It was the last night of camp. The kids had finally quieted down, and the youth ministers visited out on the walk for way too long; not ready to let go of the night or the week. The marathon goodbye finally ended with us lying back, looking at the stars.
When the alarm jarred me morning came way too early, and, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What in the world were we thinking?” We had bags to pack, dorms to clean, luggage to load, and a long bus ride home. We had stayed up half the night talking about our hopes and dreams.
I have come to see that late-night session as a sort of farewell discourse. While it said something about our separation anxiety, we were more than anything rehearsing our future roles, dramatizing what it would be like to take our experience back into the world. We were, in essence, sharing peace with one another; peace that continues to bless us even up to the present.
Jesus said to the disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (14:27). A word of farewell rich with encouragement and preparation. The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) offers them peace for the journey. The peace he leaves with them; he gives to them. It is the peace he carries in the flesh of his own person. He answers the deep anxiety which has been stirred by their anticipated separation. He rehearses the future role of his disciples beyond his daily presence.
We are the beneficiaries of the peace that Christ left for his disciples; the peace that he implanted within them.
Many a legacy is “left” that is never “given” to the legatee; many a gift never reaches its proper destination. I have spent a good number of years anticipating an inheritance that has yet to come. Though to be sure, I check the mail for it everyday.
But Christ is the executor of his own testament. The peace he “leaves,” he “gives.”
His parting words are a dramatized rehearsal. “These things I have spoken unto you…” (14:25). “You heard that I said to you…” (14:28). And in verse 29, “And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you may believe.”
Christ practices their peace, their well-being, their wholeness. I’m glad the Christian Calendar recognizes Easter as a season and not just a day. A season to rehearse the realities of Christ being raised. We need time to discern how to take that powerful truth more deeply into our lives and in to our world.
A dear friend loves to say how sick and tired he is of himself. He comes to worship to discover his new self. He reads the meditation and sings the hymns and prays the prayers to try on the apparel of Christ. He recites the lines of new creation until they become part and parcel of his own existence.
Worship is rehearsal for living as God’s people.
The hope of worship is to raise our level of consciousness. Christ assured them of his peace knowing there was an abundance of words being spoken to the contrary. Christ lays before them his peace while the world forgets that the war horse is a vain hope for victory. Its might cannot save (Psalm 33).
Stay up late into the night to claim the tender mercies that make life worth living. Worship and bible study and prayer knead the grace of God into the fabric of our lives. John Ruskin said, “The primary reward for human toil is not what you get for it, but what you become by it.” Worship is rehearsal for change.
It’s always a good time to change your mind when to do so will widen your heart.
In his book, The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg says that in the Christian life:
- Practice is about paying attention to God; attending to the relationship, spending time in it, being intentional and thoughtful about it, valuing it, and enjoying it.
- Practice is about the formation of Christian identity. Our culture bombards us with messages that shape our sense of who we are and what is worth valuing. It values the 3 A’s: attractiveness, achievement, and affluence. Our sense of who we are depends upon how well we measure up to these. Our Christian identity is shaped by the gospel truth that we are created by God, that we are children of God, that we are beloved by God, and that we are accepted by God.
- Practice is about nourishment. Worship nourishes me. Daily devotion with the Bible nourishes me. Retreats and pilgrimages nourish me. Paying attention to my dreams and journaling nourishes me. We are fed by practice.
- Practice is about compassion and justice. They are central to paying attention to God for whom and for what God is passionate about.
- Practice is about living the “way.” It is about walking the Christian. To do that, I cannot simply do it alone. A beloved community nourishes you even as it stretches you. Think of that community like this: a big church, a small church, a personal church, and a private church. Find a church that nurtures and deepens your journey. Be committed to one-on-one personal devotion; one on a few, weekly care and study group, where you are known and where you know others, where you can carry one another’s burdens; and one on many in worship where you are a part of something beyond yourself.
Practice, rehearse your well-being in Christ. Practice is the way peace happens. The Spirit of God works through practice.
So that night stretched out under the stars shining down on us and trying to get every last drop out of camp that summer in Texas, we talked about where we hoped to be in thirty years. We were trying on for size what it would mean for us to go under the mercy of God. On this day Randy’s in Virginia, and Layne’s in South Carolina, and Roger’s in Austin, and Phil’s in Abilene, and Mike’s in Gruene, and I’m back at Royal Lane. To this day we still hope to find wholeness and well-being in the peace of Christ; peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
Several years ago, we got together with our families at Gulf Shores for Thanksgiving. One night we built a bonfire on the beach. The kids enjoyed getting to know each other around the fire. When they saw us coming down the path, Whitney and Kristin yelled out, “Thanks, guys. You have given us a great gift. It’s unbelievable! We’re all preachers’ kids, and we know each other’s stories!” They were rehearsing their hopes and their peace. They were working things out before it came to pass, so that when it came to pass, they might believe. They shared peace with each other and what it would mean for them to not only be our children, but God’s.
Graduation Day is a day to step into the peace of Christ and to head out for what it means to not only be our children, but God’s!
We pray: O God, let us practice our well-being in Christ until his peace can be known on earth. Amen.