The Promise of Peace

"THE PROMISE OF PEACE"

a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens

Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.

May 25, 2025

John 14:23-29    NRSV 

23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. 25 ”I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 

28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. 

Let’s see how many well-known sayings about peace we can recall: Peace in our time.   No justice, no peace. All we are saying, is give peace a chance. There’s a few. Got any others? [ This is the audience participation part of our show, c’mon! ]   

It seems in every way, peace remains only a promise, a hope, not a reality.  As we observe Memorial Day and remember the lives that war has taken, I am filled with the consideration of why peace is so hard.  Promises of peace are easy.  Peace itself is hard.  

Google tells me that: In the past 3,400 years of recorded history, humans have experienced approximately 268 years of complete peace, representing only 8% of that period. It's important to note that even within these “peaceful” periods, conflicts and issues of injustice were common. On the other hand, another perspective puts it this way: Yes, the world was at peace for over 99.999% of its existence, that is, the 4.5 billion years prior to the last 100,000 to 300,000, when homo sapiens appeared.   

So what is the solution?  We cannot fight hate with hate.  We cannot defeat prejudice, injustice, or violence with violence. It must be opposed with spiritual power.  In days like these, action is important.  We must act to truly honor those whose deaths we remember today.  BUT - to honor them isn’t to act by seeking more war, more violence, more killing.  We honor them by seeking the spiritual power to act with the power that comes by becoming ever more aware of the power of God’s love to save us.  It is living centered in God’s love that will fulfill the promise of peace. 

To that point, I continue to be taken with the wisdom and words of Rev. Cameron Trimble, who recently wrote about this spiritual awareness, saying: “In days like these, we need our spiritual practices not as rituals of escape, but as ways to come home to ourselves—to re-enter the deeper stream that is always flowing beneath the noise.”  She points to “three centers of awareness that live within each of us.” 

“First, there is ordinary awareness.  This is our everyday consciousness—the running commentary of the mind, what the Buddhists call monkey mind. It jumps from one thought to the next, checking, comparing, planning, reacting. It’s the voice that forgets to breathe, the attention span frayed by headlines and inboxes. Most of us live here by default. It’s not wrong. But it’s not the whole story. 

“Second, there is spiritual awareness.  This is the level we begin to access through prayer, silence, stillness. It doesn’t come through effort so much as through surrendered presence. Here, we begin to perceive not through analysis, but through intuition, connection, resonance.  We sense ourselves not as isolated egos, but as part of something vast and interwoven. We begin to feel—viscerally—that we belong. That our life participates in something greater than itself. 

“And then, there is divine awareness.  Not a place we command, but a gift we receive. This is the center one mystic speaks of, the place where “God dwells in the soul, and the soul dwells in God.” It is not often dramatic. It is not a feeling to chase. It is a stillness so complete it feels like being held. You don’t enter it through achievement. Only surrender opens that door.” 

I would suggest that in that surrender we might meet the fullness of God’s love washing over us like a wave.  But we must seek it with our whole souls, hearts, minds, and strength.  That is the awareness we must seek.  

Then we must act. I believe deeply that the key to getting to peace IS by greater justice for all… and I think getting to that is utterly dependent on love - in action.  Only when we are willing to love “the other,” ACTIVELY can we be willing to bring true and complete justice. 

The raging injustices I see around us these days tell me many are not acting out of love, or following in the way of Christ.  They may claim in their megachurches and project 2025 plans that they are.  For me it is as simple as asking if this [whatever this is ] is what Jesus showed us, spoke about, and commanded us to do to follow his way?  So let us ask ourselves with each act, each thought, each intention: is this an act of love the way Jesus would do it?  Even if it involves turning over tables to stop the injustices caused, let us do it with hope and love that the ones causing injustice will have a change of heart, have a transforming of their spirit, get “born again” if you want to go with that language.  Because friends, unless we start acting out of love rather than fear or hatred or desire to harm others for any reason, then we will never fulfill the promises of peace. 

With all my heart and mind and soul I believe the proverb, “there is no peace without justice.” Yes, Jesus came preaching peace – but he turned over the tables in the Temple because the sellers were treating the pilgrims unjustly.  They were cheating others financially.  He spoke harshly to religious leaders who fawned over the politically powerful for their own profit. Jesus’ love was no whimpering whisper.  It was a proclamation – and an active example -  of the pure power of love - to achieve God’s intentions for all creation and all people.  Even his death on the cross challenged the power of Rome’s false proclamations of peace.  And his resurrection was God’s answer that the power of love was greater than the power of all Caesar’s armies. 

People say, “well you don’t live in the real world”… I say my heart and soul live in the real world, God’s world, where love and justice are the rule of life and reality, where peace comes by love and justice for all. My body lives in an unreal world, made by humans who refuse to trust the power of love and justice to make a world God created, intended, and will bring to fruition. 

This I believe, this I will act on, this I will preach until the day I have no breath left to preach because my God is mighty, mighty to save and because of that, I have peace like a river in my soul, I have love like an ocean in my soul, and my God is mighty, mighty to save.  AMEN. 

[ “Running to the Deep Well,” camerontrimble@ substack.com, May 15, 2025 ],