Sunday, December 13, 2015 | 8:00 a.m.

Guarding Peace

Victoria G. Curtiss
Associate Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church

Isaiah 12:1–6
Zephaniah 3:14–20
Philippians 4:4–7

When grace doesn’t come from the right, it comes from the left.
When it doesn’t come straight, it comes bent.
When it doesn’t come from above, it comes from below.
When it doesn’t come from the center, it comes from the circumference. . . .
We may finish a way we never began, but we shall finish.
This age, . . . this people, will get there along a road they never set out on.

Charles Peguy

Have you noticed how frequently the scriptures this season of the church year talk about fear and proclaim “Do not be afraid”? We find this in the story of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. When the angel appeared to him with the news he and his wife would bear a son, he was terrified. The angel’s first words were “Do not be afraid.” Later Zechariah was struck mute because he didn’t believe what the angel proclaimed. Then when his speech returned, “fear came over all their neighbors” (Luke 1:65). When the angel Gabriel first encounters Mary to tell her she will be the mother of Jesus, he begins, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30). An angel appears in a dream to Joseph and says, “Do not be afraid” to take Mary as your wife (Matthew 1:20). When the multitude of angels appear to the terrified shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, they begin, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 2:10). Today’s scripture readings follow this theme. Isaiah says, “I will trust, and will not be afraid” (Isaiah 12:2). The prophet Zephaniah promises that one day the nations shall seek refuge in the Lord “and no one will make them afraid” (Zephaniah 3:13). Philippians exhorts us not to worry about anything. Do not worry. Do not fear. Do not be afraid. Humanity appears to need a lot of urging and reassuring from God in order not to be fearful and anxious. How quickly we become afraid of that which is foreign to us or unexpected or when we feel out of control—even when what we are experiencing is from the hand of God.

Fear has been a prominent theme of the last couple weeks in our world. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in both Paris and California, Americans are more fearful about the likelihood of another terrorist attack now than at any other time since the weeks after September 11, 2001 (Jonathan Martin and Dalia Sussman, “Fear of Terrorism Lifts Donald Trump in New York Times/CBS Poll,” New York Times, 10 December 2015). Recent reports of police behavior in Chicago reveal why predominantly African American communities have long distrusted and felt endangered rather than protected by the police. When our nation’s president and our city’s mayor made special speeches to calm us down and assure us action is being taken, a frequently heard response has been “That is not enough.” One presidential candidate has been feeding off people’s fear by inciting further alienation and hatred of people who are Muslim. The Bible says, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). But we haven’t seen much public display of perfect love lately.

A major problem with fear is that it becomes our enemy even more than those of whom we are afraid. Fear often leads human beings to act aggressively toward those they see as a threat. Poverty and oppression breed lack of hope. Despair leads to fear. Racism fuels fear. Fear leads to hatred. Hatred feeds violence. Gangs and enemies form. Revenge for the death of one’s own leads to the death of another. As the adage goes “Hurt people hurt people.” War follows upon war.

There is a huge mural at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, in the Council Hall, where nations and factions for decades have met at tables to seek to resolve conflicts. The mural, which is painted on all four walls and the ceiling, is called “Victors and Vanquished.” The artist, José Maria Sert, from Salamanca, Spain, completed the mural during the Spanish Civil War. It depicts on one side the winners in armed conflict. There are banners and marching, but the victors’ celebration is muted by the casualties whom the returning soldiers carry and by the anguish of widows and orphans. On the other side of the mural are the defeated, bent-down, beaten for now, but their fists are clenched—you can see their resentfulness and bitterness—and you recognize that foremost in the minds of the vanquished is revenge.

Precious Blood Ministries here in Chicago seeks to break the cycle of fear and harm through relentless caring of young African American males in Englewood who have gotten in trouble with the law or are at risk of doing so. Fr. Kelly, the founder of this ministry, shared some stories with our church’s mission group on restorative justice last week. He talked about how uncomfortable the boys and young men are when they leave their own neighborhood because of the way others react to them. For example, Fr. Kelly encouraged them on an outing to go into a sporting goods store downtown. They walked in as a group and saw the store security immediately get on edge and start watching them like a hawk. Then the security staff saw white, middle-aged Fr. Kelly walk in behind them and their manner completely changed: they assumed he was their basketball coach and they were athletes. The guys noticed this. It’s not easy walking around having others treat you like you are thugs.

Fr. Kelly also told us about how they are restoring peace and justice in Englewood by conducting peace circles. In one type of peace circle, someone who has been harmed in some way sits with the person that did the harm, along with others from the community. A black policeman who lived in Englewood had had a laptop computer stolen from his home by a fourteen-year-old boy. He was willing to sit in a peace circle with the boy who had stolen it, but he started out sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, a bit distant. Each male in the circle was asked to say who had been an important mentor and positive influence in their lives. Many of the boys said it was their mother. When it came around to the cop, he said it had been his mother as well. They disclosed other things about themselves. A while later the arms of the police officer were no longer crossed over his chest but extended toward the circle, and he was leaning forward, intently listening. It came time for him to talk about the harm done by the burglary. He said, “What really hurt was not so much the loss of my computer. What really hurt relates to my five-year-old son. See, when I was growing up I didn’t have a dad in my life, and I promised my son I would always be there for him and make a safe home for him. After the theft, he was really upset. He didn’t want to live in our house anymore. We sent him to live with his grandmother for five days. So what really hurt was that he no longer felt safe.”

The fourteen-year-old who had stolen the computer began to apologize profusely. He knew what it was like not to have a father around, and he knew what it was like not to feel safe in one’s own neighborhood. The policeman, the father, forgave him. In fact, he went on to say, “You know, I’m a coach as well as a cop. I heard you say you like to play basketball. Would you like to play on the team I coach?” Now that is what makes for peace: stopping the cycle of hurt, healing the harm, restoring relationships, moving towards one another rather than seeking punishment or revenge or seeding animosity.

Moving from fear to peace is a choice for which we can be equipped, and this takes us back to scripture. You may have heard the benediction at the end of a worship service based on one of the verses in today’s readings: “May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Only in Philippians (4:7) it actually says, “And the peace of God . . . will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The peace of God will be the outcome as a result of our doing several things that are named in a few previous verses of scripture:

Rejoice always, no matter what.
Express gentleness to everyone.
Don’t worry about anything, because the Lord is near.
In all situations, make known your requests to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

If you do all this, the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul wrote this to the Philippians while he was in jail. In his time, the Roman Empire was persecuting the Christians. If Paul came across the Psalm 119 while he was behind bars, he would have known what it meant when it says, “They who draw near me persecute me” (Psalm 119:150). And then Paul would have read, “Yet you are near, O Lord, and all your commandments are true.” And he would have found in Psalm 145, “The Lord is near to all who call on him” (Psalm 145:18). Paul did call on God and found it was true. He wrote to the Philippians, “The Lord is at hand. So rejoice. Again, I say to you, rejoice. And make your requests known to God with prayer and thanksgiving.” Years ago I led a Bible study in which a woman named Bessie Simmons said, “When I have troubles, I pray. The Lord said, ‘Let not your heart be troubled,’ so I keep him to his word!”

I used to think that it is our job to guard peace. But in Paul’s writing, it is God’s peace that guards us. God’s peace guards us from retaliating in fear or hatred. God’s peace protects us from making shortsighted, misguided, reactionary responses when we feel hurt or threatened. God’s peace guards us from returning evil for evil.

We need to examine from where our sense of peace, safety, and security comes. The National Rifle Association executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, is often quoted as saying, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.” Many believe that guns are needed and used for self-defense. But a study by the nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive based on FBI and Justice Department data found that of nearly 52,000 recorded shootings in 2014, there were fewer than 1,600 verified cases where firearms were used for self-defense. Many Americans think guns make you safer. But numerous studies show that owning a gun can actually increase a person’s risk of bodily harm and death. The 80 million Americans who keep guns in the home are 90 percent more likely to die by homicide than Americans who don’t keep guns. Another 2014 study showed that people with a gun in the house are three times as likely to kill themselves as are non-firearm owners. This is not because gun owners are more suicidal. It’s because they are more likely to die in the event that they become suicidal, because they are using a gun (“Firearms and Self-Defense,” The Week, 6 November 2015, p. 14). Possessing guns does not make us safer.

It is God who is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, in whom we take refuge (Psalm 18:2). Calling on God, rejoicing that God is near, making known our needs to God with thanksgiving, treating others with gentleness—these are what best combat fear and bring us true security and peace.

A woman publicly known by the name of Peace Pilgrim lived from 1908 to 1981. For the last twenty-eight years of her life she was on a peace pilgrimage. She walked more than 25,000 miles across our country spreading the message of what brings peace. She wrote a little pamphlet called “Steps Toward Inner Peace,” which you can find on the Internet. In her writings she addressed fear by saying:

There’s no greater block to world peace or inner peace than fear. What we fear we tend to develop an unreasoning hatred for, so we come to hate and fear. This not only injures us psychologically and aggravates world tension, but through such negative concentration we tend to attract the things we fear. If we fear nothing and radiate love, we can expect good things to come. How much this world needs the message and example of love and faith! (Peace Pilgrim, Steps Toward Inner Peace: Harmonious Principles for Human Living, p. 29)

She also wrote:

My friends, the world situation is grave. Humanity, with fearful faltering steps, walks a knife-edge between complete chaos and a golden age, while strong forces push toward chaos. Unless we, the people of the world, awake from our lethargy and push firmly and quickly away from chaos, all that we cherish will be destroyed in the holocaust which will descend.

This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love. The Golden Rule would do as well. Please don’t say lightly that these are just religious concepts and not practical. These are laws governing human conduct, which apply as rigidly as the law of gravity. When we disregard these laws in any walk of life, chaos results. Through obedience to these laws this frightened, war-weary world of ours could enter into a period of peace and richness beyond our fondest dreams.” (Peace Pilgrim, www.peacepilgrim.com)

This is the call of the Advent season—to prepare our hearts to receive the Christ child, to make room for him to come and dwell in our midst, Emmanuel, God-with-Us, the Prince of Peace. God wants us to embody the proclamation “Peace on earth, goodwill to all.” So rejoice always, no matter what. Express gentleness to everyone. Don’t worry about anything, because the Lord is near. In all situations, pray to God with thanksgiving. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). Amen.