The Right Rev. William E. Swing, URI President and Founding Trustee
Peace of God Sermon - August 9, 2015
St. Andrew’s Dune Church, Southampton, New York
Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus…..”
In the 1960’s, I drove into Waterford Park Race Track in Chester, West Virginia, and started a ministry for the jockeys, hot-walkers, trainers and their families. Ever since then, I have been hooked on horses and horse racing. Therefore, when I read these words from today’s lesson…… “The peace of God which passes all understanding…,” I could not help from picturing a horse race. In my mind, there was a horse named “All Understanding” which was leading all the way. But….coming from far off the pace, was a horse named “Peace of God,” which, unexpectedly, won by a nose. Peace of God passes All Understanding, just like Scripture says. In my imaginary race, it was the total opposite of this year’s Belmont where American Pharoah shot out to an early lead and then gracefully, majestically was in complete control all the way to the winner’s circle. In my imaginary race, Peace of God, ran like Silky Sullivan used to, i.e. he started out achingly slow only to put on an incredible burst down the homestretch to victory.
Moving from the Belmont Track to the Dune Church, we could ask about the Peace of God. What exactly is it? And why, in the end, does the peace of God pass all understanding……..when all understanding is pretty impressive?
Perhaps, the peace of God is the absence of strife? I once bought a tee shirt that said, “Nobody Move….Nobody Get Hurt.” Can’t argue with that logic. But does the absence of strife define peace? Two weeks ago I walked into Grace Cathedral in San Francisco at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday evening, a time when 30 something year olds flock to bars and restaurants. To my amazement, 700 hundred young adults of this age group, poured into the Cathedral with yoga mats. On the floor, in the aisles, on the pews, under the altar, taking up every available inch of space, they did yoga and meditation exercises for an hour and a half. I could swear they walked out of the cathedral looking like they were carrying the peace of God along with their mats. The peace of God just might well be experienced when we embrace an abiding silence and quiet our bodies and retreat from the ordinary grind.
On the other hand, is it possible to experience the peace of God, or catch a glimpse of the peace of God, in the middle agonizing moments? As someone who works in the area of interfaith, I was invited, this past Spring, to collaborate on two interfaith documents at a small summit in Amman, Jordan. It happened to be two days after the Jordanian pilot was incinerated in a cage by ISIS forces. Jordanians were scathing mad. The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, invited all of us to come to his palace for a chat. As Jordanian airplanes were taking off to bomb ISIS in retaliation, the king posed a most insightful question to us. He asked, “Ultimately, how can ISIS be defeated?” (The important word here is “ultimately.”) He went on to say that ISIS might be defeated militarily….perhaps diplomatically….but in the end, ultimately, can the people of ISIS and the Jordanians be brought to a place where they can discover a path of peace among enemies? Fascinating question! We all understand the 1300 years of enmity between the Shia and the Sunni. We all understand that Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a duel of merciless blood-letting. But what does “all understanding” get us? A spectators’ ticket to unrelenting carnage! Is the peace of God a fiction in the face of real ferocity or can the peace of God pass all understanding in the end? A king believed that it could. Oh, that the religious leaders believed it.
Closer to home, we have the story of Nadine Collier of Charleston, South Carolina. The peace of God flashed through her and passed understanding. Nadine’s 70 year old mother had just been gunned down in the midst of a Bible study class. Two days later, Nadine confronted the alleged murderer, Dylann Roof, …….virtually, via satellite feed…. and what came out of her mouth was stunning beyond belief. She looked at this man who went out to kill black people, and in the midst of her enflamed soul, Nadine blurted out at Dylann. “You took something very precious from me, but I forgive you. It hurts me! You hurt a lot of people, but may God forgive you.”
I will long remember the moment when, Mary, my wife, and I heard Nadine Collier’s voice speaking those impossible words. We were in the kitchen with the TV on, preparing dinner. And our initial reaction to Nadine was to say out loud, “I don’t believe that!” We could have understood rage and the desire for revenge. Dylann had not even asked to be forgiven, but Nadine was forgiving him anyway. What in the world must have been going on in Nadine’s mind……in her heart…to say such a thing?
Answer: Nadine had internalized the mind of Christ Jesus and the heart of Christ Jesus…..that counter-intuitive teacher who taught, “You have heard of old to love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say unto you, you must love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.” A seemingly impossible command uttered in Israel but believed in Charleston.
But you know what……in my lifetime, so many of the natural enemies whom we “all understood” were transformed by the peace of God in our hearts and in our minds. My ancestors hated the English and then the confederates. As a boy, I was taught to hate the Germans and the Japanese. Then later on, the Russians and the Chinese. We “all understood” that. But given enough time and mutual interactions, enough bridges of human compassion and beneficial self interest and commerce, the peace of God prevailed. And…..name our worst enemies today….. is the peace of God possible with those evil beings? Probably, Nadine Colliers thinks so. If that possibility doesn’t have a root in our hearts and minds, the civilized world doesn’t have a chance. Show me where vengeance is always, always matched by revenge, and I will show you a Groundhog Day of hopelessness. A place where we repeat understandable violence and never get it right!
Our understanding of our enemies is a horizontal line, going back and forth from atrocity answered by atrocity. The peace of God is a vertical line that extends from the highest seat of value to the soles of our feet. At the precise place, the precise place where the horizontal line intersects with the vertical line, where they cross, we find someone saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” And at that same intersection we can hear Nadine Collier saying to Dylann Roof, “You took something precious from me, but I forgive you…..may God Forgive you.” And….maybe in not such dramatic scenes, but nonetheless important scenes, we find ourselves often at that cross point, where our hearts and minds are similarly tested.
There is a far turn and a homestretch in the race of life. And we are all on the track. “All Understanding” remains the heavy favorite. But prepare yourself. The Peace of God might yet prevail against all odds. As a matter of fact………you can bet on it.
“And the Peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Amen.
