“Praying for Peace”

I Timothy 2:1-7

A sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

November 19, 2006

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

          This is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. As such, it is a time to remember the blessings we have received in the past year, the family and friends who bring us healing and peace, and the food that sustains us. 

               Think about those people and things for which you give thanks.

               I’m thankful for my family, those that are close by and those that are far away.  I thank you for your prayers and support for my sister who has struggled a good bit this year.  Your prayers and your support have certainly made a difference in my life and I have to believe they have made a difference in her life, too.

               I’m thankful for this church family.  It’s caring and its creativity.

               I’m thankful that we granted each other 12 weeks of sabbatical change of pace this spring and summer.

               I’m thankful for all of the ways we serve God by being servants to God’s people: Meals of Wheels; Loaves and fishes; our sister church in Leon Nicaragua; the myriad ways we use this wonderful building for healing and sanctuary for our congregation and many other groups;     the way so many of us have shared the care in times of crisis; the way we continue to stand up for what is just, right, holy and purely the gospel teaching; the way we live the great commandment, great criteria and the great commission; the way we challenge ourselves through creative worship—I’m thinking especially of the Lenten production of “The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene let alone the great preaching of our own in the Fire in the Bones Team.

               I’m thankful for all of you.       I’m also thankful that you have been able to keep focused upon the big picture of life and faith.  We have not let little bumps in the road get us down or distract us from the true work of the Gospel which we do in this place.  Putting the regional strife behind us has opened up new opportunities for mission and has freed up the best of our minds and hearts to focus on doing the Gospel work of being open to the movement of the Spirit of God.

               As we get ready this week to prepare and consume sumptuous Thanksgiving feasts, we would be remiss if we did not also think of those less fortunate than ourselves—people without a healing community, without food, without adequate employment, without the love we all need to sustain us.   The Gospel message is that are to care for all people and work for peace for all people.

               The common lectionary gives us a passage from I Timothy 2:1-7 for use at This time of year because it contains a thanksgiving.  Such thanksgivings open many of the epistles.  It’s good to open a letter with thanks before getting to the meat of the matter.  It butters the folk up and it’s good manners.  

               The passage from Timothy is actually part of a larger discourse on what is proper for Christian worship.  Henri Nouwen said that there are two pillars of Christianity: Prayer and doing justice.  Both are in today’s scripture.

               The writer starts out by asking that we pray for everyone.  Supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings ought to be made for everyone.  This is radical talk.  It is saying that everyone is worthy of prayer.  Everyone is worthy of thanks. Everyone, even the most unholy of us all is worthy of intercession.  We ought to call on God to intercede not only in our lives, but in everyone’s lives.  That means not only Christians.  We are to pray for, give thanks for, ask for God to intercede on behalf of all people in the whole world. We are to pray for everyone, not just for our own kind or our own party or our own family or even our own religion.  We are to cast a wide net in our prayers.  Surely this is one way to make for peace.  

               Preacher and commentator Fred Craddock puts it this way in talking about today’s passage:

               “We confess to one God and mediator Jesus Christ and in so doing separate ourselves from those who cannot and will not confess likewise.  Yet, our text will not allow us to become a Christian ghetto where we only pray to ourselves and for ourselves.  As squarely as we stand within our confession, we nonetheless are bound to see beyond it.  To the degree that we are able to do this, we become like God.  And to this extent, we can learn to say the prayers of thanksgiving.” (Craddock, et. al.—Preaching the New Common Lectionary Year B 1985:297)

               Once we pray for everyone, even the least of these, then we are to pray for kings and people in positions of authority. As the results of the elections have us anticipating changes in leadership and possibly direction in the coming weeks, we would do well to pray for all people—both the ones making the decisions and the ones effected by the decisions. The writer of Timothy calls us to pray that everyone might lead a peaceful life. 

               As we pray for those in high places, it may very well feel like we are praying for our enemies or those who persecute us, as Jesus taught us.  After all, a corrupt government is depicted in Revelation as a murderous beast.  And yet we ought to pray for our government that they might do the things that lead to peace.  

               We ought to pray that they will live up to their calling to be preservers of peace, that all people might be able to live in dignity, that all people might be called blessed by God and loved by the community.  This is a very tall order and deserves our prayers and our intercession s and our thanks for all of the strides in that direction.

               I’m reminded of a quote by Walter Knight that I have framed in my office.  I got this from the Baptist Peace Fellowship:

               “Peace, like war is waged.  

               Peace plans its strategy and encircles the enemy.

               Peace marshals its forces and storms the gates.

               Peace gathers its weapons and pierces the defense.

               Peace like war is waged.

               But Christ has turned it all around:

               The weapons of peace are love, joy, goodness, longsuffering.

               The arms of peace are justice, truth, patience, prayer.

               The strategy of peace brings safety, welfare, happiness.

               The forces of peace are the sons and daughters of God.”

               I was encouraged by an e-mail I received from Soulforce a week or so ago.  It called for compassion for Ted Haggard.  Soulforce called upon people to resist the temptation to rejoice at his downfall and instead see him as a victim of misinformation and a rigidity that left no room for grey area.  They asked that we pray for him and that he might be able to live a life where he does not have to feel like he has to hide who he is and can lead a life of dignity and wholeness.  This seems to me to be the peacemaker’s way.

               Think about what might make for peace these days. 

               Is it simply an end to an armed conflict? 

               Is it making nice-nice with those who challenge us? 

               Is it the presence of equality and the presence of acceptance and respect? 

               Is it the presence of dignity and respect for all people?

               Is it the abandonment of scapegoating a person or a group?

               Is it the presence of full employment at a decent wage for all people?

               Is it health care for all people?

               Is it a decent education that even lets us learn things that are critical of the status quo?

               Peace is the presence of all of that.

               Barbara Sanderson gives us this reflection on peace:             

            “Peace is much more than the opposite of war.

 

            Peace begins inside of each of us.

            When we have compassion for ourselves, we create peace.

            When we stay sufficient and refuse to act smaller than we are, we create peace.

            When we act on what we hold most sacred, we create peace.

            When we live our own lives, rather than trying to be what we think others want us to be, we create peace.

            When we have the courage to transform what is no longer working in our lives, we create peace.

            Peace is being congruent with our own best selves.

 

            Every time we encounter another human being we have the opportunity to create peace.

            When we maintain our compassion for others, no matter how they behave, we create peace.

            When we stay curious and open to possibility, we create peace.

            When we speak our truth without blaming or judging the other person, we create peace.

            When we change our own unproductive behavior in conflicted relationships, we open the door for peace.

            When we check our assumptions about others before acting on them, create peace.

            Peace is practicing loving presence with others.

 

            In every group that we are part of, we have the opportunity to be agents of peace.

            When we address concerns directly and with compassion, we create peace.

            When we offer constructive solutions to problems we raise, we create peace.

            When we create a place of respect for every individual in the organization, we create peace.

            When we put equal attention to tasks and relationships, we create peace.

            When we take responsibility for our own impact on others, we create peace.

            Peace in an organization is the sum of the behaviors of its members.

            Peace is much more than the opposite of war.”                                                                                                                                      BarbaraESanderson@mn.rr.com

               .

               Sisters and brothers, we are called by God over and over throughout scripture to pray and work for peace.  

               The peace that we need is more than simply something out there to be attained.  

               It needs to come from a source and well deep within.

               Peaceful people make peace in the world.  

               As you pray for peace out there, I also encourage you to look deep within yourself for those places where we need peace.  

               Look for those places where we are filled with conflict and turmoil and woe and despair.  

               I don’t ask you to give all of that up right now.  It might be a very tender place in your heart.  Pay attention to it.  

               I ask that you allow a portion of God to invade your heart and remind you that you do not carry this burden alone.  

               God is there by your side, holding your hand and vowing not to let you go.  Hold on tight to that hand of God.  May you together go about the work of peace.   

               That act of holding God’s hand as you encounter the worst of the world is the best prayer for peace.  Because you become the prayer for peace.  May we pray for peace this week as we give thanks for those who hold our hands.  May we remember that Jesus prayer for all of us saying, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for we shall be called the children of God.”