GOOD NEWS AT NOON FROM GOOD SAMARITAN – April 2, 2020

        Well, good afternoon, on this Thursday edition, we’ll continue with our Bible study series of chapter 3, verse 16 passages. Today’s is from II Thessalonians 3:16 – “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.”

        This is the conclusion of St. Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonika. He believed it was crucial to end his correspondence with a word of peace. I find it interesting that he also began this letter with a word of peace. “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Bookends of peace were important for the Church then and just as important for the Church now.

        Grace and peace are words carried over, not only from the Greek of Paul’s writing, but also from the Hebrew of Paul’s background. They are two Hebrew words that I would make sure my Bible study students of years past knew well. Hesed is the Hebrew word often translated as “steadfast love,” what the NT writers meant by grace. And many of us are familiar with the Hebrew word for peace – shalom. But the peace expressed in shalom is not a shallow understanding. It represents wholeness of the soul and spirit. It is not just the absence of war; it is the presence of the powerful divine spirit that results in an attitude of peace. It is the Good Shepherd of the 23^rd Psalm leading us beside still waters and restoring our soul.

        My favorite singing group of all time is the Four Tops. They recorded a song entitled “Still Waters Run Deep.” Being a major introvert myself, it was a song with which I readily identified. I’ve heard it suggested that all this social or physical distancing that we are practicing in light of the coronavirus outbreak is a whole lot easier on introverts than it is on extroverts. Maybe so. We’re used to finding strength in ourselves. But maybe also we could all use a little soul-stilling and hectic-ceasing in our lives to appreciate an attitude of the presence of God’s peace for our strength. In the Four Tops song, they sang an anagram for PEACE.

P is for the privilege of loving, and of being loved

E is for the ease it gives the soul and the mind

A is for the answers in the search to find yourself

C is for the calm you feel when you like what you find

E is for everlasting

May this love never cease – PEACE

Back in college, I wrote this as a love note to my future bride, much like Paul did in his love letter to the Thessalonians.

        So also for 39 years of active ministry and even today, I would consider each sermon I delivered to be a love note to the gathered community that I would begin and end with a word of peace.

        I always wrote my sermons out by hand, using arrows and lines and cross outs and special abbreviations. For a short while, the parish secretary volunteered to type out my sermons so I could have a clean hard copy and a digitally saved version. She believed she could read my handwriting and decipher my abbreviations, but before she saved it she would give me a chance to edit. The very first time, I looked at her precisely typed document which began with the words, “Good morning, people.”

“What’s this?” I asked her. She responded, “Isn’t that what your GMP stand for?” Oh my, no. You see, I would begin every sermon with “Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: the greeting Paul would use in his correspondence with Timothy. And I would conclude every sermon with POG, (she just had a ?) the words from Philippians 4:7 – ‘Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord unto life everlasting.”

Soon we will be celebrating the Easter resurrection of our Lord in much the same way as the  disciples did, that is, behind the closed and locked doors of our virus isolation, trembling in fear and upset in confusion, thinking that our whole world has been turned upside down, heads spinning with what ifs? and what nexts? But closed doors of confinement could not keep the risen Jesus from being with them and appearing to them and speaking to them a word of Peace.

“Peace be with you.” A sharing of deep shalom, a reassurance of hope, a blessing of faith, a calming of the soul, and a gift of divine love. Are you missing the sharing of the peace as one of the intimate components of our corporate worship? I know I am. No matter what is going on in our lives, Jesus is able to break through and bless each one of us with a greeting of “peace be with you” from beginning to end, to bookend our lives in shalom.

Turn your attention to the video screen where I would like to end by sharing a song with you. What I like about this version is that, even in an otherwise empty church building, a husband and wife are able to sing a beautiful song of peace to the entire congregation.

When Peace like a River

It Is Well with My Soul

1  When peace like a river attendeth my way,

    when sorrows like sea billows roll,

    whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,

    it is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

    It is well (it is well) with my soul, (with my soul,)

    it is well, it is well with my soul.

2  He lives--oh, the bliss of this glorious thought;

    my sin, not in part, but the whole,

    is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!  Refrain

3  Lord, hasten the day when our faith shall be sight,

    the clouds be rolled back as a scroll,

    the trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descend;

    even so it is well with my soul.  Refrain

The peace of the Lord be with you always. I can feel you responding “and also with you. Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord unto life everlasting.” AMEN.