Preparing for Peace

Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13, 2 Peter 3:8-15a, Mark 1:1-8

Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2005

Heritage Congregational Church, Madison, WI

It is the second Sunday of Advent. Our journey to the time of Jesus’ birth has begun. We lit the candle of peace, and our worship is filled with peace imagery in the scriptures. Psalm 85 says that God will speak peace to the faithful. 2 Peter urges us to be found at peace, while John the Baptist tells us how to find peace. And, in one of my favorite passages in this holy book, we have Isaiah painting a picture of peace that is both comforting and compelling.

If peace is what it is all about, how do we get there? What is this peace we are promised by Jesus, that our scriptures for today portray so beautifully, so invitingly?

If the word for last week was salvation, this week’s word is repentance. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for repentance is shub, meaning to turn back, or even to retrace one’s steps in order to return to the right way. And, it is important to remember that in Old Testament terms, repentance is a communal act. It is something the people as a whole are urged to do. God’s chosen people were called to repentance.

In the New Testament the Greek word if metanoein, which means to turn to the Lord or to come to a new way of thinking. Presented by John the Baptist, this is a decision for each individual. Will we live our life facing in God’s direction, or in the direction of the world? Will we think the way we have always thought, or with the witness of God through Jesus Christ, will we turn to the new way of thinking Jesus proclaims?

Putting these two ideas together gives us a definition for today (remember, Jesus came not to abolish the old ways, but to complete—the OT and NT definitions are not mutually exlcusive). In our theology for today, repentance is a continual turning of one’s life toward God that we may return to the people we were created to be and walk faithfully the path that God has placed before us. This is true for individuals, and when individuals live a repentant life they become repentant communities of people, all walking toward God in unison. That’s what we hope Church is all about!

You see, repentance does not mean merely saying we are sorry. If we say we are sorry and do nothing differently, how sorry are we really? I have a good friend I used to teach with at Bloom School in Rockford. She taught Physical Education, and she was good at it. But I always thought that what she really taught was life. When children made bad decisions over and over and were caught in the act over and over, they would always say, “Mrs. Purvis, I’m sorry!” And she would say, in all honesty and with a humble challenge in her voice, “If you were sorry, you wouldn’t have done it again. Don’t tell me you are sorry unless you are willing to change your behavior.” She taught repentance. Repentance is about changing direction, not about admitting guilt.

So, what does repentance, this change of direction, have to do with peace, especially with this Advent peace we look forward to with the coming of Christ? Again, our scripture passages have the answers.

In Psalm 85, we find a God who is faithful to the people, a God who has restored the people to a place of health and wholeness. The people have repented and turned toward God with their hearts. They have been forgiven, and God will speak peace to them. And, according to the psalmist, this is what peace sounds like: steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other, faithfulness will spring up from the ground and righteousness will look down from the sky…righteousness will go before the Lord, and will make a path for the Lord’s steps. In this psalm, God gives all good things to the people. God’s hesed and faithfulness will prevail, it says, and righteousness, a right relationship between God and God’s people, prevails. It is mentioned three times. When we are in right relationship, the psalm says, we are in a place of peace with God.

The picture painted by Isaiah says the same things, only with more detail. Again, the people have been forgiven, their penalty is paid. A voice cries out and speaks of the path for the Lord’s steps eluded to in the psalm. The highway will be straight, the valleys lifted up, the mountains made low. The uneven ground will become level and the rough places plain. When this path is ready, God’s glory will be revealed, and the people will see it. In the end, when the path is ready and God’s glory is seen by all, God will bring the flock home, carrying them in divine arms. This is peace. And, it is repentance. The earth has moved to make the path. It is has given up its own contour and faced God fully, making the path for peace. The earth itself has repented. The people are forgiven. All of creation is in right relationship with God. This is the righteousness spoken of in Psalm 85.

In Mark’s gospel, we are jolted into the gospel story. There is no birth narrative or genealogy, as found in Luke and Matthew. There is no Christological statement, as found in John. Instead, we find John the Baptist making the path for Jesus’ ministry to begin. He quotes Malachi and Isaiah 40, John understands the path he is forging. And we, the reader, have no doubt at all about what Mark’s spin is on the gospel story. It is a story of Good News (v. 1). It is a story of making the way for the Lord, as prophesied in Isaiah. It is a call story of a people turning away from the world and turning toward God. It is a story of repentance. This is what is important to Mark. Jesus is here, so get ready. Make the path straight. Be baptized. Your sins will be forgiven.

And in 2 Peter we find beautiful, assuring words about the patience of our God. God desires that we all come to repentance. God is willing to wait. God’s time is not like our time. God is waiting that we may live with God in when the day comes, for then righteousness will be at home. A right relationship with God will be what is normal, what is natural, what is common, what seems easy and right to everyone. So, be at peace, the writer says. Be at peace with God. Be in a state of right relationship as much as you are able through the act of turning toward your God—through repentance. It is hard to wait for the day of the Lord to come, but hold your anxiousness in tension with God’s patience during this in between time, for God’s patience is our salvation.

In all of our passages today, repentance is presented as a means to peace, as a means to righteousness, as a way to prepare to meet God. We prepare to meet Christ by making our paths straight, our rough places plain, our valleys lifted up and our mountains made low. We are to live our lives facing straight toward God, with nothing too high or low or wide or rough getting in our way. When we live this way, we are living in the peace of Christ, for the path was paved for Him by God. We are able to receive Him during this season of Advent by God’s grace. His path is our path.

In today’s world, it is difficult to imagine peace, much less focus on it. We are surrounded by violence of all kinds—physical and verbal, criminal and personal, corporate and individual. Our newspapers and new programs are inundated with reports of violence, and many of us are either numbed by it or so repulsed that we have quit reading and watching or listening. Not only is our society filled with violence, but our personal lives as well. We argue and disagree with those we love. And, perhaps most difficult of all, inside of ourselves we fight over what we want to do and what we do. Personal peace can be a constant struggle for many.

Yet we are called to be a people who partake of the peace of Christ. And repentance is the way that path begins. When we repent, our focus is on God and all else is chipped away. The path falls into place and we can see what lies ahead, making our steps toward peace easier to take. But no matter what we do, Christ’s peace will come. God has ordained it so. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, and all that is violent will fall away. The only question is, will we be ready for it? Will we live our lives in anticipation of the peace of Christ and will we partake of the peace offered by Christ in the here and now. Repentance is the key. Repentance is the only way to Christmas. Amen.