Midweek Faith Lift
December 11, 2019
Give Peace a Chance!
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
“All we are saying is give peace a chance; all we are saying is give peace a chance!” Sing it with me, all you who were hippies and protesters in the 60’s! We were so hopeful that if we could make love, not war and just stop the war, there would be peace. We were in fact fairly certain of it, that’s for sure! So we marched, we wrote songs, we smoked pot to chill out, participated in protest marches and sit-ins…..all of it intended to create peace on earth, or at the least, an absence of war.
We had good intentions and we were certain that if we could just give peace a chance, well then there would be no more war, no more fighting, no more killing of one another. When will we have enough of that? How do we find our way to peace? We were certain that we could do better than our parents and we could stop fighting unjust wars and wars of aggression. Hmmmmm…..we just were so sure of it, weren’t we??? STOP THE WAR!! And let there be peace!
We were forgetting what Gandhi taught us:
There is no path to peace; peace is the path.
How do we make peace our path, because that is a far more challenging task! It requires us to look at ourselves and be peace, rather than asking others to stop doing what they are doing so we can have peace.
Now, mind you, when my kids were little, I really did understand that it was necessary to have some time of peace and quiet at home. I used to put myself in time out so that I could have a minute or two of peace where no one could talk to me or pester me for anything. That always confused them no end, as they tried to figure out what I had done to get 38 minutes of time out! The number of minutes of TO equals your age, so I was golden! And my favorite kid’s book to read to them was called Five Minute’s Peace, which was an illustrated children’s book about a mom who was trying to take a relaxing bath and had 3 minutes and 46 seconds of peace and quiet!!!
So how do we understand and navigate this far more complex business that is BEING peace? One of the first steps is that we agree to give up our attachment to certainty, which is a subtle but very strong attachment. It has a multitude of dimensions, this certainty business, but to truly be peace we have to get comfortable with waiting and not always knowing. My favorite phrase from Scripture is “more will be revealed….” which occurs frequently in the Christian Scripture. We do know always know or have the big picture, which is not easy. We are told, “in the fullness of time it will be revealed.” The kicker is that it is God’s time, not ours
I love what Richard Rohr had to say about coping with uncertainty or not knowing. This is from his Dec. 1, 2019 blog Waiting and Knowing:
Not knowing or uncertainty is a kind of darkness that many people find unbearable. Those who demand certitude out of life will insist on it even if it doesn’t fit the facts. Logic and truth have nothing to do with it. If you require certitude, you will surround yourself with your own conclusions and dismiss or ignore any evidence to the contrary.
The very meaning of faith stands in stark contrast to this mindset. We have to live in exquisite, terrible humility before reality. In this space, God gives us a spirit of questing, a desire for understanding. In some ways it is like learning to “see in the dark.” We can’t be certain of what’s in front of us, but with some time and patience, our eyes adjust, and we can make the next right move….
What is that move that takes us to living on a path that is peace, to being peace? Last week, we considered the experience of Mary, mother of Jesus as she learned the rather startling news that she was unexpectedly pregnant. Talk about living with uncertainty! And yet we are all in that same boat together, considering how we are going to respond to the circumstances of our lives with this “exquisite, terrible humility” learning to “see in the dark” when we can’t possibly know how things are going to turn out. All we can do is cultivate a consciousness of “Peace in the midst” of whatever is present to us right now.
The Buddhists call this a mind state and they identify this mind state as that of “Equanimity.” This mind state of equanimity calls us to observe what is before us without reaction, without judgment. It asks us to be present with awareness and non-resistance, just observing, so that when we respond to what is there, we do so from a place of compassion and loving kindness; a peaceful presence, even as we may differ or disagree with what is there.
Cultivating the capacity to be present in this peaceful state comes from the practice of meditation or the mindfulness practice of the Vipassana tradition. It is the witnessing self or the observer self that is non-reactive. It does not mean that one is passive and takes no action; it means that one is not reactive to either internal or external circumstances, and it is a practice. It is a “peace within” practice that meets all that is present in life and the action we do take comes from mindfulness, not reactivity.
All the world religions have a spiritual teaching about peace that asks us to be present to what is without resistance. We have the Gandhi example of nonviolence that asks us to be engaged but not reactive. We have the Buddhist practice of equanimity, which arises from a practice of mindfulness meditation.
We have the words of the Islamic, Sufi mystic poet Rumi in his poem “The Guest House”:
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Copyright 1997 by Coleman Barks.
We have also the words of Jesus, our Way Shower in the Christian tradition about peace from the Scripture in John 14: 20-27
John 14:18-27
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (NRSV)
Jesus is speaking to his disciples and to us. What he tells them and us is that even when the human, Jesus, is no longer visible as human, the energy of the Christ will live on in them and in us. He tells us is that if we keep his commandments, to love one another as he has loved and to forgive one another, as he has forgiven, then, we will be peace. It is not just an absence of outer conflict or war. We have to live in that consciousness of love, mercy and forgiveness to know true peace, to be peace. When we do that, our Christ consciousness, our God-ness, makes a home in our hearts. We have to live it, not just say it; we have to keep the words of Jesus and do as he did. Then we are in that place of peace that Jesus offers. The final reminder about all of this is to not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.
That sounds a lot like the equanimity of Buddhism, the peaceful path of the Hindu, Gandhi and the Guest House of Rumi. When we can love and forgive ourselves, and love and forgive others; when we let go of what troubles our hearts as we wait for our human nature to catch up with our Divine nature, then we will know peace. We wait upon the Holy Spirit, the whole Spirit of God to illuminate our minds, hearts and actions and remind us of all that Jesus taught, then we will have the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of the Christ.
Let us close today with another poem from Rumi, the Sufi mystic:
Clear Bead
The clear bead at the center
changes everything. There are
no edges to my loving now.
You’ve heard it said there’s
a window that opens from one
mind to another, but if there’s
no wall, there's no need for
fitting the window, or a latch.
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb