“Into a Polarized World God Births Unity: Peace” ~ Malachi 3: 1-4 & Luke 3: 1-6
December 8, 2024 ~ Northwood United ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook
Why did the gingerbread man go to yoga class during the holidays? He needed a little peace before he crumbled! Why did the snowman meditate during the holidays? He was trying to find his inner flurry amidst all the chaos! Why doesn’t Jesus like Christmas? Because every year, people throw Him a birthday party... and forget to invite Him!
As nice as they all are, Christmas is more than snowmen, gingerbread men, twinkling lights, and gifts. The season is about Jesus…in particular…we prepare for the birth of the Prince of Peace. We commenced this Advent season last Sunday lighting the candle of hope. This morning, we continue with the focus on the advent of God’s peace. We considered the growing separations and divisions ~ our world with its growing polarizations, and considered how God might be birthing unity. This morning, we consider the birth of God’s unity through the gift of peace. Jenny read two interrelated passages for us: Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 3:1-6. And as we unpack these passages and ponder them for our living, we find the divine moving in the direction of refining. We see how God was, is, and always will be orchestrating a divine peace to bring Creation together, breaking down barriers, and allowing for the Kingdom to be birthed!
The first text we ponder comes from Malachi, one of the 12 ‘minor prophets’. We call them minor only in comparison to the major prophets of Jeremiah or Isaiah who left such lengthy books as they wrote across longer time periods. Malachi’s Hebrew name immediately gives him a place of distinction: ‘messenger of God’. Writing in the Persian Period, around the 5th Century BCE, Malachi urged the Israelites to remain faithful to God. Remaining faithful had not been an easy call. Time and again, the Israelites had experienced enslavement and return over the generations: slavery in Egypt from the 19th through 13th BCE. Another fall to Assyria in the 8th BCE. And yet another to Babylon in the 6th BCE. Persia had liberated the Israelites, and they had returned home. But…they still were under Persian rule in Israel and only allowed to practice their faith to a limited degree. Malachi prophesied, speaking God’s words, to ensure that they maintained a true faith to the God of Israel.
He imagined a day when they would truly be free to worship Yahweh, the God of Israel. He prophesied: "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple...". He prophesied about a messenger who would prepare the way for the Lord, paving the way for God’s redemptive work. This preparation would not be surface; it would be active; it would involve purification. In fact, he described it being like: "refiner's fire" and a "launderer’s soap".
These metaphors of fire and soap symbolized God’s cleansing process - a necessary step for God’s people to experience a true unity. I wonder if they might also be ones that could further inform our Advent journey towards God’s birth of unity? Malachi explains how unity is possible with purity. The negative, the impurities will divide us. God refines God’s people, to restore and, ultimately, to unite us. The “refiner’s fire” makes reference to the metallurgy process which most have knowledge of. It applies a high heat to burn away the impurities and leave the pure metal: gold, silver…behind. In a similar way, I wonder if the refining process God encourages us to move towards on a spiritual level is to burn away the impurities in our living. Might this be a call to let go of those parts of our personality which take us away from living the deep spiritual life? We will always be human; however, perhaps the refining fire has the potential to let go of impurities such as: selfishness, pride and division. And lead us in the way of God’s Kingdom where all are united as Children of God. The “fuller’s soap” is similar reference to the cleansing process. Perhaps a good pondering question through this season pertains to how we might be cleaned and refined in order that God’s Kingdom might be born a little more brightly this year?
Shifting to the Luke text, we meet Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. We imagine him coming out of the wilderness and calling us to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. The reference to “Lord”, of course, was the name given to the Emperor. Yet, John is calling us to prepare for a new kind of ruler…a ruler, unlike the Roman Emperor who rules with force; a ruler who will usher in God’s peace through the grace and mercy of God. Similar to Malachi’s metaphors of the “refining fire” and the “fullers soap”, Luke gives us a few others to ponder. Echoing back to the prophet Isaiah, we have some new images to ponder. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Scholars ponder how “mountains” might symbolize pride and self-righteousness. How “valleys” might represent despair and exclusion. How “crooked paths” point to our world’s deceit and injustice. As the paths are made straight, unity becomes possible. When the objects of pride and self-righteousness, of despair and exclusion, of deceit and injustice are slowly removed the possibility to find the path to the unity that is peace becomes a little more possible.
As we continue preparing ourselves through this season, I wonder if Luke’s images provide helpful ponderings for us? What “mountains” or “valleys need to be addressed this Christmas? Are there conversations you need to have, forgiveness you need to extend, or bridges that need to be built? How might we further God’s initiative towards unity in ways that you live and grow towards peace? Indeed, advent is a time to pursue peace and make the way for God’s unity.
But, alas, I find myself needing to pause and test where we ‘are’ with this morning’s theme. As I think of the Sundays we ponder in Advent, ‘peace’ seems to be the most difficult. And, if I may speak frankly. It seems the most unattainable of them all, doesn’t it? Who among us might look at peace as a comforting dream we hold? I often find people resonate more deeply with the other three weeks of hope, joy and love. But…peace…at times we wonder if it is ever achievable and what difference we can ever make in the inbreaking of God’s peace? So, with that in mind, I wanted to close with a few ponderings of this elusive element of the season.
I wonder if we might consider peace, as Martin Luther King Jr (and others did), as not merely the absence of conflict. But rather peace as being the activities of justice, reconciliation, and the flourishing of all creation. Peace then becomes seen as an ‘active prayer’ that is witnessed in a lived-out faith. Perhaps we might be able to see the actions of faith as contributing towards God’s desire for peace and unity. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he speaks of “a peace that surpasses all understanding”. As we embrace God’s peace in our own life, that peace flows as a gift of others that continues to grow and grow and grow.
Another perspective of peace is for us to consider this as being part of God’s unfolding Kingdom. When we pray for “thy kingdom come”, we are praying for the unfolding of God’s Kingdom. This is God’s ultimate plan for humanity. It is a divine goal; a kingdom goal that we see unfolding. When Isaiah prophesied of the day that “they will beat their swords into ploughshares”, it was a visionary image of God’s unity that centred in peace and care among all creation. Like King or Mandela or Teresa, we are in the line of the many saints who allow for God’s peace to continue to unfold.
And lastly, the importance of community cannot be underrated. Over the past week, I have seen Northwood assemble in various forms of community that allow for God’s peace to continue to slowly unfold. Decorating our church, feeding those who were hungry, assembling for worship, dressing up for a Senior’s Christmas party, Choir, Bible Study, and hosting the neighbourhood for a Children’s Christmas Party. We cannot undervalue the importance of communal support in the collective journey towards peace. Surrounding ourselves with siblings in Christ allows the dream of Christ to become alive and grow and expand. It allows us to continue on the journey towards the unity of God’s peace.
This season, we commit ourselves to being vessels of God’s peace. Come Lord Jesus, Come Prince of Peace and birth into the world a Kingdom of Peace where all creation see one another as ‘kin’ and further discovers the gift of unity. Why doesn’t Jesus like Christmas? Let’s throw a birthday party for Jesus…AND…actually remember to invite him as we live into the way of peace!
Amen.