A Homily for Taizé & Peace

By Stephen Houghton, Lay Preacher
PURPOSE: Introduce and inspire the idea that “Peace” is an action word restoring God’s love in the world.
When I first got the assignment for this sermon I thought “hey, this ought to be easy” and a microsecond later I thought “yeah like trying to explain quantum physics in 45 minutes.” 

I hope to take less than 45 minutes but buckle your seat belt.
Let’s begin by reflecting back on a couple of phrases from the Bidding Prayer Kathryn read to us in the beginning of the service.
“We gather as the body of the faithful to remember that God is the Peace which surpasses all understanding. . . 
“We long for peace, within ourselves, within our communities, within creation. . . .  
“Make us quick to welcome ventures in cooperation among the peoples of the world …  
“In the time of opportunity, make us diligent; and in the time of peril, let not our courage fail; . . . ”
The fact that all of these are action statements with regard to peace cannot be over stated.  I am one of those people who hears peace and I relax and want to sit back and enjoy the quiet and restfulness that I often associate with peace.  But peace is not necessarily peaceful.
Kathryn read in the Collect just before I started, “Keep us from being content with things as they are, that from this central peace there may come a creative compassion, a thirst for justice, and a willingness to give of ourselves in the spirit of Christ.”  No sitting back and resting in peacefulness in that sentence.
My second response to getting this assignment was to go to the Oxford Dictionary for a place to start.  There were 10 definitions for “peace’ in the electronic version of the Oxford Dictionary that I accessed with numerous sub-definitions among them.  Five dealt with political or civil tranquility as among nations or within society; four of them dealt with the quiet restfulness that I mentioned enters my mind on first reflection and one explained the sign of peace we offer during religious services.  I am going to guess that the Peace that surpasses all understanding is not defined in those definitions.
Jesus would have used the Jewish word for peace in his teachings to his followers.  Shalom, does not simply mean Peace.  According to Doug Hershey in his article entitled The True Meaning of Shalom on firmisreal.org, “The root word of Shalom is ‘shalam’.”  He goes on to say “The ancient Hebrew meaning of shalam was “to make something whole”. Not just regarding practical restoration of things that were lost or stolen. But with an overall sense of fulness and completeness in mind, body and estate.”  To make something whole with an overall sense of fulness and completeness in mind, body, and estate.  Now to me that sounds a lot more like something Jesus might say.
Perhaps a little further investigation of how a Jewish rabbi might view the meaning of peace would be helpful.  Dr. Aviezer Ravitzky has done an exploration of shalom in Hebrew scripture in an article entitled Shalom: Peace in Hebrew, on the online site myJewishlearning.com.  He writes;
 ““Great is peace, for of all the commandments it is written: ‘if [emphases added] thou see,’ ‘if thou meet’ (Exodus 23:4, 5), ‘if [there] chance {to be} (Deuteronomy 22:6); that is, if the occasion for this commandment should arise, you must do it, and if not, you need not do it. In relation to peace, however, [it is written]: ‘seek peace, and pursue it’ — seek it in your own place, and pursue it even to another place as well.” (Leviticus Rabah 9:9)”
Ravitzky is saying that most of the rules and commandments of the Mosaic and Jewish Law are responsive or reactive to an action taken by a person of the Jewish faith. But peace, peace is affirmative.  You don’t wait on peace, you make peace.
Dr. Ravitzky goes on to say;
“Peace was the ultimate purpose of the whole Torah : “All that is written in the Torah was written for the sake of peace” (Tanhuma Shofetim 18). It is the essence of the prophetic tiding — “The prophets have planted in the mouth of all people naught so much as peace” (Bamidbar Rabah Naso 11:7) — and of redemption, “God announceth to Jerusalem that they [Israel] will be redeemed only through peace” (Deuteronomy Rabah 5:15).”
So I reach the conclusion that the pursuit of making something whole with an overall sense of fulness and completeness in mind, body, and estate is what Jesus is saying to us when he says “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)
Wow!  Talk about a mission statement.  And yet what was it that Kathryn just prayed in Collect?  “Keep us from being content with things as they are, that from this central peace there may come a creative compassion, a thirst for justice, and a willingness to give of ourselves in the spirit of Christ.”
So how do we do that?  I think it sounds more difficult than it really is.  Take a trip with me.  Close your eyes if you’re comfortable and imagine a place where it is peaceful and you like to go to gather yourself.  A park, a beach, a place in the woods.  Imagine settling down on a bench or a rock or a log or something to rest from the travel to get here and take in the surroundings.  All of a sudden a slightly disheveled person muttering to themselves saunters up and sits down next to you.  Of course you’re startled but you can’t find the words to say anything right away.  They just continue to talk; not necessarily to you but sort of in your direction.  You can’t figure out what the heck you should do or say and your focus on that keeps you from really hearing what the person is saying.  You catch a word or two, enough to understand that the person is in distress.
Suddenly the person jumps up and turns toward you and says, “Thank you.  Thank you so much.  You have made my day.  No one would listen to me but now you have allowed me to get myself straight.  Thank you so very much!” and they walk away as quickly as they came.
So what do you feel?  I know some of us are still too startled to feel anything but startled.  I think maybe some of us are analyzing the encounter and realizing that we accidentally gave someone shalom.  We went into our favorite place in search of shalom, thought we lost it, gave it to a stranger, and got it back from the stranger.  God’s shalom is like that.  Sometimes all we have to do is be present and the Spirit takes it from there.
As Charlie said in her sermon three weeks ago, one of our friends, Fr. Warren Hicks, gave us a mantra to guide our work with folks who are not doing as well as might be.  He said show up, be present, tell the truth and let go of the outcome.  Showing up is just being where we think we are called and sometimes just being open no matter where we are.  Being present just means not preoccupied by the noise around us and in our heads.  Listen, actively.  Telling the truth is not license to judge or condemn but is about responding from your heart to the person in front of you.  Letting go of the outcome is understanding that we don’t have all the answers and that sometimes things won’t meet our expectations and that’s alright because we can leave it to the Spirit to finish the work.
A short time ago, on a Wednesday night, Charlie and I were watching PBS.  We started watching a documentary about a black gay man who did a tour of the South in search of places where gay and trans people can live authentically.  It was interesting how much love he found touring a part of our country not know for openness to the other.  It was followed by a documentary about Mama Bears, moms of gay and trans children.  Let me explain that while I do my best to accept trans people, I have had a hard time understanding their world.  Watching how a young trans woman expressed who she was and how it came from inside of her helped me a step further along the way.  I highly recommend the show should you get a chance to see it.  The reason I tell you this is to show that the Spirit has a way of getting you prepared to do God’s work.
The next day, Thursday, was my day for going walking with Dennis O’Rourke to visit with the folks on the streets as we do as members of Emmaus Companions.  About mid-way along the walk we entered the Energy Park and Dennis set about teaching a new card game to a group of folk sitting at one of the tables.  As he was settling in I noticed one of our peeps sitting off by herself on a rock in the park.  I have known and talked with K (not her real initial) since a few months before the pandemic.  When I first met her she was homeless.  I had not seen her for a couple years so I asked how she was and if she was living inside now.  We chatted for a while and I learned she was in a pretty good place with housing and people she liked.  
She started sharing how hard it was to continue her transition. I thought about how changing your physical self to make it consistent with your psychological self had to be really hard and scary. While I thought that was what she was talking about, the real issue was with her mom.  Her mom’s rejection of the transition makes it hard to impossible for K to commit to the rest of her transition even though trying to live as her birth gender has driven her close to suicide more than once. Mom was unable to accept where K was and where she was going.  K loves her mom and it hurts really badly that mom doesn’t return the love.
Tears ran down K’s face a couple times as she told me her story.  To be truthful I didn’t know what to say so I decided to let God tell me what to say and when.  God wasn’t talking at the moment. I sat with K for about an hour.  Before we parted I reminded her that she admired how her mom was really helpful and caring with people. I told K that K’s care and concern for those around her was evidence that a part of her mom was alive and well within her.  I told K that she has a lot to give to the world and we can’t afford to lose her.  K thanked me for listening and said people often find it hard to listen.  I don’t know how much my listening helped but that is the letting go of the outcome part.  I felt peace as she went her way and I went mine.
As Joan read from Rumi “Be a precious donor of peace and hope. Give love to all you meet.”  We don’t have to be great ministers to offer Shalom to the world.  Sometimes we don’t have to do anything but sit and see who sits down with us. 
Amen