Looking Ahead to December 6, 2020 -- 2nd Sunday of Advent

 This being the first Sunday of December we will be celebrating communion.  Also remember that we are now live streaming our worship services on our YouTube channel.

The Scripture readings for this week are:

• Isaiah 40:1-11
• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

The Sermon title is Building Peace

Early Thoughts: What is Peace? How is peace built? Personally and collectively what would it mean to live in peace, to (as the song encourages us) "Go now in peace, never be afraid"?

These two passages from Isaiah tell us a bit about that. These passages are written (and spoken) to people both in exile and returning from exile. They speak to a people whose parents and grandparents saw the world they knew torn apart and destroyed. That destruction leaves a scar on the soul that is not easily erased. That scar can make a whole people wonder if they will live in peace again.

Then God speaks through a prophet with words of comfort and promise. God tells them that they can get back home again, that they will find (or God will create) a path through the desolation of the wilderness.

Then later God announces that the time of restoration has come. The Jubilee Year, when all is to be set right, has arrived. In Luke's Gospel these words form the backing to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Jesus says that in his ministry the world is being set right again. That is how peace, real peace, is built.

The peace that we pray for, the peace that comes with God's Reign is much more complex than "peace and quiet" or "war and peace" or "a peaceful day at the lake" or "at peace with myself". It is all those things and more. The peace that comes with God's Reign is personal. It touches our troubled hearts and brings comfort, it speaks to our anxious minds and brings confidence. The peace that comes with God's Reign is also communal. It reaches into our unjust world and brings justice, restorative justice, it speaks to our divisive relationships and brings loving coexistence. This is the peace for which we pray.

God has long been at work nurturing and building that peace. It might be faster if God imposed it --- but is that really peaceful? God continues to nurture and build peace in our world.  God would prefer it if we joined in the project.

How are you building peace in the world today?
--Gord