Monday, July 29, 2019

Prayer of St. Francis Sermon Series #4

   This is the fourth installment of our summer series on the prayer in the spirit of St. Francis. I felt that with all the news reports, and the struggles we were having with heat and other issues, a need arose for a giving of a new source of peace. This prayer was first developed in a congregation in France in the aftermath of World War 1. It was shared in a church newsletter. It quickly became such a blessing it was shared everywhere. Like going Viral before Viral was a thing. So in the spirit and in the wisdom and life experience of St. Francis, we are working on being the instruments of peace for our world now.

   The goal of our claiming the potential for instruments of peace is for us to gain the ability to put joy and light into our world where there is so much sadness and darkness. I'll bet you know people or even yourself, who has had moments of sadness or darkness, that could surely appreciate the peace. I would even guess that it would not take long for your to remember your darkness moments or your sadness times. It would have come with the loss of a loved one, or the bad news from a doctor about tests you've taken. Maybe it was a dream that you had, that did not pan out the way you wanted.

   Our sadness and darkness can come and go, often triggered by an event that reminds us of our own struggle or pain.

   In reading a number of books on the Prayer of St. Francis, I've learned that Sadness has two components and both can lead to a deep desire for God's Peace.

   The first sadness is a worldly sadness - a sense created by looking around you and realizing you don't have the things that make for happiness, according to the Advertising industry. You feel sad because you know you don't have a lot of what is being proclaimed as a source of happiness. I can't watch any TV at all without being inundated by what I don't have. It's about the right car, or the right clothes or the right place to live, or the right windows or the right vitamins. They now have supplements for everything, even supplements for what I can't mention in the message.

   The sadness is created by the world around us trying to convince us that the offer for worldly things is even more important that a basic life experience. It goes against what our faith has been trying to do to share the message of simplicity and generosity so we can bless others, because we don't owe our souls to the company store.

   The second sadness is more a godly sadness, and is more often felt among God's people. The sadness is created because we can see how far off the world has become from what God had planned for our planet. The godly sadness is related to issues of poverty and hunger, especially as we see how difficult life is in the rest of the world. The godly sadness is related to people who treat other people so badly. Some who could do better, put people in fear for their lives because others are being stirred up to hate. Godly sadness knows that we should love all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, love the little children of the world.

   For those who attend church regularly we know the godly sadness because we know a lot more about what the Kingdom of God looks like, or could be. We know that the world we live in is far from the place where the earth is protected, where people have their basic needs met, where there is respect, and recognition and reconciliation and welcome for all of God's children. The godly sadness is felt because our theology teaches us that Jesus came to bring healing and wholeness and peace to our world, and that us that we should be different from the world. "You have heard it said,... but I tell you" You can see the whole idea is in the sermon on the mount. Read it and see if it is truly applied to the life we have here and now.

   To move toward instruments of peace, we have to deal Distraction and find a way to move away from that. We have to develop Determination we want to be Instruments and creators of peace. Finally we will need Development of our abilities to bring light and joy into the darkness and sadness. We must learn to recognize and resist those distractions, we need determination to change our direction and focus so we can be good instruments of peace. The commitment to development of a Christ like spirit will make it easier for the Peace of God which Passes all Understanding, to flow through us to the world that so desperately needs peace. Now more than ever.

   Part of our distraction comes from thinking and confusing, happiness with joy. Happiness is fleeting and often connected to possessions. We are surrounded by that influence, it's no wonder this distraction is hard to counter. Sometimes, like medical prevention, when you recognize where the illness is coming from, you can take measures to fight it off. So be aware of your distractions.

   Determination is a desire to make life better for ourselves and others, better in the way we imitate Jesus in our daily lives. For St. Francis, the moment of determination to live differently came on his way home from his imprisonment as a soldier when he was trying to be a hero. His father waited a year to pay his ransom for his release. Returning home to Assisi riding on a horse and contemplating his spiritual influence while in prison, he saw a leper begging outside the wall of his city. His first and trained response was to look the other way. But this time something happened and he was determined that he would reflect Christ at this moment. He dismounted, walked over to the leper offered him some help and before leaving the leper, he bent over and kissed the leper's hand. He felt the spirit of Jesus in him at that moment. He became determined at that point that he wanted to do something more for them, going forward. Legend has it that when he turned around to see the leper again, he was gone. But St. Francis felt the spirit of Jesus powerfully in him at that moment. From then on the would do great things for the lepers of his world.

   Development of a Christ like spirit will take some work on our part. We need to decide to know Jesus more deeply, to be able to reflect his actions. We need to chose to learn as much as we can of God's ways to be light and joy in our world. The world we know will spot phoniness in a short order. We need prayer time for listening to God open our eyes and our minds to that ability to give light and joy.

   Developing a Christ like spirit is like deciding to play an instrument. It takes practice, practice, practice. As any of our talented musicians here among us will tell you, you don't just pick up an instrument and play. You really have to spend hours and hours at it. Instruments of peace involve a lot of work.

   When I was a pastor just starting out from seminary, our ecumenical fellowship in Manchester would sponsor every summer a two week in-depth experience to teach peace to teenagers from Ireland. Host families would include Protestant and Catholic boys and girls, hoping that the two weeks in America could help shed some peace in the long haul, back in Ireland.

   This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first graduating class of Africa University in Zimbabwe, a project of the United Methodist Church to teach all the nations and tribes of Africa a way to find peace in their education. A way to solve problems and end darkness and sadness. The hope and dream was that eventually the leaders of one nation would realize that the leaders of the other nations had gone to Africa University and that maybe they could work together for peace.

   My father Ken Jones, was one of the first Volunteers in Mission, to work at converting chicken coops on the donated farm, so that class rooms could be created. That was in 1992. In 1997, I went with him and we took several members of our church to work on putting on the roofs of faculty houses. This is a lot like the project this congregation supports with AHEAD. building medical facilities in Africa. Africa University is one of our own Baltimore Washington Conference connections.

   If we wish to be instruments of peace, bringing joy where there is sadness and light where there is darkness, we need to develop our Christ like spirit, and bring joy into our world. We need to develop our ability to love, even those we don't find so lovable, to bring peace and turn darkness into light. Jesus in the scripture read this morning, John 15:9-17, reminds us that we can have his joy, and we can make a difference by loving God, loving Jesus, loving the teachings and commands of Jesus, so that Joy might be complete. Wow, what a great opportunity this can be. Over come those distractions, Determine to focus in a new direction, and develop the love of Christ to share with others.

   Our working together on the Story this year will give us an overview of God's love and equip us to be instruments of peace. Stay tuned for more information on The Story, beginning this fall on Septeamber 8.

Be an instrument of peace

Blessings

Pastor Jeff

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