Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, September 19, 2010

When Peace Like a River

The Preacher’s Comments

This sermon, as with most sermons I preach, it seems … reads more like a link of disconnected segments. The reason for that, I believe, is that sermons are oral presentations and turn into something quite unique for the moment that cannot always be captured in a manuscript form. Lutheran preaching is not as congregational responsive as other settings, immediate response is not always there in audible words, laughter, crying … the expression of humanity sitting and waiting for someone in front of them to make sense of the Story and how it is connected to their existence; and yet, the one who is preaching can feel the moment, sense the attention, touch and be touched by the depth of feeling … and that experience can only be pointed to in the words of the sermon written down.

We have two liturgies each Sunday morning at Christ Lutheran Church in Santa Fe … a spoken Eucharist at 8 o’clock and a sung Eucharist at 10 o’clock. Any sermon eventuates differently from one to the other (ask any Guest Celebrant and Preacher who comes to CLC!). At the 10 o’clock liturgy, When Peace Like a River was sung as the “Hymn of the Day,” (introduced by one of the most exquisite organ introductions I have ever heard), the Church Choir sang a beautiful version of the Prayer of St. Francis, guest musician Jim Toevs (trumpet) accompanied by Marla Riggins Clark (organist) performed selections from Telemann, Bach, and Torelli throughout the service … i.e. the Story of the Hymn melded with Lutheran Peace Sunday melded with Shalom and our prayers all let the Sermon play out beyond the moment of its being preached.

Finally, the preacher always preaches to him/herself … sitting front row (as it were) and hoping, wishing, praying that what become spoken is truth for him/herself. As the renowned visiting Professor H. Grady Davis (of blessed memory) taught us at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (1970), “Lady (there was at that time one female student in the Homiletics Class) and Gentleman … when you stand to proclaim the Word of God … you become the Word of God.”

I recall that one or two from the class left the next day for other vocations. It is a daunting task. (BL III)

Horatio Spafford was a prosperous lawyer living in Chicago with his wife Anna in the 1860s. Life was good. They were wealthy, had much real estate along the lakeshore of Lake Michigan, and their marriage was blessed with 5 lovely children.

Their home was always open as a place where people could come and gather who were dedicated to what today we would call progressive faith. Activists of the reform movements of the time came there, evangelical leaders of the era like Dwight Moody were frequent visitors, the abolitionist movement seeking the end of slavery in our country gathered in the parlor.

The Spaffords were dedicated church people, they had a strong faith, they were active in their congregation, Horatio was an Presbyterian elder.

Life could not have been more exciting, more invigorating, more fruitful, more peaceful.

But, in 1870, four year old Horatio, Jr. died of scarlet fever. The Spaffords were devastated. And then in October 1871, the Great Chicago Fire broke out … 250 people died … 90,000 were left homeless … most of Spafford’s holdings were destroyed.

But their home was not destroyed in the fire, and Horatio and Anna used their resources, what they had left, to feed the hungry, help the homeless, care for the sick and injured, and comfort their grieving neighbors.

Two years later, with Anna’s health failing, they decided to put the tragedy of the loss of their son and the fire behind them and planned a trip to Europe. They booked passage on the French steamer Ville du Havre with their four daughters.

On the day they were to leave, Horatio had a business emergency and needed to remain behind. Not wanting to disappoint Anna and their daughters, he sent them on, planning himself to take another ship in a few days.

On November 22 a British ship, the Lockhearn struck the Ville du Havre in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. In 12 minutes the French steamer sank. Of the 307 passengers and crew only 81 survived. The unconscious Anna Spafford was picked from some floating debris by the crew of the Lockhearn, itself in danger of sinking. An American cargo ship, the Trimountain arrived in time to save survivors of both ships.

Taken to Cardiff,

Wales

… Anna sent a short telegraph to her husband, “Saved alone, what shall I do …” Their four daughters had drowned. Horatio left immediately to bring his wife home.

When the ship on which Horatio was traveling came near the site of the tragedy of the Ville du Havre, the captain called him to the bridge. He said, “A careful reckoning has been made and I believe we are now passing the place where the Ville du Havre was wrecked. The water is three miles deep.” That night, alone in his cabin, on a piece of stationery from the Brevort House, a prime hotel in Chicago, he penned the words to the famous hymn which begins,

Peace … what a word. The Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Writings are filled with the thought. שָׁלוֹם is the word in Hebrew; we know it well, we can recognize its characters even if we can’t read another word in Hebrew. In Hebrew the word can be used for all parts of speech … it can be a verb, a noun, adverb, adjective.

Walking in the city of Jerusalem you hear it used constantly … both a greeting and a farewell, simply shalom … or shalom aleichem (peace be with you) and the response aleichem shalom.

It’s the greeting on Friday nights at the synagogue Shabbat Shalom. And most services end with the singing of Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom aleynu, ve'al kol Yisrael ve'imru amen (May the one who makes peace in heaven, may that one cause peace to be upon us and upon all Israel; and let us say, Amen.)

It can be someone’s name, the name of an organization, Temple Beth Shalom … our sister congregation! (Beth Shalom … House of Peace), and so on …

Shalom and its Greek equivalent (eirenh … we get the name Irenene from it) are not so quickly translatable as we render it in English … more, far more meaning is contained in the word: well-being, health, wholeness, completeness, settling a debt, paying a bill … read through the Gospel portion again for this morning … the one we call The Unjust Steward … the debt is settled, the debt is forgiven … really! See … the entire Gospel of Luke from which we have been reading this year can be summed up in one word … FORGIVE! Jesus the Teacher, Jesus the Jew (we must remember) teaches always … forgive!

Never does Jesus say, “Get even!” “It’s payback time!” “You’ve been hurt by someone, now go gettem!” “Life has treated you badly, hold a grudge!” “Make sure you keep score!”

One wonders what would have happened if after “9/11” every effort would have been made to seek understanding, seek non-retributive justice, seek ways to forgive … shalom … peace …

Horatio and Anna returned to Chicago to rebuild their lives. Three more children were born. Horatio (named for the child who had died), Bertha, and Grace. Tragedy struck again … for when the second Horatio reached age 4, like his brother before him, almost unbelievably, he died of scarlet fever.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll …

Last night was the conclusion of Yom Kippur, the end of the 10 Days of Awe, the High Holy Days of the Jewish Calendar. Last evening, as the final Shofar was sounded, the liturgy of Havdalah completed, the members and guests of Temple Beth Shalom (the House of Peace) found their way to the exit doors after fasting for 24 hours … and there awaiting them was the food for the Break the Fast, a gift from Christ Lutheran Church and its faithful volunteers to the brothers and sisters at Beth Shalom.

Two congregations united in some seemingly small acts of kindness toward each other as peace shalom becomes the verb toward which we all are working … you see, we, like Moses, like Jesus, believe that peace begins with my peace … that becomes your peace … that turns into our peace … and becomes his and her and their peace … until there is global peace.

Friday night as Yom Kippur began at the Service called Kol Nidre, Bev and I were in the worship bulletin, summoned forward to open the curtains of the Ark, where the Torahs are kept. The Ark is opened and closed throughout worship, and this opening and closing was toward the conclusion of the service at a place where the prayer of the congregation before God asks for forgiveness, personal forgiveness, relational forgiveness, communal forgiveness. In Hebrew it’s called Avinu Malkeinu (where God is addressed as a loving Parent, and a patient and forgiving Judge).

Perhaps it was the only Jewish congregation on Friday night where a Lutheran Pastor and his wife were invited to open the curtain before the Torah … maybe so …

Standing before the Torah and singing the prayer, Bev and I know that one of those Torah Scrolls was given a few years ago by Rabbi Ben and Lara Morrow, our dear friends, and it was given in memory of two sons who had died within 4 years of each other … Jeffrey Morrow and Bart Larzelere.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll …

In the face of their life tragedies the Spaffords of Chicago could have turned inside and become jaded, exhausted, worn-out, angry, nasty people. Instead, in August 1881, they set out for Jerusalem along with some other friends … a party of thirteen adults and three children. Once in Jerusalem they set up the American Colony. Later they were joined by some “Swedish” Christians (Lutherans!) and together they engaged in philanthropic work among the people of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation and without one act of proselytizing.[i]

Horatio died on October 16, 1881 … seven years after the colony was begun, but the life and work of the colony continued on.

During and after World War I as the deprivations of the eastern front came ever closer to the Eastern Mediterranean, it was this colony that rendered support through its soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages and other eleemosynary works of love and compassion … again, without one effort to proselytize among those it served.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll …

Near the end of this Service, we will have an opportunity to pray the Litany of Peace (see below) … prayers composed by the Lutheran Peace Fellowship a few years back and used by us this morning fervently from our souls for the mending of what is broken in ourselves, our relationships, our community, our nation, our world.

Let it be our prayer that the One who causes peace to reign in the heavens … let that peace shower down upon us so that through us peace … wellness, wholeness, completeness, healing … all the meanings of shalom may go from us, through us, because of us into the lives of everyone we meet and just so into the whole world. Amen.

The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III
Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church
Santa Fe, NM

Peacemaking is at the heart of the Gospel. Jewish and early church concepts of peace embraced not only conflict resolution but also justice, welcoming community, and wholeness. This larger vision gives energy and spirit to the efforts of millions around the world to “build a culture of peace and nonviolence," in the words of an appeal signed by every living Nobel peace laureate that sparked the Decade for Peace.

Prayer is central to peacemaking. We are capable of far more when we place our efforts in the hands of the One who is Peace, who has called us to be peace makers, and who walks with us on the Path of Shalom.

The International Day of Peace (September 21) was established in 1981 by the United Nations and has been observed as a world Day of Prayer since 2004 by growing numbers of congregations around the world. LPF leaders wrote the worship guide for that first Day of Prayer in 2004, adapted here.

All: Charge our lives and our churches with the power of your peace, O God. Overcome our fears and self-deceptions with the promise of your presence. In this time of diminishing resources for families and nations, make us signs of your generosity and justice. Light us each day with hope, we pray, so that we may walk in your truth and be love in your Name. Amen.

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[i] See the Wikipedia article on the history of the American Colony which continued into the 1940s. Its communal residence was converted into the still standing American Colony Hotel where members of all communities in Jerusalem still gather to meet. In 1992 members of the PLO and representatives of Israel met there beginning talks that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accord.

Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Colony,_Jerusalem

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17th Sunday after Pentecost

(25th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

When Peace like a River