May 25, 2025

Peace Y’all! ~The Rt Rev Michael Beckett OPI

Y’all….. So here’s a little riddle for ya!!! What do a song by recording artist Lynn Anderson, a novel about nuns, and some of the words spoken by Jesus all have in common? I’ll give you a minute.

Ya got nothing? I didn’t figure. So here are a few hints:

Way back, a hundred and ninety-‘leven years ago when I was a wee baby gay, Lynn Anderson sang the hit song, “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.”

And from the Gospel Reading appointed for today:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

And finally, from the first page of my very favorite, much beloved, read, and internalized novel, “In This House of Brede” by Rumer Godden, she writes:

The motto was “pax” but the word was set in a circle of thorns. Pax: Peace, but what a strange peace, made of unremitting toil and effort—seldom with a seen result: subject to constant interruptions, unexpected demands, short sleep at nights, little comfort, sometimes scant food: beset with disappointments and usually misunderstood, yet peace all the same, undeviating, filled with joy and gratitude, and love. “it is my own peace I give unto you.’ Not, notice, the world’s peace.

So the answer to the riddle, is this: It’s gonna be OK.

Do y’all remember what the deal was when Jesus was asleep in a boat on the sea nd then it stormed??? Not just your average run of the mill storm, but a STORM…..at sea even. Thunder. BOOM! Lightening. FLASH! Waves so high over the little boat that it was tossed about. CRASH! And to top it off, the boat started filling up with water. SLOSH…..Sink? And Jesus slept on. And on. And on.

And then it happened. The disciples, those stalwart fishermen, panicked; so much so that they wanted Jesus to panic, too. So, they woke him.

Now, I dunno about Jesus, and I’m pretty sure they didn’t have a Keurig on that boat, but anyone who knows me well, knows, that no matter what, one does NOT speak to the Bishop when he first wakes up until after his (at least) first cup of coffee. Can you not see Jesus? He throws the blanket off and says, WHAT?

Y’all….we’re in the midst of a storm now, even as I type. Many of us are fearful and dismayed. Many of us are angry. Many of us are in turmoil. And rightly so. With so much uncertainty on the horizon, many of us feel that we are in danger of sinking. And, I rather suspect, that many of us wonder if God is, indeed, sleeping, or if the Creator exists at all.

The disciples point out the storm, Jesus’s eyes focus, and then he gets it. He understands what all the fuss is about…..and then, like so many of us, he says,

“Really?”

I can just imagine him rolling his eyes, and then saying to the storm, in much the way I talk to our cats, he says, “Stoppit!” The storm quiets, Jesus grumbles about nonbelieving disciples, and goes back to sleep…..and the (nonbelieving) disciples are tripped!

But ya know, I can assure you that God is very much awake, and involved, in our lives. Or at least the Redeemer wants to be. How, you ask?

Remember that reading from the Gospel a minute ago? Here:

So that’s how. By living through and with and in us. By us showing forgiveness. Charity. Good will. Reaching out. Love. By standing up for what is right and good and true. By peacefully protesting. By donating time and money to those who are less fortunate that we ourselves. By examining what we believe, what we hold dear, and comparing that to what Jesus has taught us that we SHOULD hold dear and believe. (For those of you who may be wondering what that is, focus on the Beatitudes and Matthew 25. Oh, and the greatest commandment (hint: it’s not one of the 10.)) Try: Love one another.

This storm is far from over. FAR from over. Before this storm ends, hearts will have to change, attitudes will have to change, laws, rules, regulations, the government, will have to change, society will have to change. And before any of that can happen, WE will have to change. We will, ALL of us, have to examine ourselves carefully, and honestly, to find the roots of our prejudice, our fears of those who are ‘other’ than ourselves. We will have to look with new eyes at all of those with whom we come into contact, ALL of them, EVERY ONE of them, and strive to find the Jesus in each of them. The Jesus in us must reach out to the Jesus in our brothers and sisters, regardless of race, creed, color, gender, gender identity, sexual preference, ability or disability, political affiliation, or any of the other million and one things we use to denigrate, disgrace, and damn our brothers and sisters.

Like the disciples, we will be afraid. Sometimes we may even panic. But I can assure you that, like the disciples, we can go to Jesus. And when we do, he will say to us, “Peace. Be still.” And in the calm and quiet that results from our trust in Him, we will be able, with full hearts, to grow, and to learn to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Christopher West used the words of St Francis to write this hymn:

Make me a channel of your peace.

Where there is hatred let me bring your love.

Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord

And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy.

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand