As I said last week, each Sunday of Advent has a particular theme. Last week’s theme was Hope. That hope was reflected in the Collect as we prayed for grace to cast away the works of darkness. It was reflected in Isaiah’s vision of beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. And it was reflective of the hope we place in living out our convictions and working to make God’s kingdom present here on earth as it is in heaven.
The theme for this second week of Advent is Peace. When we think about peace, we probably tend to think about the absence of conflict. And while that is certainly one way to think about peace, that is not the peace of this Second Sunday of Advent. The peace of this Sunday focuses on the wholeness that Christ brings to the world. The peace of this Sunday has to do with a deep, lasting harmony that is rooted in the holy presence of God.
This deep, lasting harmony is seen in Isaiah when he writes of the wolf living with the lamb, of the leopard lying down with the kid, and of a time when none will hurt or destroy on God’s holy mountain. This is a harmony within all of creation not seen since the days of Eden. This harmony in creation extends to humanity when the root of Jesse will stand as a signal to all nations.
This deep, lasting harmony is seen in the Psalm where righteousness is prominent. It is envisioned as when the needy will be defended, the poor will be rescued, and oppressors are crushed. And it is proclaimed through an abundance of peace until the moon is no more.
And like last week, where we might have wondered how an apocalyptic gospel offered hope, we might wonder how a gospel where John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers” can offer a vision of peace. Or we might wonder where peace is to be found amidst John’s talk of gathering wheat while sending the chaff off to be burned with an unquenchable fire.
I know I’ve said this before, but it’s important to remember exactly what the difference is between chaff and wheat. Chaff is the outer husk, or shell, that protects the wheat seed. All wheat is protected by that husk or chaff for a time.
In some sense we are the same way. We have all developed coping devices to help us maneuver our way through life and the world. Whether that involves creating a tough-guy persona, or using our knowledge as a way to exert our dominance or to keep others at bay, or as any number of other coping mechanisms, we all try to protect ourselves. Although it does seem that the older we get the less we care about what other people think about us. But we still try to protect ourselves and, I would imagine, we still long for a place where we can be “our true selves.”
But regardless of how thick our shell is, God knows who we truly are. God wants to gather his wheat into the granary and leave our chaff behind to be burned and never seen again. If we understand the burning away of our chaff so that we can be brought into God’s holy presence, should that not give us a sense of peace?
The gospel reminds us that Christ is coming to reconcile humanity with God and with each other. In that reconciling we see the protected, sheltered part of us being brought out, being exposed, and being loved. There’s a sense of peace in that. There’s a sense of peace in knowing we are at unity with God and loved for who we are.
This is the peace of this Second Sunday of Advent.
And in that we can see the mission of the Church. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. In doing that we can look for ways to get beyond the chaff of other people. We can look for the wheat in their lives and we can work to love them as God loves us. We can do this by extending kindness, understanding, and forgiveness – those things that make up the peace of God.
For our own part, we can work to let go of our prejudices, our anxieties, and our fears. That might be harder than reaching out to others because, more often than not, it’s us who want to hold onto our own protective barriers, our own chaff. So maybe this burning of chaff in an unquenchable fire isn’t so bad after all.
Our Vision Statement here at Saint Luke’s is to Proclaim the Love of God and Extend Hope to ALL People. I’m convinced that the more we do that, the more this place will be seen as a place of peace by others in our community.
In this Advent season may our anxieties melt away so we learn to abide in a deep, lasting harmony that is rooted in the eternal and peaceful presence of God. This Advent season, may we have the courage to proclaim that peace to those around us.
Amen.
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