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Remembrance Sunday
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 9th November 2008.
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Peace is something we all yearn for:
• peace in the world and peace in our hearts.
Peace is something countless people around the world yearn for:
• an end to war and destruction.
Yet peace is illusive.
We wonder will peace ever come:
• in the world or in our hearts.
Its people like President elect Barack Obama who have the power to effect global peace.
We can feel helpless.
But we can contribute to peace be transforming our lives and the lives of people around us.
I find peace difficult when I'm tired and I have to put the children to bed.
Putting them to bed, after a long day, feeling tired, is hard.
They know that and so push their luck: goading me.
They resist brushing their teeth.
They run to another part of our flat.
They say they need to use the toilet again.
And I get more and more exasperated
• and, I confess, often lose my temper.
Not for long,
• but I snap and raise my voice.
Once they're in bed, the peace is bliss!
Peace is difficult when I'm tired and am putting the children to bed.
I find peace difficult when I'm hungry.
Some people get moody if their blood sugar level drops.
That's not me, but as my hunger grows it determines my actions.
When I'm hungry, instead of eating calmly and peacefully, I eat too quickly.
Instead of enjoying what's in my mouth, I'm anxious about my next mouthful.
I find peace difficult when I'm hungry.
So there are practical things we can do to increase the peace in our hearts.
For me, get enough sleep and eat regularly.
Some people find peace difficult before they've had a cup of coffee in the morning.
May be that's you.
It's like the writer who said "Personally, I find it really difficult to believe in God until I have had a cup of coffee in the morning."
Our Christian belief is that peace comes from union with God.
True peace comes from being united with God.
Only union with God provides the peace that we all yearn for.
St. Augustine said "Our hearts are restless until the rest in you, O God."
What does all that mean?
Some of you will recognise what I'm going to say from our Midweek Group book:
• "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri Nouwen
For me, all this means learning to listen to God's voice in my heart.
Listening to God's soft, gentle voice amidst all the other voices that call for my attention.
These other voices say:
• "you will find peace in money and your possessions"
• "you will find peace through the way you look"
• "you will find peace through what clothes you wear"
• "you will find peace through your work and career"
• "you will find peace by being successful"
• "you will find peace by being popular"
• "you will find peace through the people you know"
• "you will find peace by people liking you"
• "you will find peace by being powerful"
• "you will find peace by proving yourself"
These are loud, demanding, insistent voices.
They speak to my inner places where I question my own goodness and doubt my self-worth.
In contrast, God's voice is gentle.
It does not force itself on me.
But it is the only voice that tells me I am loved unconditionally.
It is the only voice that gives me peace.
All this makes a difference in practice.
One day last week I got home from work and it was the children's bedtime.
Kate had already started putting them to bed.
When I got home my mind was buzzing with work issues and I had a few bits of work in my bag.
The temptation was to do those things straight away.
Kate was looking after the children,
• I could plan the service for Sunday, chose the hymns to sing…
The voices were loud:
• "you will find peace through your work"
• "you will find peace by doing things"
• "you will find peace by doing things well"
• "you will find peace in other people's approval"
Fortunately, something stopped me.
I knew what I should really do, so I put down my bag and went to see the children.
Gracefully, I heard God's voice saying
• "love is most important, give the children your attention and time and love –
• there lies peace."
Nouwen's book is based on the wonderful parable we know so well.
In particular, he writes about Rembrandt's painting of the return of the prodigal son.
The heart of the story is the son leaving home to live the high life.
And then the son returning home.
The central act of the story is the father welcoming the son home.
The father welcomes his son unconditionally.
Even though the son has behaved very badly, the father's love is unconditional.
The son was tempted away from home by the voices that say
• "you will find peace in money and your possessions"
• "you will find peace through the way you look"
• "you will find peace through what clothes you wear"
• "you will find peace by being successful"
• "you will find peace by being popular"
The Father's love remains constant and the Father welcomes the son home.
The Father, of course, is God.
And we are the son.
We find peace when we are with God at home.
We lose inner peace when we leave home and listen to the voices.
How do we know when that happens?
The feelings are familiar to us:
• anger, resentment, greed, rivalry.
Those darker emotions.
And the self questioning is familiar too – those questions we ask ourselves
• Why did that person ignore me?
• How can I become rich and famous?
• Why is the world is so unkind to me?
We are like the son far from home whenever we search for peace where it cannot be found.
We are also like the son when we choose to return home to God
• and find peace in the only place it can be found.
The place where we are welcomed home and loved unconditionally.
Passage from book p.41 – the world's love is conditional and full of "ifs"
On the other hand there are no "ifs" with God's love.
God loves us unconditionally.
There's nothing we can do to make God loves us more.
And there's nothing we can do to make God love us less.
If we ever doubt that or question that, those doubts and questions are in us, not God's love.
In Rembrandt's painting the Father's hands are stretched out to welcome the son home.
God's hands are always stretched out towards us.
Even when there is no child there to embrace.
God has never pulled back his arms, never withheld his blessing, never stopped considering us as beloved.
The more deeply we realise and accept that, the more deeply we know peace.
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