1. “Hark, the herald angels sing.”  “Hark, a thrilling voice is sounding” goes another carol.  I have to tell you that when I was younger and had less understanding, I thought that the angels were singing “Hark!” in the first line of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!”  They’re singing hark?  Hark is an old English word (which came from a German word “horchen”) meaning “to listen”.  Listen!  The herald angels are singing.  What are they singing?  Glory to the newborn King.  Peace on earth and mercy.

Isn’t that a welcome thing to hear?  I came to a greater understanding of language and found out what the imperative tense is.  The command.  The invitation.  Hark.  Listen.  Imperative is a good word for because it’s kind of imperative, isn’t it?  To listen today?  I am a person in need of peace.  We are a people in need of peace.  We want peace in our homes.  We are a society in need of peace.  Peace in our coming and going.  Peace in our public spaces.  We are a world in need of peace.  I don’t need to explain why.

It seems that each year when we come to the Peace Sunday of Advent I come back to the lines from “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”  The hymn was written by American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1864.  The Civil War was raging, cannons drowning out the sound of church bells, when Longfellow wrote:

“And in despair, I bowed my head. 'There is no peace on Earth, ' I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on Earth, goodwill to men.”

What do we have to say about peace on this Sunday?  Perhaps it’s not so much about what we say.  Perhaps it’s more about listening and asking the question, “What story are we going to live out?”  How do we not despair in the seeming absence of peace, whether it’s geo-political wars and rumours of wars and invasion and incursion interdiction (and all the sanitized language we use around them like “kinetic strikes”) to peace in our homes, with which many of us struggle?  Peace among those closest to us. We don’t despair.  The four Advent candles go together, and the Christ candle is in the middle of them.  We don’t despair, O follower of Jesus.  We marked Hope in a special way last week.  Listen to the words of Paul to the followers of Jesus in Rome so many years ago.  “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)  So let us listen, and let us ask the question, “What story are we going to live out?”

“In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea.”  Once upon a time, a man named John appeared in the desert.  We need people like John.  Prophets.  Let us listen to them.  We need to be jarred awake out of our everyday.  I need to be jarred awake.  Look at John with his camel hair clothes and his diet that would hardly make him welcome at many Christmas dinner tables.  Talk about dietary restrictions!  Let us welcome him and hear him; he brings his own imperative.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (or is at hand).”   The Prince of Peace has come, comes to us, and will come. 

John did not go to the seats of power.  Imperial palaces.  Capitals of nations.  This is what leaders do when they seek peace, right?  Go to the centres of power.  Or those at the centre of power meet in neutral locations.  This is the way the world works.  This is how we broker peace.  John appearing in the wilderness signals another truth.  The world’s power brokers are not going to bring us peace.  The concept of peace in the kingdom of heaven is something much broader and deeper than an absence of conflict, or a non-aggression pact, or even mutual self-interest.  We know this, right?  I was born in the middle of the Cold War, where Mutual Assured Destruction was the thing that would prevent humanity from destroying itself (MAD indeed).  At the end of the Cold War in the 1990’s there was much optimism and talk of the “Peace Divided.”  Where has this left us?  We’re not despairing, we’re still listening. John is in the desert, and the desert is the place where God is made known.  God’s provision.  God’s protection.  God’s promise.  “The kingdom of heaven has drawn near,” John proclaim,s and we do well to listen.  You want to talk to him about the Pax Romana?  No, no, no.  The kingdom of heaven truth of peace is not just absence of conflict but shalom – well-being for all, security for all, flourishing for all.  MAF – mutual assured flourishing. 

The one to bring peace has drawn near.  So what?  Here comes another imperative.  “Repent!”  Turn to him.  Orient myself toward the one who said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.”  (John 14:27)  I want that.  That is the story that I want to live in, and I want to live out that story every day, and I’m not there yet, so let me keep on listening to brother John’s imperative.  Repent.  Turn. Every day.  I want to be moving in your direction, Lord, every day.  Turning is not a one-time thing.  Someone has said this about repentance “Repentance is not a one-time experience associated with conversion, but ongoing reformation of individuals and communities into the body of Christ, formed around the cross”  To which I would only add “formed around our baptisms, around our gathering at our Lord’s table, around God’s word, around our praise, around acts of mercy and compassion and grace and forgiveness.

This is what our God is like.  Listen is the command today.  Hark!  Listen to the voice of the prophet Isaiah.  Isaiah witnessed the power of empire.  He witnessed rulers turning away from God and God’s ways.  He saw invasion and a righteous remnant being sustained.  He saw restoration.  He saw the collapse of the empire because here’s the thing about empires – they don’t last.  Don’t let their arrogance fool us.  We are surrounded by this kind of arrogance all the time, and it has always been this way.  Listen to these lines from Isaiah 10 and the pride of the Assyrian king:

When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.  For he says, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of people (borders mean nothing to us)and have plundered their treasures (because hasn’t it always been about the strong plundering the weak?  That’s how it goes right?) like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones (we’re the greatest empire in the history of the world).  My hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples, and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing, or opened its mouth, or chirped.” (Is 10:12-14)  Our empire shall last 1,000 years, they say. Or maybe even our empire will last forever.

You know what lasts forever?  We are talking in these weeks about walking in the light of Jesus, seeing everything in the light of Jesus.  You know what lasts forever?  The word of our God will stand forever.  We’re not going to be come up with well-being for all/mutual assured flourishing on our own, but…  The word of our God came to Isaiah, and the word was this.  Listen!

Read Isaiah 11:1-5

(and we remember another song that goes “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne/Steadfast love and mercy go before you.” Ps 89:14)

Listen to the vision!  The wolf living with the lamb.  The word for live here is “sojourn,” as in stay in a place for a while, as in the lamb going “Come on in, wolf!”  The leopard lying down with the kid because this is not some temporary arrangement, this is generational peace.  The cow and the bear grazing, their young lying down together (like those unlikely animal friend reels we see on social media).  No hurt or destruction on all God’s holy mountain because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord – not simply knowing about God but an understanding and living out of God’s ways based on a relationship with and fellowship with and sharing with God who himself will be with them and will wipe every tear from every eye and death will be no more and mourning and crying and pain will be no more. So we do not despair.  At Advent, we remember that Jesus has come and we remember that Jesus will come.  The next verse in “I Heard the Bells” goes like this – “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep/God is not dead nor doth He sleep/The wrong shall fail, the right prevail/With peace on earth goodwill to men.”

We look forward to the coming of the Prince of Peace.  We live in the meantime, and I know the meantime can be pretty mean, and we can be pretty mean.  We live expectantly, and we live prayerfully, and pray make me a channel of your peace, Lord.  We live listening and hearing that command/invitation to “Hark” and hear John the Baptist’s words, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”  What would it look like in our lives to be agents of peace (well-being for all/flourishing for all) in the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit of Christ – God with us?  Starting with those with whom we are closest.

I want to end with Paul’s words to the Romans and speak of two very practical ways to make peace.

1) “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another (let there be peace on earth and let it begin with us), in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 15:5-6)   Let us take the opportunity this Advent to glorify God with our voices in praise.  Literally sing together as much as we can.  (If you’re not able physically to get out and sing this Advent let me know and we will come to you and sing together).

2)  “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”  There is a welcome in the kingdom of heaven.  Empires of the world say things like “You’re not welcome here unless you’re a net asset to us.”  Jesus says “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)  Jesus says “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.  As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”  (John 7:37-38)  We are welcomed to the table in the kingdom of heaven.  Who might we welcome in these weeks of Advent and beyond?  To whom might we extend an invitation and welcome?  In our homes?  In our church?  In the coffee place?  What invitations might be extended to us that we might accept in the same spirit of peace and hospitality and mutually assured flourishing? We’re living in the meantime as people of peace – people of the Prince of Peace.  Listen!  

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”