Sunday 11 November 2018

Blessed are the Peacemakers

11/11/2018

Life would be better if we chose to...



I want to focus on one of the Beatitudes this morning, not just because it ties in with Armistice Day, but because it’s at the heart of the Gospel.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9


In this world, there are different kinds of people.

In the context of this sermon, I’m going to consider four kinds of people.

Firstly, there are the troublemakers. Some people go out deliberately looking for a fight, or a war, or even just an argument. These people like to “stir things up” to provoke conflict.

Football hooligans are one example of troublemakers – many of their “firms”, as they are called, are highly organised.

In our journey through proverbs, we found some troublemakers:

An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.


A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

Secondly, there are what I call the “troublekeepers”. I made up this word! These people don’t deliberately make trouble, but they are quite happy for it to continue. For example, some people involved in a war have a vested interest in it being prolonged, so they can enjoy status and power in the faction that they belong to.

Much of the media are troublekeepers. The media feeds off conflict. Journalists don’t deliberately set out to break up a celebrity marriage, but they make money from reporting every detail of long and bitter divorce proceedings. I saw a Jamie Oliver program where he told the story of a journalist calling him up wondering was he hitting his wife Jools!

Thirdly, there are the peacekeepers. And most of us probably fall into this category. We don’t like conflict and so we try to “keep the peace”. Being a peacekeeper is better than being a troublekeeper, but it doesn’t deal with the underlying cause of a conflict. A peacekeeper is primarily concerned with outward appearances. As long as everything is ok on the surface, a peacekeeper is content.

For years, Irish soldiers have served in the Lebanon as UN peacekeepers. They played an important role, but the underlying resentments were never dealt with and they keep resurfacing, such as in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, in which over a thousand people died.

Sadly, many marriages are being maintained by ‘peacekeeping’. Everything might look fine on the outside in public, but serious issues exist behind closed doors that are not dealt with, and that express themselves in resentment and disharmony.

The “not the nail video” is a funny example of one person not wanting to deal with an issue!

Fourthly, there are the peacemakers. Peacemakers don’t sweep problems under the carpet – they confront them, even if the process is painful. Peacemakers actively seek to resolve conflict, not just keep it under control. Peacemakers are rare, because peacemaking is hard work. I found it hard to find a picture of peacemakers! Here's one of a young peacemakers club in Kenya:


There is a big difference between peacekeepers and peacemakers. Let me show you a couple of pictures of peacekeepers:



Peacekeepers are intimidating. Their message is: “If you will not keep the peace, you will be punished”. Peacekeepers carry weapons to back up their threats. In military conflicts, the weapons are guns, missiles and sanctions. In family conflicts, the weapons are violence, emotional withdrawal, financial deprivation and separation/divorce.

In contrast, peacemakers are not threatening. They don’t issue ultimatums. They don’t give commands. Peacemakers first and foremost listen. Peacemakers take the time to hear a person’s grievance and understand things from their perspective. Peacemakers are patient – they understand when someone needs time to work through an issue. Peacemakers are in it for the long haul.

It’s interesting to look at the Northern Ireland situation and the various attempts to bring peace. In 1969, British Army soldiers were brought in as peacekeepers. In the early 1970’s, peace walls began to emerge. The stated purpose of the barriers was to minimize sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics. They are made of iron, brick and steel, sometimes up to 25 feet high. There are currently more than 60 such interface barriers across Northern Ireland, which are managed by the Department of Justice and the Housing Executive. Many of the peace walls are a legacy of the Troubles, but several more have been erected during the last 20 years of relative peace. In fact, there are now more peace walls across Northern Ireland than there were before the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

These walls were clearly designed to keep peace, not make it. Peacekeeping troops and peace walls are visible attempts to bring peace but they only serve to contain a conflict; they can never resolve it. On the other hand, the real peacemakers in Northern Ireland tended to work behind the scenes. They kept a low profile, talking to both sides, seeking to understand the different perspectives. Gordon Wilson, whose daughter was killed in the 1987 Eniskillen Remembrance Day IRA bomb was an example of a peacemaker. Hours after the bombing in an emotional TV interview, he forgave the killers saying: "I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge". Peacemaking is difficult and costly. He went on to have meetings with Sinn Féin, with the IRA, and with loyalist paramilitaries in an attempt to persuade them to abandon violence.

The Rev. Cecil Kerr founded the Renewal Centre in Rostrevor. I had the privilege of staying in that centre many times. It was a peacemaking initiative. Its focus was on prayer and reconciliation.

The integrated schools in Northern Ireland are also examples of peacemaking. While peace walls are designed to keep Protestants and Catholics apart, integrated schools are designed to help them grow up together. Sadly, they haven't become mainstream.

Peacemaking in not always popular. In the 1980’s, the Rev. Ken Newell and Fr. Gerry Reynolds set up a bible study group between a large Belfast Presbyterian Church and Clonard Roman Catholic Monastery. It was intended as a response to the Troubles, to foster understanding and dialogue between the Christian traditions, but it caused uproar from middle class churchgoers who preferred troublekeeping and peacekeeping to peacemaking.

In the Methodist church, as you know, ministers are stationed around the circuits. If a major conflict arises between a minister and a congregation, the solution has often been to simply move the minister. This is a peacekeeping exercise. If the underlying problem was a congregation with impossible expectations, then they would be likely to put the same pressure on the next minister. On the other hand, if the underlying problem was a minister who was a control freak, then, more than likely, that minister would do the same to his or her next congregation. Unless the root causes are dealt with through peacemaking, everybody loses and history repeats itself.  

I remember watching an episode of Supernanny where one of the sons in a family of six used to fight with his older sister. The parents controlled this behaviour by shouting at him and threatening him. Supernanny sat him down with his parents and discovered that the reason for his behaviour was that he felt his father had no time for him. And it was true. His father had plenty of time to go to football matches with his mates, but he never brought his son. When the father changed his behaviour, and started doing things with his son, his son’s attitude towards his sister changed. Peacemaking is hard work, but it gets real results. So the question for each one of us, not only in church life, but in the whole of life, is what is our default response to conflict? If we’re honest, I think perhaps we would put ourselves closer to “peacekeeping” than “peacemaking”.

There is a clear Gospel perspective to this business of Peacemaking. We see this firstly in Romans 5:1

‘Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:1) That’s the essence of the gospel.

But then in 2 Corinthians 5, we see a bigger picture of what God is doing with the whole world, and we see that we have a role to play:

‘God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ…And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ’

And so we can draw out a few key truths. Firstly, Jesus was a peacemaker while on earth. We see this in is ministry; He didn’t shy away from conflict - He dealt with issues by offering kingdom solutions. It is much easier in the short term to carry on being peacekeepers, but Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life. Thankfully we’re not on our own. God is a peacemaker, and He is on the side of the peacemakers. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

Secondly, Jesus is still peacemaking since His ascension into Heaven. Since the Fall, all creation (including sinful humanity) is out of kilter with a Holy God. However, the Bible tells us that through Jesus, God has started a process of peacemaking on a global scale. Through Jesus, God is reconciling Himself to His creation.

Thirdly, by faith, through grace, we have been reconciled to God through Christ – we have peace with God – that’s our salvation, that’s the Gospel.

And Fourthly, we’ve been saved for a purpose. We have been given the message of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation. The message is that peace with God is possible through Jesus. Your job is not only to communicate this to others but also to demonstrate it – to live it out. And if you are to truly live out this ministry of reconciliation, it will mean making a journey from peacekeeping to peacemaking. May God bless us all and strengthen us all as we seek to make this journey. 





Let’s Pray: Father we thank you for your Word that comforts us, inspires us and challenges us. As we consider the challenge to a ministry of reconciliation, we repent of the fact that it is our nature to take the easy option of preserving peace rather than facing up to real issues.

We feel inadequate, and so we need more of your grace to have the courage and the sensitivity to live out this calling to be peacemakers. Father we thank you that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, reconciling us to yourself, making peace through His blood shed on the cross. We thank you that we can know the joy of true peace and fellowship with you. Help us to share this wonderful news with others, for we pray in Jesus name. Amen.


Haven't shared on this blog for a while...

Dear all, When COVID-19 hit, I stopped sharing on this blog, but didn't think to let you know that! Instead, I set up a Mailchimp mailin...