Peace

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”  — Colossians 3:15

In the final episode of the television series MASH, in the operating room the doctors are performing surgery and a speaker on the wall broadcasts the report of war correspondent Robert Pierpoint. You can hear the explosions from artillery fire and some small arms fire in the background. It is almost 10:00 a.m. according to the clock nearby. Pierpoint stops speaking, and seconds later the sounds of war cease. A look of disbelief passes over the faces of the medical staff, then Pierpoint says, “That is the sound of peace.” No one smiles.  There is no joy on their faces. They return immediately to the bloody work at hand. The ceasefire of July 27, 1953 did not Institute an era of peace for the Korean peninsula. It has now been over 67 years since that day, and the two Koreas are still in a state of war. The DMZ is the most heavily defended National border in the world. The tension between to the two countries is tangible.

In classical Greek the word for peace denotes an interlude in a state of hostility, much like what was enacted in that episode of MASH. The whole concept of peace, though, changed on the day that the Son of God became man. The Prince of Peace was born into the world, and peace became incarnate. At the birth of Christ (Luke 2:14), the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” Peace is, at its heart, unity with God. The Prince of Peace came to reign. As St. Paul exhorts in the passage quoted above, we are to let “the peace of Christ rule in our hearts”.

Peace originates in God and is made present in our covenant relationship with him. As the psalmist said in Psalm 85:8, “He speaks peace to his people, to his saints”. And two verses later it says, “righteousness and peace kiss each other”. When we live in our covenant of peace with God, we are in right relationship.  This is not some psychological readjustment of our thinking; nor is it the institution of a self-help program for getting along with other people. The peace of God is a manifesting of Christ in our lives, allowing Him to direct our thoughts as well as our actions.

The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is much more than just a greeting. The word appears 250 times in the Old Testament. It is an important principle. The word implies a sense of completeness and harmony with the world, with God, and with others. It implies an unimpaired relationship in covenant with God and each other. When shalom is used as a greeting, there is an implied blessing of holiness upon the other. Shalom is evidence of God’s covenant and a right relationship with him.

The Greek word for peace, eirene, ties closely to shalom, and is completed in the Incarnation. Peace is intended to become the normal state for those living in Christ. We are called to manifest His will and display His glory, being at peace regardless of our circumstances. Those who are in the Body of Christ are to make God’s peace present, incarnate, in the world.

Mercy

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” — Matthew 5:7

“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” — James 2:13

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.And have mercy on those who doubt;save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”  — Jude 20-23

In Shakespeare’s play, “The Merchant of Venice” (Act 4, scene 1), the character Portia says, “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. Upon the place beneath, it is twice blessed: it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” Portia is declaring a biblical truth. Mercy flows freely from heaven, and where mercy is practiced there is a double blessing. The one who receives mercy is blessed, but also the one who has shown mercy is equally blessed. This is what Jesus was proclaiming in the beatitude quoted above.

Mercy is in God’s very nature. The Scriptures repeatedly proclaim that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). And we are told that “His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 118; Ps. 136). Those who are found in him will do the things that he does, and grow more and more like him. When we are in Him, and receive His mercy freely, we learn to pass that mercy on. As St Jude indicates in the passage quoted above we are expected to build ourselves up in faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. We are exhorted to keep ourselves “in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Whereas mercy comes naturally to God, as fallen creatures we need God’s grace to practice mercy toward one another.  

And it is important to note that God is a just God. In God’s judgment our sins deserve punishment, and therefore, we must be punished accordingly.  However, as St. James declares in the passage quoted above, God is merciful and His “mercy triumphs over judgment.”  We need to follow His example, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.” When wronged, we want either justice or vengeance.  But the model of mercy found in the Jesus Christ is to forgive, and show mercy.  And in doing that we will receive mercy in return.

As members of the Body of Christ—the building blocks of the Temple—we live in covenant with God, and with one another.  In that relationship we covenant to “respect the dignity of every human being.”  And we promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 305). As God loves us, we are to love, respect, and show mercy to “every human being.”  And Jesus lays out for us the practical implications of this covenant in Luke’s Gospel (6:27-36):

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

None of this is an easy task for us as fallen creatures.  But by God’s grace, and in relationship with His Son, Jesus, we are being continually transformed into His image. The commandment is clear, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”, for in doing so, you shall receive mercy.

Pursuing Excellence 

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” —Philippians 1:9-11

We are being built into a dwelling place for God. It is very important, therefore, to use the most excellent building materials for both brick and mortar. Saint Paul reminds us in the passage quoted above that love is the key component to binding the building blocks of these walls together. He says that it is his prayer that our “love may abound more and more… so that we may approve what is excellent.” The bricks of these walls must be made of the finest clay, being “pure and blameless…filled with the fruit of righteousness.” And that righteousness can come only through Jesus Christ. Excellence, therefore, is living in right relationship with Jesus Christ “to the glory and praise of God.”

St John talks about the walls of the Temple, but uses a different metaphor. The Temple, that is the Church, is the bride of Christ. St John, in the book of the Revelation, refers to the bride making herself ready. He says, “it is granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints” (Rev. 19:8). If we are going to build a temple worthy of our God, we must pursue excellence. We must use the finest building materials: “bright and pure—the righteous deeds of the saints.”

As we begin construction of these walls let us examine what materials we are incorporating into the bricks. Each week we will examine five Christian virtues as described in the Bible. Then on the Saturday of each week we will pause to reflect on those virtues, take a moment for self-examination, and repent for our shortcomings in putting those virtues to practice in our own building process. We can then ask God for the grace to amend our lives that we may come into right relationship with Him.

So, let us pursue excellence that we may be “pure and blameless for the day of Christ,filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

New Life in Jesus Christ

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,and give no opportunity to the devil.Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  — Ephesians 4:25-32

As we said at the beginning of this week, walls divide people. But the walls that God would seek to build for his Temple are not designed to keep people out, rather they are intended to divide virtuous and righteous living from the unrighteous behavior that is manifest in the world. Saint Paul commands that “all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away” from us. These walls would seal out these unrighteous ways from the hearts of those who dwell in Him. The walls that He would have us build would divide the righteousness found in Christ Jesus from the unrighteousness found in the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Paul tells us in his Second Epistle to Corinth (5:16-17) that we are to regard no one from a human point of view but that we are to become a new creation in Jesus Christ. He says that if anyone is in Christ—if anyone dwells in his holy Temple—they are a new creation. And the apostle reminds us in his epistle to Rome (6:4) that we are to continue to walk in that newness of life.

How is all of this supposed to happen? Paul instructs that having put away falsehood we are each to speak truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. It falls back on what God told us yesterday. It is love that binds us together one with another, and when we walk in love and speak the truth one to another He will build us up into a holy Temple for His praise and His glory, and for our protection from all evil.

It is now time to begin to listen to God and follow His plans for the rebuilding of the walls of His Holy Temple.  With Jesus as the cornerstone, the apostles and prophets as the foundation, the members of the Body of Christ as the building blocks, and love to bind us together, we can begin construction.  The walls of the Temple of God are built with virtue and righteousness.  Over the weeks of this Lenten pilgrimage, let us listen to the instruction found in God’s Word, for as we have been reminded by St. Paul (Romans 15:4), “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” We all need a dose of hope right now, and we need clear direction as we move forward in that hope.  Let us listen and obey, and watch God build us up “into a holy Temple…a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Binding All Things Together

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  — Colossians 3:12-17

As we noted yesterday, we are being built together into a holy structure, a dwelling place for God. But if we are the building blocks of this Temple, what are the things that hold us together? Saint Paul tells us in the passage above that “love…binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Love is, as it were, the mortar that holds the bricks together in the walls of the Temple. For it is love which does the binding. It is love that cements the bricks together one to another. St Peter tells us in his first epistle (2:5) that we, “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” The walls God is building are a living entity.  We are the “living stones” in these walls. Our love for one another is what will make this structure sound and whole. 

If we are honest with ourselves we will recognize that we are incapable of fulfilling this task. But St Paul also recognized this shortcoming in the people of God, so he says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” We are to do everything “in the Name of the Lord Jesus.” If these walls will stand, then we must be “In Christ”!  If we are living in Jesus Christ, in His Name, then we are in right relationship with Him. It is the relationship we have with Him and with the apostolic and prophetic Body of His Church that will give form to the structure of the walls. And when we are in right relationship He will be at work in us and will manifest His love through us that others might to be drawn into the fullness of his holy Temple. 

It is love that “binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Love for God and love for one another is the key virtue of the masonry work of the Temple walls.  Living out that love is what will give form and structure to the Temple that God desires to build for the worship of Him and for the life and protection of His Body.

The Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets

“And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”  — Ephesians 2:17-22

In the passage quoted above, the household of God, the Temple of the Lord, is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. But it is interesting to note that the whole structure “grows into a holy Temple in the Lord.” This structure grows. It is alive. The walls of the Temple God is rebuilding are a living entity, and we are the building blocks of these walls if we stand on the foundation of Jesus, together with His apostles and prophets. We are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Holy Spirit. In the past, we may have been strangers and aliens to God, but in His mercy He has brought us near and knit us together by his Holy Spirit into one Body. And He has incorporated us into this household where he has built a foundation in the Church, firmly established on the apostolic and prophetic ministry of the Body of Christ. This structure only holds together if we remain in relationship with the Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. And if we remain in Him He will continue to build us together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

In Isaiah 60:18, the prophet gives us a vision of the New Jerusalem that he has received from God. In that vision, the prophet tells us, “You will call your walls salvation, and all of your gates will be praise.” There is no salvation outside of this living Body of Christ’s Temple. And when we live together, fashioning our lives as a righteous dwelling place for God by the Spirit, our lives will redound to the praise of His Glory. It is an inviting image, and one that we hope the world will witness and desire for themselves.

This new Temple that God is creating, is a living entity, and it will only work if the building blocks stand firmly rooted to the foundation, and stick closely together.  St. Paul says in the passage above that “You (that is a plural: “y’all”) also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”  As we make our pilgrimage through this Lenten Season, let us remain open, humble, and repentant, so that He may build US into that holy structure.

The Dividing Wall of Hostility

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility…”  — Ephesians 2:13-14

Saint Paul tells us, in the scripture quoted above, that Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. Walls divide people. Robert Frost, in his poem “Mending Wall”, quotes the aphorism “Good fences make good neighbors.” Then he proceeds to ask the question, “Why do they make good neighbors? Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out. And to whom I was like to give offense.” 

Walls divide people. However, as we saw in the introduction to these meditations, God desired that His people rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But he also commanded that they rebuild the walls of the Temple first. The walls of the Temple hold up the roof, His covering over the worshipping community.

There has been a dismantling of the familiar things in the church–things that have brought us comfort in the past. For example, on this Ash Wednesday, we will not be in a position to receive the imposition of Ashes. We have gone an entire year without being able to hug one another at the passing of the Peace. We cannot take the Lord’s blood from a common chalice. And there are many other things that we have grown accustomed to which have been taken away from us.  God is dismantling our “familiar structures” and rebuilding His Temple according to His purposes and will.

God is calling upon his people to rebuild the walls of the Temple of his Body, the Church. But what will these walls look like? Of what will they be constructed? These are not to be walls that divide people. They are to be walls of virtue, to hold in righteous hearts and to keep out works of the world, the flesh, and the devil. These walls will need to have open windows through which those outside can peer into the righteous workings of Christ’s body. These walls will need to have wide, welcoming gates to heartily receive those who desire to come in. These walls will need to look like the Lord himself, for he says that He Himself is a wall of protection around those who belong to him (cf. Zech. 2:5).

God does not want us to build walls to shield us from those outside the body, to separate us from the world. On the contrary, Jesus said that we are to be in the world, that the world may know him (John 16:33; 17:15-18). Jesus prayed that the Father would keep us from the evil one, not from one another. The walls we are building are walls of virtue, walls that keep us in right relationship with God, safe from evil but not isolated from the world.

Jesus is breaking down the dividing wall of hostility, and calling upon us, His body, to build walls of virtue and righteousness, that the Temple of his Body may be a covering over all people.

Introduction

“For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.  — Isaiah 54:7-8  

This past year has been an extremely difficult one. Between the pandemic, the political turmoil, and social unrest it appears that there are powers at work seeking to uproot and shatter our lives. However, there is no power greater than God. These things have happened because God has either allowed them to happen or he has ordained them. But this begs the question, “Why would a loving God allow such tragic events to take place?”

The prophet Isaiah said, “‘For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord, your Redeemer.” But again, why would a loving God ever desert his people? In Psalm 81, the psalmist quotes God saying, “My people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!” God is calling!  “Oh, that my people would listen to me!”

Saint Paul reminds us in his epistle to the Romans (15:4) that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.” What instruction is God giving us through His Word, and through these contemporary events? He is calling, but what is He saying? Throughout the Old Testament, and through the history of the Church, we see a clear pattern in the relationship between God and his people. For example, when God’s people refused to listen to Him after their deliverance from Egypt, He allowed them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Later, when His people abandoned true worship, and sought after false gods, He allowed Babylon to overthrow Jerusalem and to destroy the temple. He cast His people into exile for 70 years, making them slaves to a foreign power. And throughout the history of the church, we see evidence of God breaking down our manmade institutions, and repeatedly rebuilding the church in His image.  

God loves His people, and He wants a close, deep, intimate, personal relationship with us.  “His steadfast love endures forever!”  When we stray from His Way, and walk in the ways of the world, the flesh, or the devil, in His love He breaks us, so that He can remake us in His image.  And when we turn to Him, He will have compassion and draw us back into that living relationship with His Son.  Again, Isaiah the prophet says that when God’s people follow in his way, “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the Earth, for the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 25:8).

The things that have happened over this past year, and the things that we are walking through right now, are for our good. God is dismantling the Church as we know it. If we are honest, we can admit that we have become complacent, divisive, and self-sufficient. We have abandoned His ways for the ways of the world. The pattern that we see in the Scriptures and Church history are being repeated in our day. God is taking away the things of this world in which we have trusted, and He is calling us back into relationship with Him.  He is rebuilding His Church in His image. 

After the destruction of the Temple, and the Exile in Babylon in the sixth century BC, the Lord inspired Nehemiah to seek to rebuild Jerusalem and the Lord’s Temple. The prophets who were active in that time made it clear to the returning exiles that the primary focus of their work was to be the rebuilding of the Temple. The exiles, upon their return, had started rebuilding the walls of the city, but met with stiff opposition from without and within the city. Ezra the priest and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah called the people to repent and restore the Temple first, putting God at the center of their lives and work. The walls of the Temple must first be rebuilt! What instruction can we discern from this for our present situation? What are the walls in our day that need to be rebuilt? What will those walls look like? And of what material will they be made? What are God’s instructions for us in rebuilding the walls of His Church?

In these Lenten Meditations, let us walk through the Scriptures together, knowing that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.” God has done a dismantling.  If we will listen to Him, and walk with Him through these difficult days, He will guide us in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, the walls of the Temple—His Church—that we may be remade in His image.

Twelve Drummers Drumming

I believe in God, the Father almighty; And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; I believe in the Holy Spirit. –from The Apostles’ Creed

As we come to the end of the song and the final installment of this catechism, we affirm the faith of the Church in the Apostles’ Creed.  The twelve drummers represent the twelve points of doctrine that every baptized person professes.  

The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles’ Creed are: 

1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. 
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 
3. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 
4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. 
5. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 
6. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 
7. I believe in the Holy Spirit.
8. The holy catholic Church. 
9. The communion of saints. 
10. The forgiveness of sins. 
11. The resurrection of the body. 
12. And the life everlasting.

Drummers set the rhythm.  The recitation of the faith in the Apostle’s Creed keeps the rhythm steady in our lives.  We not only profess this faith at our baptism, we also reaffirm that faith at our confirmation.  We recite this creed at Eucharist four times a year.  And the creed is said at every funeral, affirming the faith as the deceased passes from this life to the next.  But of greater significance to the catholic rhythm of life is the fact that this creed is said at both Morning and Evening Prayer every day of our lives.  It is a constant reminder of the things that we hold sacred.

In the period when this song was written, a trumpet was used to get people’s attention when a royal decree was announced.  Then, when the herald made the announcement, such as the arrival of the king or the reading of an important proclamation, a drummer kept a steady cadence to emphasize its importance.  There is simply no more important proclamation than that of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith. 

Our Christmas festival celebration is complete.  We have fed on the finest foods and reveled in joyous song and dance.  We have affirmed all that we hold dear about our Lord and His Church.  This is the Season of Incarnation — the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  Tomorrow we begin to live out the “ordinary” days of our life in Christ.  It is a season of manifestation, revealing Him to all whom we meet.  We know the faith and have affirmed it these twelve days.  Now is the time for us to live that faith in joy and thanksgiving for all of the good gifts that “My True Love gave to me.”

Eleven Pipers Piping

When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.  Acts 1:13-14

The eleven pipers piping represent the faithful eleven Apostles, who after the resurrection gathered in Jerusalem and formed the nucleus of the catholic Church.  In British medieval battle formation, the pipers were set out front and led the way, playing loudly on bagpipes.  It was a frightening sound to the enemy and a call to battle for the British troops in much the same way as the shofar was a call to battle for the Jews.  

The eleven Apostles led the troops and rallied the saints on Pentecost.  In Acts chapter 2 it says that “Peter and the eleven” were the first to speak in tongues, calling the faithful to “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.”

But this song refers to a joyous occasion, a festival of celebration.  The pipers referred to in the song would be the professional bagpipe musicians hired to entertain the guests with their music and provide music for dancing.  During the Tudor and Stuart periods in England, Christmas was a festive time of year for the upper classes and elaborate parties with feasting, music and dancing were common among these classes.

And why should we not dance and celebrate the faithful Apostles?  These were men who paved the way for our faith with their blood.