WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.160 As John Daniel just shared with the children, 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:07.200 we are now in week three of a summer sermon series 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.679 that we are calling Rooted in the Spirit, looking 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:13.880 at the fruit of the Spirit, which are presented 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:18.199 to us in Paul's letter to the Galatians. One 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:21.140 note as we prepare to hear those verses from 00:00:21.140 --> 00:00:25.280 Galatians once again, the word fruit here in 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:30.440 these verses is not plural. It's singular. All 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:33.280 the fruit of the Spirit you can almost think 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:35.679 of, as one church member described to me right 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:40.039 before worship today, as being blossoms of the 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:43.899 same fruit. So let us listen now for a word from 00:00:43.899 --> 00:00:47.619 God as we hear once again these verses from the 00:00:47.619 --> 00:00:52.939 fifth chapter of Galatians. By contrast, Paul 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:57.920 writes, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. 00:00:59.680 --> 00:01:06.140 Peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:12.180 gentleness, and self -control. There is no law 00:01:12.180 --> 00:01:19.700 against such things. Each week, as we visit a 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:22.420 different one of those characteristics of the 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:24.659 fruit of the Spirit, we are doing so through 00:01:24.659 --> 00:01:26.980 the lens of a different passage of Scripture. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:31.500 And so this week, we sit with that word, peace, 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.799 and we look at it through the lens of John's 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:38.700 gospel, the 20th chapter. Just a bit of framing, 00:01:38.739 --> 00:01:43.200 we are picking up the story late in the day on 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:49.079 that first Easter as John tells the story. The 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:52.400 women have discovered the tomb to be empty, but 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:56.730 the disciples are huddled in fear. And Jesus 00:01:56.730 --> 00:02:01.569 comes to them in this manner. So let us continue 00:02:01.569 --> 00:02:04.109 listening now for a word from God as we hear 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:06.510 these verses from the 20th chapter of John's 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:11.169 Gospel, beginning with the 19th verse. When it 00:02:11.169 --> 00:02:15.050 was evening on that Easter day, the first day 00:02:15.050 --> 00:02:17.969 of the week, and the doors of the house where 00:02:17.969 --> 00:02:20.590 the disciples had met were locked for fear of 00:02:20.590 --> 00:02:25.120 the Jews, Jesus came. and stood among them and 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:31.460 said, Peace be with you. After he had said this, 00:02:31.479 --> 00:02:35.680 he showed them his hands and his side. And then 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:38.259 the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:43.699 And Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:50.919 As the Father has sent me, so I send you. When 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.500 he had said this, he breathed on them and said 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:57.479 to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive 00:02:57.479 --> 00:03:00.659 the sins of any, they are forgiven them. And 00:03:00.659 --> 00:03:03.699 if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. 00:03:05.659 --> 00:03:07.879 Friends, this is the word of God for the people 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:14.000 of God. Thanks be to God. Today's sermon is titled, 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:19.340 The Second Song. Will you join me in prayer? 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:29.539 Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, breathe 00:03:29.539 --> 00:03:34.560 your spirit once more upon us that we might know 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:39.039 your peace. Whatever it is that we are troubled 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.419 by this day, whatever it is that has stirred 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:46.240 the churning waters of our souls, we pray. We 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:49.280 pray that we might receive once more that great 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:53.699 gift of your peace which surpasses all understanding. 00:03:55.020 --> 00:03:58.039 And in that peace, O God, we pray that through 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:00.580 your Spirit you would take not only the words 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:03.379 of my mouth, but also the meditations of all 00:04:03.379 --> 00:04:07.039 of our hearts, gather together here in your sight, 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:12.539 and use them to your glory. For you and you alone 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:24.310 are our rock. and our Redeemer. Amen. I couldn't 00:04:24.310 --> 00:04:28.850 help but chuckle to myself a little bit when 00:04:28.850 --> 00:04:32.689 in God's divine providence, God took this sermon 00:04:32.689 --> 00:04:35.889 series that we set on a calendar many months 00:04:35.889 --> 00:04:45.089 ago and assigned the word peace to a Sunday That 00:04:45.089 --> 00:04:50.110 comes after a week where the world feels unsettled. 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:58.670 What I might even call un -peace. Los Angeles. 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:04.029 Yesterday, Minnesota. The day before that, Tehran, 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:08.509 Tel Aviv, Gaza. I watched a video this week of 00:05:08.509 --> 00:05:10.410 people literally climbing over themselves just 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:12.550 to get a scoop of rice to feed their families. 00:05:16.380 --> 00:05:18.819 India. I don't even need to tell you what's going 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:23.120 on in these places. It's just instinctual. And 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.379 all of that before we even start to talk about 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:30.620 our own lives, the unsettledness, the unpeace 00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:37.040 of grief that wracks so many of our hearts, of 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:42.139 estrangement from people we know, people we love. 00:05:46.089 --> 00:05:49.269 Here again, there's verses that open this passage 00:05:49.269 --> 00:05:56.350 today. When it was evening on that day, the first 00:05:56.350 --> 00:05:59.889 day of the week, and the doors of the house where 00:05:59.889 --> 00:06:05.329 the disciples had met were locked for fear, fear 00:06:05.329 --> 00:06:10.529 on account of the unsettledness, the unpeace 00:06:10.529 --> 00:06:17.439 of the world around them. A world where dictators 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:22.639 seem to have their way unimpeded. A world where 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:28.420 the righteous are cut down, or worse yet, hung 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:35.740 up upon a cross. A world where not just the disciples, 00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:39.860 but everyone around them, wonder if there actually 00:06:39.860 --> 00:06:46.060 is a path forward. When it was evening on that 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:47.860 day, the first day of the week, and the doors 00:06:47.860 --> 00:06:49.639 of the house where the disciples had met were 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:54.060 locked for fear, Jesus came and stood among them 00:06:54.060 --> 00:07:03.660 and said to them, Peace be with you. There's 00:07:03.660 --> 00:07:09.399 a distinct feeling I get as I read these verses 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:15.949 that the peace Jesus offers to us and to this 00:07:15.949 --> 00:07:21.269 world is distinctly different than the kind of 00:07:21.269 --> 00:07:25.870 peace we see people talking about on TV or the 00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:29.810 kind of peace we read about in the history books. 00:07:31.009 --> 00:07:33.110 There's a feeling here that the kind of peace 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:36.529 that Jesus offers to us is a peace that does 00:07:36.529 --> 00:07:40.829 not wait for the bombs to stop dropping or for 00:07:40.829 --> 00:07:45.620 the world to suddenly be made safe. or for us 00:07:45.620 --> 00:07:51.060 to be brave. There's no signing ceremony with 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:54.160 this kind of peace. There's no official -looking 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:59.360 document. There's no handshake agreement. No, 00:07:59.459 --> 00:08:04.160 instead, Jesus comes to the disciples. Jesus 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:12.620 comes to us behind our locked doors of unsettledness. 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:22.600 of fear, of worry, of anguish, and brings us 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:29.819 peace through a singular fact, the fact that 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:35.100 he is alive. Remember before we reach this point 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:38.220 of the story, there's a different fact that is 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:41.220 controlling the disciples' lives, and that's 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:46.370 the fact that Jesus is dead. The story is done. 00:08:47.690 --> 00:08:52.789 But suddenly here comes Jesus very much alive 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:59.370 in telling them that by the work of the Spirit, 00:08:59.690 --> 00:09:04.669 he will remain with them and all of us always. 00:09:05.389 --> 00:09:07.970 It reminds me of that incredible story later 00:09:07.970 --> 00:09:11.629 in the book of Acts. You all remember the story 00:09:11.629 --> 00:09:15.230 of Paul and Silas? They're out there on one of 00:09:15.230 --> 00:09:17.889 these missionary journeys, and they're preaching 00:09:17.889 --> 00:09:21.149 the gospel, and simply for preaching the gospel, 00:09:21.269 --> 00:09:25.710 they are beaten and arrested and thrown in jail, 00:09:25.870 --> 00:09:28.470 and literally, I love the details Luke gives 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:32.450 us in Acts, they're chained to the wall. There 00:09:32.450 --> 00:09:38.389 is no hope for them. Sure, there might be a trial, 00:09:38.509 --> 00:09:41.529 but they... would not delude themselves to believe 00:09:41.529 --> 00:09:45.129 that there will be a fair trial. It's a dead 00:09:45.129 --> 00:09:49.990 end. There's no way forward. It is only danger 00:09:49.990 --> 00:09:54.370 and death that is ahead of them. And yet in this 00:09:54.370 --> 00:09:57.149 story, do you remember this? They have total 00:09:57.149 --> 00:10:03.009 peace. They sit there at midnight, Acts tells 00:10:03.009 --> 00:10:10.000 us, bruised and beaten, and they pray. and they 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:15.080 sing out hymns of the faith. They turn their 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:19.419 jail cell into a sanctuary. And later in the 00:10:19.419 --> 00:10:23.440 story, we discover that they turn an enemy into 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:28.799 a brother. Now, why? How could people in a situation 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.440 like that, literally behind the locked doors, 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:37.580 how could they have peace? There's only one thing. 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:42.580 that we can possibly point towards to make any 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:48.759 of it make sense. They find peace because the 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:53.919 living Christ is there with them. I think it's 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:56.960 Frederick Buechner who said something once like, 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:01.480 Jesus Christ did not promise us that we will 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:06.659 be safe. What Jesus did promise us, though, is 00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:11.879 that we will never be alone. That is the truth 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:18.000 that Jesus shares with us and sends us out to 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.960 share with others. Peace be with you, he says. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:27.419 As the Father has sent me, so I send you. But 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:30.519 friends, can we be honest for a moment? That 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:39.080 is hard, hard work. I don't know about you. But 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.139 there are moments when I am consuming the news 00:11:42.139 --> 00:11:46.000 of the world. There are moments when I am sitting 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.259 in my own worry, my own anguish, where it is 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:52.980 just hard to believe that the living Christ is 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:57.340 present still. Have you ever felt like that? 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:00.700 If you've ever sat with a parent who's lost a 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:03.879 child, if you've ever sat with someone who has 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:06.220 experienced such darkness that they literally 00:12:06.220 --> 00:12:10.559 cannot imagine the next thing they will do, it 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:14.720 is hard in those spaces to believe that it is 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:18.340 true that Jesus is still with us. And even in 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:20.639 our better moments, when we can believe it for 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.960 ourselves or for others, it's hard to believe 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:26.620 that sharing that peace with someone else will 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:31.620 make even a lick of difference. How can my phone 00:12:31.620 --> 00:12:37.299 call, how can a note, how can a prayer possibly 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:41.279 even begin to erase an iota of the destruction 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:48.129 of war or solve the hunger of the starving? Or 00:12:48.129 --> 00:12:53.090 take away the fear of an immigrant. Or somehow 00:12:53.090 --> 00:12:57.190 pull back together that relationship that has 00:12:57.190 --> 00:13:05.690 irrevocably been severed. It's hard. But then 00:13:05.690 --> 00:13:10.490 I remember something. I remember that it is not 00:13:10.490 --> 00:13:16.950 our peace that saves the world. No, it is Christ's. 00:13:19.649 --> 00:13:22.090 Peace. Somewhere earlier in John's Gospel, Jesus 00:13:22.090 --> 00:13:27.289 says, it is my peace I give to you. I do not 00:13:27.289 --> 00:13:31.090 give to you as the world gives to you. Do not 00:13:31.090 --> 00:13:33.970 let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. 00:13:34.889 --> 00:13:37.250 It's not our peace that will save the world. 00:13:37.309 --> 00:13:40.350 It is Christ's peace so that when we embody that 00:13:40.350 --> 00:13:44.360 peace that is not of this world. when we seek 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:50.860 to be reconcilers in a culture of division, when 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:54.899 we seek to practice forgiveness, when, let's 00:13:54.899 --> 00:13:59.600 be real, resentment is a lot easier, when we 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:04.279 seek to be vessels of justice in the face of 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:08.620 systems that perpetuate harm, when we invite 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:12.370 that person to whom we are estranged out for 00:14:12.370 --> 00:14:16.730 lunch. When we embody that peace that is not 00:14:16.730 --> 00:14:20.389 ours but Christ's, what we do is become doorways 00:14:20.389 --> 00:14:25.169 where the risen Christ slips into the world again 00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:30.830 and again and again. When we do those things, 00:14:30.889 --> 00:14:35.870 it is how the Spirit plants signs in this world 00:14:35.870 --> 00:14:39.899 that is so unsettled. And these days that feel 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:45.720 so defined by unpeace, when we become those doorways, 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:49.299 it is how the Spirit plants signs of God's kingdom 00:14:49.299 --> 00:14:59.629 here and now. Once a month we have a... A little 00:14:59.629 --> 00:15:02.690 chapel service for the staff of our congregation. 00:15:02.690 --> 00:15:05.610 We usually do it on the first Tuesday of every 00:15:05.610 --> 00:15:07.889 month, but this month there was VBS. Some of 00:15:07.889 --> 00:15:10.409 us were in Scotland, so we bumped it to this 00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:14.690 last Tuesday. And the staff, pastors, program, 00:15:14.870 --> 00:15:17.389 facility staff, all of us, we gathered in here 00:15:17.389 --> 00:15:19.870 right over in this section of the sanctuary. 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.279 And we take turns leading it as pastors and program 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.620 staff. And this month, Pastor Rachel was leading 00:15:26.620 --> 00:15:29.320 our devotion. And the devotion she offered to 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:34.419 us was two songs. No words, just two songs played 00:15:34.419 --> 00:15:38.340 from the piano right here. And the first song 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:42.820 she explained to us was purposefully an unsettled 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:48.039 song. Had a lot of minor chords, a lot of dissonance 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:51.740 about it. It was slow, methodical. As you listened 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:53.720 to the song, you couldn't help but just kind 00:15:53.720 --> 00:15:57.960 of feel all those images that are consuming so 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.799 many of us in these days and these weeks. They 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.639 just sort of flood into your mind. Both the images 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:06.000 of a world that is unsettled and broken, but 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:10.120 also just all of the challenges that we face 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:15.679 in our own individual lives as well. And when 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.889 that song finished, There was a brief silence. 00:16:20.590 --> 00:16:24.289 And then she began playing a second song. I'm 00:16:24.289 --> 00:16:26.389 not a musical person, so I'm making all this 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:28.830 up. It may not actually be anything you intended, 00:16:28.970 --> 00:16:31.370 Rachel, but this is what I felt in that moment. 00:16:34.269 --> 00:16:38.210 What I heard in the second song were some of 00:16:38.210 --> 00:16:42.809 the same notes, some of the same themes of that 00:16:42.809 --> 00:16:46.980 first song. But there was a peacefulness to the 00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:50.620 second song. Some of those minor chords shifted 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:54.759 into major. It was a little more upbeat. It grew 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:57.600 in volume as the song continued. Am I making 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.059 this up, Holden Marshall? Does this sound right? 00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:03.960 These are my music savants back here. I should 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.259 have checked with them before, but I'm going 00:17:06.259 --> 00:17:11.140 to go with it regardless. There was even a bit 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:15.200 of harmony that started to come through. And 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:16.980 there was a piece of me late in that second song 00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:20.380 where I almost felt perhaps a little bit of what 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:22.599 Paul and Silas might have felt there in that 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:26.980 prison cell so long ago. There's something like 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:31.299 peace. It was almost as if the Holy Spirit was 00:17:31.299 --> 00:17:34.759 saying to me and maybe others who were there, 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:41.400 peace be with you. It occurred to me, the similarities 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:43.460 but also the distinctiveness of the first and 00:17:43.460 --> 00:17:45.200 second song, it occurred to me that, you know, 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:49.599 that second song is always there. It's always 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:55.660 there around us and in us all the time. Right? 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:00.400 The risen Christ has planted that song in each 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:06.099 of our hearts by His Spirit. It is a song that 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:09.660 the world... especially now, friends, the world 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:17.500 is aching to hear. What the Spirit needs is people 00:18:17.500 --> 00:18:22.880 who are willing to play it, to play that song 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:28.420 with our words, to play that song with our forgiveness, 00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:35.019 to play that song with our kindness, to play 00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:44.339 that song with our stubborn hope. Peace be with 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:49.960 you, Jesus says. But I think what he actually 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:59.539 means is peace be through you. Friends, will 00:18:59.539 --> 00:19:09.579 you join me in prayer? Gracious and loving God, 00:19:09.660 --> 00:19:11.859 today is a day for celebration as we lift up 00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:15.259 and give thanks for all those who have served 00:19:15.259 --> 00:19:20.440 like a father for us in our lives. And yet in 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:22.819 the midst of gratitude for that and so many other 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:26.079 things, God, we are consumed at all times by 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.279 the unsettledness and the unpeace of so much 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:34.380 around us. God, we know that your peace was not 00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:38.599 just for a day long ago. It was a peace and is 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:42.720 a peace that is granted to us now. We know, God, 00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:47.220 that even in this moment, that second song is 00:19:47.220 --> 00:19:53.619 playing like a low hum in the background of this 00:19:53.619 --> 00:19:59.329 world. God, sometimes it feels like... Nothing 00:19:59.329 --> 00:20:02.150 we can do or say could possibly make any difference, 00:20:02.230 --> 00:20:04.849 and yet we know that you have called us to be 00:20:04.849 --> 00:20:09.750 purveyors of that song. And so we pray that you 00:20:09.750 --> 00:20:12.329 would give us the courage, yes, but also the 00:20:12.329 --> 00:20:17.970 hope that by singing the tune of your peace in 00:20:17.970 --> 00:20:21.349 every situation that we encounter in our lives, 00:20:21.349 --> 00:20:24.730 that they may be vessels not of our peace, but 00:20:24.730 --> 00:20:29.440 of yours. And as your peace is shared, O God, 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:35.099 your peace would come to reign once more on earth 00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:39.960 as it is in heaven. We pray this all in the strong 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:43.099 name of the one who has promised us that it is 00:20:43.099 --> 00:20:48.140 possible, your Son, the crucified and risen Lord 00:20:48.140 --> 00:20:50.119 Jesus Christ. Amen.