Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling
I have to be honest, it was a difficult month of April for me. One week before Holy Week, I lost three special people in my life for various reasons. After Easter, I tested positive for COVID 19, and although my symptoms were mild, and I was given antiviral medication, I still felt a little uneasy. Struggling with feelings of sadness, I cried easily, triggered by memories and visible signs of those I loved and lost.
And then there is Ukraine, and the violence and destruction that has leveled their country and their people for many months. There has been gun violence in Buffalo against people of color, in Los Angeles against Taiwanese Christians, and the single murder of a young woman from Vermont in Texas, who was preparing for a cycling event. Anxiety simmered on my stove. Fear fueled my anger. Doubts crept into the corners of my mind. And I kept looking for Easter joy and signs of hope.
We live with chronic uncertainty, often exaggerated by the news. We feel vulnerable to forces outside of our control when guns and bombs kill innocent people. At times, we may feel a need for deep protection, and not just from masks and vaccinations, but from things that diminish our bodies, break our hearts, and chip away at our souls.
As much as I try to stay plugged into the news, both locally and globally, and to be responsibly informed about current affairs, occasionally I just get fed up or feel overwhelmed. Switching to various channels, seeking different perspectives and fresh insights, looking for signs of hope and Easter joy, I often hear the “same old stuff.” Garbage is circulated like a bad HVAC system. I hear demagoguery and deceit. I am horrified by the labels we paste on each other, and the hate crimes and violence that surfaces in our homes, our cities, our country, and around our world.
In the names of Allah, Yahweh, Jesus, and justice we have waged war. As one resident in Buffalo recently said, “You can’t even go to the damn store in peace.” We protest and picket, sometimes nonviolently, demanding actions while raising questions. “Whose life are we talking about anyway? Is this a moral, legal, medical, religious, socio-economic, or political issue? And who gets to decide? Who will advocate for us when we have no voice and no power? And what really is the right thing to do?”
We long for peace. Earlier in the book of Revelation, the author mentions various things that destroy our peace. They are anger, resentment, having no boundaries, adultery, idolatry, refusing to repent, chaos, killing the innocent, powers beyond our control, a “conquer” mentality, and inflexibility. Or in the words of the Redeemer’s rector, “The seeds of hate are sown in the soil of isolation, watered by hopelessness, and fertilized by anger, cruelty, and hate.” While peace starts within each and every individual soul and radiates outward, community is important. Prayer is a good place to start “not as a substitute for taking action,” wrote Bishop Sean Rowe from Buffalo, “but preparing to do so.”
Now western Christianity tends to emphasize, “our Father in heaven” from whom Jesus came and to whom Jesus was going. Or we focus on Jesus, who claims that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But we do so at the expense of the 3rd person of the Trinity. And She is not happy about being ignored! Using gender free language, we affirm our God who is the Creator of all people and the Redeemer of all creation. The Holy Spirit is our heavenly dove, who carries an olive branch of peace over our rough sea waters.
Rowan Williams, previous archbishop of Canterbury said, “Eastern theology perhaps helps us to think of the Holy Spirit less as an afterthought. Especially during fractious, and fracturing times, looking east can free us from our anxiety or (feeling) panicked and overstretched in the Christian west.” (Timothy Jones interviews Rowan Williams) In the words of St. Paul and Jesus, the Holy Spirit can help us to pray in our weakness with sighs too deep for words and this Advocate will bring us a peace that the world cannot give. (Romans 8:26, John 14:23-29)
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate, and the word Advocate means to “call to” or to “speak for.” God is our Holy Advocate who speaks the truth, teaches us, and reminds us of what Jesus said and did.This Advocate guides us along right pathways, leads us not into temptation, and comforts us in our anxiety. She is our companion on the journey, a friend by our side, and an aide who listens to our woes, wipes away our tears, and shares Her Love. She calls us to prayer and action.
Peace never means the absence of trouble, but usually arrives in the midst of it, when everyone is exhausted, and horrified by the casualties that surround us. Peace doesn't come with simple words, legal decisions, or the absence of action. When we fight for peace, we don’t just “stand down”, walk away, and keep silent, especially when vulnerable people are at risk. We face the conflicts and become small “a” advocates in both our words and our deeds, sometimes in very different ways. We continually listen to the capital “A” Advocate for wisdom and truth.
In a fable called “The Friendly Forest”, the late Rabbi Edwin Friedman wrote these words: “Once upon a time in the Friendly Forest there lived a lamb who loved to graze and frolic about. One day a tiger came to the forest and said to the animals, “I would like to live among you.” They were delighted. The lamb, however, had some apprehensions, which being a lamb, she sheepishly expressed to her friends. But, they said, “Do not worry, we will talk to the tiger and explain that one of the conditions for living in this forest is that you must also let the other animals live in the forest as well.”
“So the lamb went about her life as usual. But it was not long before the tiger began to growl and make threatening gestures and menacing motions. Each time the frightened lamb went to her friends and said, ‘It is very uncomfortable for me here in the forest’ but her friends reassured her. ‘Do not worry; that’s just the way tigers behave.’”
“Every day as the lamb went about her life, she tried to remember this advice, hoping that the tiger would find someone else to growl at. So the lamb tried to put the tiger out of her mind. ‘Why should I let my relationship with just one member of the forest ruin my relationship with all the others?’ she said to herself. But every now and then, usually when she was least prepared, the tiger would give her another start.”
“Finally the lamb could not take it anymore. She decided that, much as she loved the forest and her friends, the cost was too great. So she went to the other animals in the woods and said goodbye.”
“Her friends would not hear of it.’This is silly,’ they said. ‘Nothing has happened to you. You’re still in one piece. You must remember that a tiger is a tiger,’ they repeated. ‘Surely this is the nicest forest in the world; and we would be very sad if you left.’”
“Then, two of the animals in the Friendly Forest said, ‘Surely this whole thing can be worked out. We’re all reasonable animals here. So stay calm. There is probably just some misunderstanding that can easily be resolved if we all sit down together and communicate.’”
“The lamb, however, had several misgivings about such a meeting. First of all, if it was simply a tiger’s nature to behave that way, why did they think that communication would change that nature? Such meetings, well intentioned as they may be, usually try to solve problems through compromise. Now, while the tiger might agree to growl less, and reduce some aggressive behavior, what would she, the lamb, be expected to give up in return? Be more accepting of the tiger’s growling? There was something wrong, she thought, with the notion that an agreement is equal if the invasive creature agrees to be less invasive and the invaded one agrees to tolerate some invasiveness.”
“Her friends assured her that the most important thing was to keep communicating. ‘Don’t be so sheepish,’ they said.’ Speak up when the tiger does these things.’ But then one of the less subtle animals in the forest, more uncouth in expression and unconcerned about just who remained, was overheard to remark, ‘I never heard of anything so ridiculous. If you want a lamb and a tiger to live in the same forest, you don’t try to make them communicate. You just cage the bloody tiger.’”
In the book of Revelation, John had a vision of the heavenly city where nothing unclean can enter, nothing accursed will be found, and whose gates will never be shut. At its center is the Lamb of God, who sits on the throne with His heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit, our Advocate, sits peacefully by their sides.
This city is a place where the tree of life stands tall and its leaves are for the healing of our nations.This is a Friendly Forest where all God’s creation is finally at peace, and where the tiger and lamb lie down together. There is no growling. There is no fear.
Yes, the world will not give us that peace that is everlasting but God surely will. God’s peace is not a temporary truce; but rather it is a part of God’s covenant which cannot be broken. In that promise, we can certainly find some signs of hope and Easter joy.
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