Second Sunday of Easter: April 15, 2007
Preached at Kingston Road United Church by the Rev. Richard C. Choe
“Salaam” – Peace in Arabic Richard C. Choe ©
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." … A week later his disciples were again in the house … Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." … these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
* * *
Peaceful moments.
If we were to take some time to remember the times when we felt peace, we would be able to share many memories and images with one another. Being in grandmother’s kitchen, enveloped by the smell of your favourite dish being cooked would be remembered by some as a peaceful moment. For others, the colours of the sunset you saw on one of your travels would be the peaceful moment. For those who are in their 40s listening to Stairway to Heaven or Reunited and It Feels So Good while glued to a partner on a dance floor at a High School Prom could be the moment of anticipation of peace. May be not. Watching a baby asleep, definitely, is a peaceful moment.
One of the peaceful moments I remember is one rainy afternoon in Spring. I was about four years old. My Dad cut different colour papers into various shapes and pressed them on the wet window. Then he asked me the names of the shapes. There were a red car, yellow umbrellas, blue rain boot, and many other shapes in various colours. I remember the warmth of the room. I remember the comfort of the hazy yellow sky through the rain streaked window. I remember that time as one of the most peaceful times of my life because it was also a time when our family finally settled down in Seoul for a period of time. My Dad was a military officer and we had to move so often. It was a time when I was finally able to make friends knowing that we will be staying put for a while.
Peace is something everyone craves and yet we seldom experience peace in life. The followers of Jesus were no exceptions. They were painfully aware that the disciples of Jesus, those who were closest to Jesus, had betrayed and abandoned him at the cross. Even when the disciples turned around and began to spread the Way of Jesus, they experienced persecution from the religious and political authorities. When the Gospel of John was being written around a century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the followers of Jesus experienced persecution from the Roman Empire. Jerusalem was in ruins after the Roman Empire brutally suppressed the Jewish uprising. The temple in Jerusalem, the centre of Jewish worship, was razed except for the part of the wall which is now known to us as the Wailing Wall.
What did the persecuted community of faith “remember” the most about Jesus? They were at least two generations removed from the time when Jesus walked and talked about establishing a world based on God’s justice and compassion. None of them had actually seen Jesus. All they had was a collective memory of Jesus handed down from their forebears of faith. Yet, they believed.
During the time of persecution, when peace was the most illusive thing but the most vital thing they fervently hoped for in their lives, they began to “remember” the moment of peace Jesus provided to those who heard him. They collectively remembered peace as the one crucial aspect of the Way of Jesus Christ. This peace of Christ is born from scars – scars of Jesus’ crucifixion, scars of a memory of betrayal and abandonment, and scars of a memory of resurrection that signalled that the healing of community had begun.
“The Jesus story, including the narrative of the resurrection, is an invitation to journey beyond human limits, beyond human boundaries, into the realm of that experience we call God, who is not above the sky, but rather is found in the depth of life” – says John Spong in his recent book, Jesus for the Non-Religious.”[i]
In the depth of persecution and uncertainties about their life where many of their friends and loved ones were perishing under persecution, the community of John “remembered” peace as one of the communal memories about Jesus who was crucified and experienced his resurrection in their remembrance. With such remembrance, “the gospels were written to invite us into the Jesus experience of new life, one not bound by death; and a new humanity, one that reaches toward transcendence.”[ii]
We have participated and witnessed the baptisms of Rachael Iris Jean Allen – daughter of Neo and Michael – and Zachary Nicolas Doherty – son of Erin and Roula.
As followers of the Way of Jesus of Nazareth, we believe baptism to be “putting on” Christ. Baptism marks a sacred moment when each individual person surrenders to God and one’s faith community; that one’s life will be more than just for oneself or for one’s immediate relations but for the community of God – the human family. Baptism continues the tradition of remembering the peace Jesus offered to those who encountered him. Baptism embodies the peace of Christ in and through our lives.
In infant baptism, such as we have participated and witnessed today, parents, family members, and all of us here are covenanting together that we will strive to do our best to raise Rachael and Zachary to see and accept others as their relations in God. Baptism is a sacred moment where our life intersects with the Way of Jesus whom we confess as Christ. Baptism is a moment where our life paths merge with the pathway of God toward peace.
Naim Ateek is a Palestinian Christian theologian and he says this about peace:
“The word for peace in both Arabic (salaam) and Hebrew (shalom) has the same etymological root and the same breadth of meaning: wholeness, health, safety, and security. It refers to a peace experienced and lived out in the everyday historical situation of life.”[iii]
We have participated and witnessed the baptisms of Rachael Iris Jean Allen – daughter of Neo and Michael – and Zachary Nicolas Doherty – son of Erin and Roula.
As followers of the Way of Jesus of Nazareth, we believe baptism to be “putting on” Christ. Baptism marks a sacred moment when each individual person surrenders to God and one’s faith community; that one’s life will be more than just for oneself or for one’s immediate relations but for the community of God – the human family. Baptism continues the tradition of remembering the peace Jesus offered to those who encountered him. Baptism embodies the peace of Christ in and through our lives.
In infant baptism, such as we have participated and witnessed today, parents, family members, and all of us here are covenanting together that we will strive to do our best to raise Rachael and Zachary to see and accept others as their relations in God. Baptism is a sacred moment where our life intersects with the Way of Jesus whom we confess as Christ. Baptism is a moment where our life paths merge with the pathway of God toward peace.
Naim Ateek is a Palestinian Christian theologian and he says this about peace:
“The word for peace in both Arabic (salaam) and Hebrew (shalom) has the same etymological root and the same breadth of meaning: wholeness, health, safety, and security. It refers to a peace experienced and lived out in the everyday historical situation of life.”[iii]
Peace is what we hope for Rachael and Zachary. We pray that their lives be whole, healthy, safe and secure. We also pray that they grow to be ones who can provide wholeness, health, safety, and security for others in our human community.
In 2005 we amended the Kingston Road United Church’s Mission Statement to reflect our new and continuing commitment to being an Affirming Congregation.
“Our Mission is to honour God by building a world of peace and justice. We affirm that all who seek to follow Christ regardless of ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race or sexual orientation are welcomed as full participants in the life, membership, ministry and leadership of this congregation.”
We believe justice and compassion are two integral components of building peace in our global village. We affirm together that the peace we seek as followers of Jesus whom we confess as Christ is for all humanity.
May we embody salaam and shalom of God in our gestures and movements as we walk along the Way of Jesus. Amen.
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