Peace!

Easter + 6

Year C

25 May 2025

Acts 16:9-15

Psalm 67

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

John 14:23-29

Holy One,

you breathe the word of love

and the promise of new creation

into the secret places of our lives.

Teach us the costly way of fearless love and priceless peace;

through Jesus Christ, who dwells in us. Amen.

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I have to admit that I found today’s gospel a difficult one from which to work. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, we do not yet know each other well, and so today’s sermon may fall on your ears and hearts differently than I would hope.

Second, the state of the world around us in many ways makes what Jesus has to say to us in today’s gospel to be quite poignant.

They’re spoke before Jesus’ ascension to return to God’s side, and before the arrival of the Holy Spirit in our world, in our hearts at Pentecost.

Today’s words are spoken in the time before the passion, before the crucifixion, and before the resurrection of Jesus.

And yet, his words today carry much weight and message for each one of us who hear them as if for the first time.

But it’s in this weight that we turn to God. We turn to the teachings of Jesus, and the records of the first evangelists in the world, and we are able to find the hope that’s needed to take the next step forward in the world in which we live, in this world that seems, on the surface, to have forgotten Jesus’ words and God’s peace.

Jesus tells us: “²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (Jn 14:27)

At the same time, in our seeking reassurance, and guidance in the face of the world, we are able to turn to the words of the psalm, and empathize with the emotions of the psalmist who tells us:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us    and make his face to shine upon us, Selah² that your way may be known on earth,    your saving power among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1-2)

And it’s in the seeking of God’s will, of God’s direction in our lives, in our community that leads us to gather together to feel the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives and hearts; to be reminded of and to learn better the teachings of Jesus, and the work of the early days of the church.

We are not the first people to have faced the tensions we see in the world around us, where politics and physical domination of one nation over another takes precedence in our news, and in our international deliberations.

For many of us, this is the pattern that led our ancestors to come to Canada and to make our homes here, today.

They came for freedom, they came for the ability to make their own choices and to live lives that were free from the politics and oppression that they left behind.

But unless the world changes, we will be able to see these patterns repeated again, and again.

I’ve been thinking, lately, of the miniseries “A Gentleman in Moscow,” based on the novel by Amor Towles of the same name.

I’ve been contemplating how in the face of such drastic and sudden changes to society that all he could do was adapt or be overcome by them.

Yet, in his adaptation Alexander Rostov retained, and perhaps found for the first time, the best parts of himself. He found allies, love, and family in Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution.

This reminds me of what Jesus tells us, today, when he talks of peace.

“²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. … Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (Jn 14:27)

Throughout all of what we see this world facing in politics, in tariff actions against and between nations, and in fields of war around the globe, we are able to see a world that seeks to impose ideals on each other that are not based in the teachings of Jesus, nor the lessons of the Old and New Testament.

In response to this imposition by the world, these days, I find myself drawn to books that have found their way onto lists of what is being banned. I find that I suddenly want to read it, not because it’s been on my own ‘to read list,’ but because someone else is threatened by the ideas and values it presents in and to the world.

And so, we are able to return to the words of the psalm, today. We are able to look to the words of encouragement found there as we ourselves look for inspiration, today.

The psalmist, today, encourages the peoples and the nations of the world to look to God.

“³ Let the peoples praise you, O God;    let all the peoples praise you!

⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,    for you judge the peoples with equity    and guide the nations upon earth. Selah” (Ps 67:3-4)

And most interestingly, in the words of the psalm, we are encouraged to look and seek with praise in our hearts, on our minds, and on our lips.

“⁵ Let the peoples praise you, O God;    let all the peoples praise you!

⁶ The earth has yielded its increase;    God, our God, shall bless us.⁷ God shall bless us;    let all the ends of the earth fear him!” (Ps 67:5-7)

Now, here it should be noted that the term ‘fear’ the psalmist uses does not mean to be afraid, but rather in that we fear and love the Lord.

Deuteronomy reminds us: ““what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” (Deut 10:12)

This fear is a sense of awe that is greater than ourselves, not the twitchy fear of a horror movie, or of a monster in the closet. This fear is recognizing that it is through God and God’s love that we have our very lives and our ability to grow and love in this world.

So, then, how do we seek to praise God in a land that encourages oppression of those who don’t look or act the way those who are afraid act?

This is something in the freedom of our lives, of our society that may be difficult to understand, to embrace.

I have to admit that I’m a child of movies. I’ll often let one run in the background as I work. They’re movies I’ve seen so it’s not necessary for it to provide entertainment, just background noise.

But sometimes, a phrase, a thought that coincides with my writing comes out of the background and what has come out is the thought “How is never as important as why,” and this is important to today’s readings.

In today’s readings we see that Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, shares the love of God.

“⁹ A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:9-10)

Through Paul’s actions we see that it is in sharing that the expansion and growth of the people of God throughout the known world takes place.

Revelation, the vision of St. John shows us that God dwells with us, in us, and through us as we dwell in with and through God as well.

“²² And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.” (Rev 21:22-24)

And Jesus reminds us that he has given us the tools we need to make a difference in the world, to share what we have learned at his knee, through love, to remake the world in his image.

“²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.” (Jn 14:23-24)

And so, the quote from the movie becomes poignant for us, today, when it says that the how is never as important as the why.

So we ask: Why?

Why are we called upon to make these impressions in the world?

Why are we encouraged to look to God, to approach with praise in our hearts and on our lips.

And all of this brings us back to not only the psalm but the gospel, as well.

Jesus seeks to inspire, to give instruction, to help us in such times as we face, today, so that we are able find hope in a world that seeks to strip it from our lives and hearts.

“²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (Jn 14:25-26)

We are reminded that with our faith at the centre of our lives, we are encouraged to bring hope and love to this world.

And how do we do this? We do it by sharing the peace that Jesus gives to us with all who are in need.

We do this by keeping Jesus and his teachings at the centre of our lives so that even when we are faced with difficulties, we have this pillar of faith, of strength, of love within our hearts helping us to find peace and love at every turn, and to share it with those who need it most, every day.

Our ‘what’ is to bring love into the chaos of this world and the ‘why’ is because it is in our praising God that we find so much more than we could ever imagine.

Amen.