Memorize & Ponder for Sunday Nov 16, 2014
Being Peace Makers
John 14:25-27 (NRSV)
I have said these things to you while I am with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will teach you everything,
and remind you of all that I have said to you.
“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.”
Throughout 2014, the Christian community at Brentwood Presbyterian Church is getting to know Jesus, the Christ, in a refreshing and transformative way. We invite you to listen for what the Spirit is saying in the text, then question how those insights might change the ways you see things and act in the world. Share your thoughts during the week on the meaning the Spirit creates for you in this text by posting a comment on our website – brentwoodpc.ca.
A Provocative Pondering
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us provoke one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together … (Hebrews 10:23-25a)
The gift of the peace that only Jesus, the Christ, can give and the call to take it into the world by contributing to the creation of the commonwealth of God – that’s one of the core themes that emerges from the witness of John’s Gospel and the community in the early church that followed it.
This is not a peace that the ‘world’ can create on its own. When two parties are in conflict, what is needed is a third perspective that is broader than just those two. That third party is what negotiation expert William Ury calls ‘us.’ It’s the whole world community. It’s the whole range of God’s beloved children and friends, created to live in kindness and mutual respect.
It is that broad, kindly community that the Spirit is teaching us to create. With the courage that comes from the peace we have been given in Jesus, the Christ, we are sent into the world to be Christ with all our neighbours, whether they be seen as friends or foes by the powers that be. We make peace because God has given us peace and called us to spread it around.
What will you do this week to make a peaceable commonwealth in the world to which God has sent you?