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"Having That Amazing Peace" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– May 5, 2013 Centenary United
Psalm 89:1-9; John 14:23-29 In our lesson this
morning from John’s Gospel, Jesus presented his disciples with a unique
contrast between the peace that he gives to people and the peace that
comes from the world. This
morning we are going to explore peace from both perspectives and
hopefully take away from our service a renewable resource that produces
a calmness of spirit. Most of us could
easily recall times when we experienced such calmness. Most of our
experiences probably took place in our environment where elements in our
external world came together
perfectly producing beautiful feelings of tranquility.
Lois and I have had numerous occasions like this by watching
waves crash along the cliffs of one of our favorite haunts on our
island. Several years ago a
family rented a well-equipped cabin for a week. It was nestled among the
thousands of interconnecting waterways in They had a landline
to the central rental office for emergencies and that was their only
connection to the outside world.
There were no televisions, radios, computers or wireless devices.
This was one of those total escapes that isolated the family from
everything including world and local news. One day while the
13-year-old son was trying his skills at preparing the supper under the
watchful eye of his mom, the couple’s 1l-year-old daughter, Cathy, went
for a walk with her dad. The wilderness was teaming with wildlife. Bald
eagles soared through the sky as fish leaped at insects that were
hovering just above the water's surface. As they walked in silence,
Cathy said, "Dad, where is God?" Caught completely off guard by his
daughter's question, he responded wisely: "Where do you think God is?” Cathy said, “I
think God is everywhere. But, I don’t know.
God must be here because I feel
his presence. Her dad
replied, “Tell me about those feelings.” She said, “I feel very
peaceful. There is really
nothing here for us to do except enjoy where we are.
It is as if God wants us to see
Him through our feelings.” His daughter had
just taken him to the edge of his comfort zone.
He realized that it was better to remain a listener.
She continued, "I think this is what it must be like in
Heaven where we understand
everything with our hearts."
They walked in silence for awhile observing everything people
often miss as they run from one task to another. He had no idea how
his daughter developed such thoughts. The family did not go to church
nor had the family been exposed to any Biblical teachings. As far as he
knew, Cathy's thoughts had bubbled up from her imagination. God had not
been the focus of any discussion he could remember.
As the family sat
down to eat supper, the father said, “Why don't we join hands and pray
before we eat. Cathy, would you please lead us in prayer?” Awkwardness
crept into everyone as each hesitantly joined hands. When Cathy bowed
her head there was confused and quizzical eye contact between the other
three that communicated, “Where is this coming from?” Without a moment of
hesitation, Cathy began to talk to God as though she had done so all her
life. Her words offered touching insights about her experience in God’s
wilderness. She thanked God
for her family, for their safe travels and for the dinner that her
brother had prepared. When she finished, tears were streaming down her
mother's face. Her dad had to look away.
Jeff merely sat there silently trying to understand what had just
happened. No one knew where
Cathy’s link to God had come from. When they gently broached the topic
with her she said, “God and I have been best friends since I can
remember. This beautiful place is so wonderful that I asked daddy where
God is because I don’t know if God has a place to stay.” The peace we know
in the world mostly comes from experiences that come and go.
The peace that Cathy understood had been with her since she could
remember. She even referred to God as being her best friend.
Where did Cathy arrive at her understanding without anyone
teaching it to her? In our lesson today
Jesus is telling his disciples:
The Helper, the
Holy Spirit, whom God will send in my name, will teach you everything
and help you to remember all that I have told you.
(John 14:26) These words are
only in John’s Gospel and most of us can connect with them.
A number of us have experienced moments where our words of
comfort or encouragements to someone did not come from us.
They came through us. One explanation is
that 11-year old Cathy is an old
soul that never lost touch with where she came from prior to
entering the earth experience.
She brought with her memories of her former reality that for some
people bleed through the
fabric of their current lives. Apparently,
she was never confused by such an awareness of God.
Her parents had
always recognized that Cathy was a child that carried herself with
attitudes and a demeanor that were very different from other children,
but they never dreamed that the spirit by which she lived had something
to do with her relationship with God.
Cathy eventually brought a deeper sense of God’s presence into
her family. The kind of peace
that Jesus was giving to his disciples was different from the kind the
world gives. Cathy had the
best sense of peace that comes from both worlds.
The peace that Jesus gave was designed to instill implicit trust
in God’s presence regardless of what is happening to us.
This peace comes from within us. This peace carried
Jesus through the events of Holy Week.
This peace is what carries us through life without doubts and
fears during our rough patches.
This peace is what also preserves our humility lest we become
tempted to develop puffed up egos when successes and good fortune are
dominant themes in our lives. Not
everyone has discovered the peace that Jesus experienced.
For example, on
February 10, Carnival Cruise Lines was in the headlines again.
The Triumph had a fire break
out in her engine room that shut down the electrical grid and all
running water for the ship. The stranded vessel had to be towed from
where it stopped in the Gulf of Mexico to a port in When the ship
pulled into port, the media was there interviewing scores of people as
they disembarked in the middle of the night.
Countless people were focused only on the event and their
outrage. Some passengers
said that they would never take another cruise. Three college girls
came down the ramp filled with high energy, laugher and the glow from
having a great time amidst the chaos that others experienced on board.
When asked what their experience was like, they said that being
on the stricken ship provided them with an opportunity to help the staff
in their efforts to make other passengers as comfortable as possible.
When the
interviewer asked them why the women were so up-beat, one of the said: The response of
frustration and blaming Carnival for this mishap was not going to
restore the ship’s power. The electrical failure became an emergency for
many passengers and we made up our minds to become part of the solution.
Besides, we all knew that we had a lovely shower, food and soft beds
waiting for us when we got home. These three girls
were making visible something that Jesus said earlier in our text.
He said, “Those who love me will follow what I have taught them.
God will love them and God and I will come and live with them.”
(John 14:23b) Jesus
did not say, “God will fix your painful circumstances.”
He said, “Both of us will be with you.” The attitudes of
these women showed up making their spirits different from many others.
They were able to look beyond the moment because they knew that a
lovely shower, food and soft beds were waiting for them.
They were also giving themselves away in service to those that
were not coping well. As
love became visible, the women brought calm to the storm others were
experiencing. The peace that
Jesus gives is not tranquility nor is it defined as remaining peacefully
oblivious to all the aspects of our world that often evoke frustration,
worry and fear in us.
The peace that Jesus gives is
more akin to life-sustaining confidence that we belong to God and
absolutely nothing is going to happen to break that bond. (Romans
8:38) We might think that
weddings are a natural setting where peace reigns supreme.
Two individuals are publicly committing to spend the rest of
their lives with each other for better or for worse, for richer or
poorer, in sickness and in health.
Unfortunately, peace is seldom visible during a wedding.
Most weddings are filled with
nervousness, anxiety and a host of stress-evoking variables that appear
to be non-ending until all festivities have concluded.
Having performed
hundreds of weddings, I have conducted five ceremonies that were filled
with peace. Each time, the
couple felt safe, relaxed and they knew that if they stumbled on their
words to each other, it did not matter.
The couple could cry without feeling embarrassed.
There was no one judging their hair style, their dress code or
how their wedding ceremony was choreographed.
This peace is
different because both bride and groom were free from realized or
imagined threats from the
outside world. How was this
possible? There was only me
with the bride and groom. Their
The peace that Jesus gives
happens when we no longer personalize painful aspects of the world and
we remember that we are protected by God.
As difficult as this might be to
understand, Jesus was totally protected by God even though he was
crucified. He demonstrated
three days later that we are not our bodies.
Jesus knew he was
God’s son. Remembering that we are God’s sons and daughters is
essential. When we forget
this, we can easily lose our orientation of being
angels in the flesh.
We need this awareness to navigate successfully through some of
the phases with which our lives are filled. |