ask what is the greatest source of stress in your life right now I know at least for five or six of us in the room, there was a face that came to mind, which is why I said like, imagine it. 'cause if I said say it and you started pointing at people in the room, we'd have a whole ‘nother can of worms we'd have to open up.
So maybe it's place, maybe it's pace, maybe it's problem, maybe it's person. And yet Christmas comes around every year with a promise of peace to confront these areas of stress. Christmas comes around and says, peace on earth on those whom God's favor rests. Which as we say every Sunday is all of us.
There's a story: Luke 1:5-25. One of the, the Christmas story is old man Zechariah. He's the high priest of the temple. He's a dad to, to be born John the Baptist, the wild man we talked about earlier, remarked this fall. The story goes that Zach is married to a woman named Elizabeth and they're kind of like, um, echoes of Abraham and Sarah. They're getting very old in age and they don't have any kids.
So they've been hittin’ like the, the prayer chain at church. They've been doing everything they can. They're fasting, they're going to temple on the regular. They're always on their knees saying, God, will you please give us a baby? But they probably hadn't done that for a couple decades not because they're very old. Their bodies can't do that anymore. But somewhere in the back of the mind that prayer still exists.
And so one day, uh, Zechariah has been charged, tasked with going to the temple to uh, uh, do his priest of duties when he steps into the dark room all by him lonesome, there's an angel that he encounters inside. Angel says good news. The prayer that she used to pray, that you sometimes pray still it's gonna happen. Elizabeth is going to get pregnant. Elizabeth will have a son and you are to call him John.
Now naturally, if you are a priest or any kind of person, you step into a room where an angel meets you there, you're terrified. He's stressed out. He starts talking like, well, how am I gonna know if this actually is what happens? How do I know if this is gonna play it out? Like is there any proof, any evidence at hand you could suggest that might get over my hump of disbelief right now? And Angel says, I'd rather you just don't talk for a little while, makes the man go mute.
He walks outta the room and people are, are kind of shook by the side of him because he cannot explain what he just saw. His mouth is moving, but no noise is coming out. And they they come to realize like he's had some kind of revelation, some kind of vision in there. Don't know why, but the vision comes to pass. The vision comes to pass.
Elizabeth has baby John and then Zechariah opens his mouth. His tongue is loose and he praises God and he prophesies over his son. And I want you to listen to these words. 'cause when we talk about peace, when we talk about how do we expect our experience of peace to be in a time of chaos and stress, listen to what Zechariah, who's been quiet for months now comes out and says:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited and redeemed his people and he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Pause. How is peace gonna happen now? Pay attention. He says next part, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of everybody who hates us.
So Zechariah comes out and he said, this is good news. Peace is gonna come. God is finally gonna set us free. How are we're gonna get to peace and safety and assurance and some kind of stability in this chaotic world? We're we're gonna lose our problems. He says like, if, if we can get, if our problems can go, then peace can come. If, if all the things that are bothering us, if we can get some space between whatever is inconvenience or not exactly in line with my preferences, we're gonna be all right. 'cause that will make space then for peace to come. That's not exactly how it works though, is it?
I'm not gonna tell you I have a daily dosage of three different children in my house and I love 'em. All the most important people in my life. But in the past five years, I could not tell you if I've ever had peace, at least not in this idea of like complete stillness, calm, uh, no problems whatsoever.
So when I read these words and that word jumps out, Zechariah, what do you mean when you say that God comes to save us from the things that are in us? How does that actually shake out? You get for so many years, and this is such a common refrain for others of you in AA you might recognize this conversation, but for a long time we tend to have this way of thinking and framing up the world where we think if I can just arrange my life, set it all up so all the wrinkles are gone. So the things that stress me out, sometimes it's the snow, sometimes it's kids, sometimes it's the Vikings, sometimes it's my schedule, sometimes whatever it might be, money, whatever the thing. If I can figure that out, then I can actually find peace.
But the problem is and this is why it's important that we understand where is our source of stress if we're actually trying to find reality of peace, is whatever you determine to be the greatest source of stress in your life is gonna dictate where you're gonna look for peace. I if, if peace is only on the other side of me getting some cash, then I can't have peace until I get that cash.
I, if peace is my kids going crazy, then peace is not possible until my kids calm down. If peace is not gonna actually arrive until the house is spick and span and those fingerprints are painted over, then peace is still out there somewhere. It's not here right now. It's a myth. And to cope with that myth, we develop different coping mechanisms, different ways to numb the pain and the disturbance of like, I can't have peace because there's always something going on. There's always some kind of problem that's interfering with what I want the most. It's always out there.
But here's one of the things I've learned over the years is this is why so many people who are sitting at the top rung of the ladder, they're so depressed. Not everyone, but so many people are. 'cause what they figured was what we would all figure would be is if you get enough cash, you can buy enough comfort, provide yourself with enough conveniences and there'll be no nothing that's gonna interrupt your peace anymore. But then they get there and they have the cash and they do have more comfort and there is a lot of conveniences. But why are they still so depressed?
There's a, it's a unique kind of depression when you get to the top rung of the ladder and find out the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. And you look around going like, is this now what I thought? This would be the thing, providing my peace. Gimme some joy. Make Christmas be real. Finally.
Zechariahh has a shift in this. He goes from this place of peace is when our problems are removed to this other place where it says peace can come while the problems are still here at the end of his prophetic word over his baby boy John. He says (Luke 1:78-79),
Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sun rise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Light, joy, gift God breaks in not just to those who are camping out on beaches in Maui or behind gated communities. He says to give light to those who are still sitting in the presence of darkness, who are still have a shadow of death hanging over their head. So again, think about your greatest source of stress that's occupying your spirit as you sit inside of this space. Is it possible that God's peace is not the kind of peace that happens when problems are removed, but that it can happen right now? It's accessible, it's here.
I always have this image from one of the protests a few years back where there's this Buddhist monk that would come and he'd be part of our like interfaith, um, email chain. And we'd always look to him to kind of lead it and not because he was like this big voice. He wasn't that voice at all. Actually, I couldn't even tell you what his voice sounded like. But what he would do is he said, “I'm gonna show people what it looks like to be in the midst of hell and be at peace.” I'm going to be a benevolent presence of peace in this space And he would walk around while things are being thrown and people are shouting and there's threats being made and it's painful and it's hard and it's ugly and it's important and it's intense. And he would just put his hands behind his back and walk around.
See what he's discovered and what I'm trying to learn in my own life is that keeps me from peace is not a place, a problem, a person. It's, it's, it's not any of those things. The things that I think are a problem are not the real problem. The thing that keeps me from peace is my insistent expectation of perfection. As long as I insist that perfection is coming, you'll never get to touch peace.
But for everybody who's taken a hit, who everybody has learned to walk with a limp, and yet you still showed up and laughed at some point today, you tasted the bitter drink of life and you still remain thirsty. You've gone through the fire, but you don't smell like smoke. You are living examples. Yea though I walk through the valley of death. How is God in this moment? He's not taking me off the path. God's joining me in it.
This is our prayer. This is what we believe. Peace to be possible for each and every one of us. And this is why we wanna support peacemakers who are actually embodying this call on their lives and doing powerful work where they are. We have friends, Milad and Manar, who live in Bethlehem. Uh, they started this organization called The House of Hope, where right now they're being bankrupt. They have this beautiful vision of this school. They're raising up all these young Palestinian kids and they're giving them a, uh, they're teaching 'em about peacemaking. They're teaching 'em about character. They're thinking about community, how to actually be in each other's corner and treat people with respect. Despite any difference you may or may not have.
They're doing all this beautiful work and they're being bankrupt because they're Palestinians. Churches that were in their corners before have dropped like flies. And so that will not be the same for us. House of Hope, Bethlehem, they will be our sole Christmas offering recipient this year. We're gonna keep talking about 'em until we get to Christmas Eve. 'cause their work matters. We need people who know how to access peace in Gaza, in grocery stores, in houses, in strife. We need people who know that peace is possible even when peace feels so far away. Will you pray with me?
Jesus, you are good. You are God. And we are grateful God for the different ways that you have loved us, for your rival God, for the way that you interrupt our stress and chaos and instability. And you say peace on earth, which is different than saying, go find some peace in earth. The peace comes from you. So we don't need to get it from anybody else. Let that be a consistent reminder in our lives. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.