Sermon: A Song of Peace

Luke 1: 67-79, by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
December 6, 2015
Second Sunday of Advent


Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty Savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ – Luke 1: 67-79

The season of Advent often leads my heart and mind to reflect on the world around us. And each Advent I have noticed that the heartbeat of the world gets a little more anxious. The forty days of Advent send us on a pilgrimage towards God’s hope, peace, joy, and love breaking into our broken world. Our anticipation grows as the world’s hurts always seem more jarring this time of year. After the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Africa, and lesser media driven places, a poem began to circulate across social media. The words were penned by a 27 year old Somali – British writer. Her name is Warsan Shire.

Later that night
I held an atlas in my lap
Ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered,
Where does it hurt?
Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere.

This time of year we hear the world ache for peace and we wonder, “How long, O Lord? How long?”

The Gospel of Luke recalls a time when the known world ached for peace as well. The ancient Mediterranean world of the New Testament was under the rule of Rome. The Roman Empire was oppressive. It controlled all politics, military, and economy. Luke’s Gospel speaks a prophetic word into this oppressed community about anticipating God’s coming kingdom. And Zechariah’s words could not come at a more poignant time.

Zechariah’s words are considered a song, or hymn if you will. You and I know that the power of a song or hymn transcends time and space and does something deep within our spirit. Zechariah’s song is spirit-filled. God lifts this priest’s voice to move the community to reflect into their past in order to see the future hope for peace which God is preparing.

Long ago our ancestors of faith began a risky pilgrimage to follow the hope of God’s promises through Abraham. God called to Abraham and Sarah and looked into their aches for belonging, safety, and family connection. God promised to work through Abraham to fashion a people who belonged to God. God promised to work through Abraham to bestow divine blessings through the generations to reveal God’s presence. And God promised to work through Abraham to grant the people of God an eternal place with the promised land of Canaan.

As our ancestors of faith took each step towards God’s faithfulness, they encountered obstacles and threats to God’s promises. How would Sarah bear a promised child at such an old and barren age? How would God’s people make it to the promised land when they encountered the oppressive Egyptian Pharaoh? God’s faithfulness continued to lead them from fear to a deeper trust as they overcame each obstacle and stood on the promises of God.

As the descendants of Abraham grew in number and spirit as God’s people, God’s promises rested in new ways upon King David. God promised to work through David to bring an eternal kingdom that would bring peace. And God’s peace would restore humanity and creation through a mighty Savior.

Zechariah’s song helped the people to remember we are standing on the promises of God for they are coming to fruition. God faithfully worked through Abraham and David and now we begin to see a new glimmer of God’s activity through the birth of Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist. John was the one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.

By retracing the past story of God’s faithful promises, Zechariah lifted his voice to assure an aching community that God’s peace was coming. It did not matter how big the threat or fear was from the Roman Empire, God was good on God’s promises. But the peace that Zechariah sang about was not a peace brought by the might of John or a political Messiah or even the people of God. God’s peace would not reach up by the hands of human strength. Rather God’s peace would come down by claiming the weakness of our hearts.

The peace God chooses has a confessional nature. Zechariah says John will prepare the way of the Lord to God’s people through the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. Peace does not begin by looking outside our windows and grumbling about what is wrong with the world. Peace begins by looking inside our hearts and recognizing the ways we have caused conflict from our own misunderstandings. Peace begins by looking inside our minds and admitting how much power we give to fear. Peace begins by looking inside ourselves to name our doubts for anything to change.

A song of peace rose up for the world in a powerful way in 1955. Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller wrote “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” The words came from a painful time in Jill Jackson’s life. She said that she wrote the song after experiencing the “saving joy of God’s peace and unconditional love.” The song has been sung throughout the last sixty years by children’s choirs. It was recently sung by a children’s choir in September at the close of the Interfaith Prayer Service and Remembrance at Ground Zero in New York. The lyrics continue to urge us to globally seek peace through mutual understanding:

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.


The second week of Advent begs us to listen for the whispers of God’s peace that has been promised long ago through our ancestors in faith. Listen for the song of God’s faithfulness in the biblical story. Listen for the song of God’s faithfulness in the story of your past as well. Where has God brought peace in your past experiences?

This second week of Advent also holds us accountable to follow in the faithfulness of the one who prepares the way of the Lord. We look to John the Baptist and remember the confessional nature of these forty days. We are called to remember our need for a Savior and to open our hearts and minds to be turned away from the obstacles that threaten us from experiencing God’s promises.

We would be bold to name them: the temptation to cave into the fear of terrorism; the complacency held as violence is normalized; being vulnerable enough to say we might be wrong; claiming our own inability to forgive and extend God’s to others.

We are to name the threats to God’s promises of peace. Our confession opens our hearts for the Spirit to deepen our trust and turn us towards God’s coming kingdom. It’s an upside down kingdom that seeks to use our limitations and vulnerability to reveal God’s strength. God’s reign of peace is seeking to focus our spiritual eyes on Jesus Christ in order to mend our brokenness and restore us. As the peace of Christ reigns in us, then the Spirit moves us to lift our voice and sing God’s song of peace to bear hope for others.

In her devotional book entitled, “Jesus Calling,” Sarah Young says this about opening ourselves to the peace that Christ gives:

Let me infuse my peace into your innermost being. As you sit quietly in the Light of my presence, you can sense peace growing within you. This is not something that you accomplish through self-discipline and willpower; it is opening yourself to receive my blessing.

You see, the key in understanding God’s peace is to first recognize that it is a promised gift of God’s wholeness. Peace is not an absence of conflict but a saving restoration that can only come through the Messiah we are waiting for. The hope and peace of God put on skin as the Christ child to show a new way to live into God’s promises. This is what makes the incarnation so powerful. God chooses to use human vulnerability to reveal God’s strength and to bring about God’s purposes. God hears the aches of our world, our communities, our families, and our very selves. But in order for God’s purposes of peace to claim the earth, we need to prepare the way for the Lord’s peace to abide in you and me.

Sing a song of peace today. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with you and with me.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.


Sources:
“Let There be Peace on Earth" (song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_There_Be_Peace_on_Earth_%28song%29
Sarah Young, "Jesus Calling" (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 348.