Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hi, everyone. I'm Lindsay Parnell, the worship and spiritual formation pastor here at Westside Church. And I am with.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: I'm Evan Earwicker.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: That's not a question.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: That's robber.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: I am Evan Earwicker. And Ben's here, too.
[00:00:17] Speaker C: I'm Ben. I'm the other one.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: The other senior pastor. Yes.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: And this week, we are in our second week of Advent, and the theme for this week is peace. And we on this podcast, we're doing some little mini episodes, focus on these themes and reflecting on how we can translate them into our very real lives.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And whenever we talk about peace around the holidays, there's this kind of counterbalance to experiencing peace, which is like this anxiety. And it's funny always to me to compare how crazy the world is today to any other time, because I think you can't compare and to say, well, things are rough right now in the world. Yeah. And they were also rough in World War II or they were really rough in, you know, when Genghis Khan was storming the tundra. So.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: How do we, Lindsay, kind of categorize the state of the world and have that in light of what Jesus comes to bring peace to?
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah. I think you're spot on. We're not special or new because of how crazy our lives or our world is. I think the set of circumstances we face are unique and special. We've never had access to this much information or news before. And you pair that with the brutality of the Christmas season, which is nonstop. Go, go, go. Bye. Bye. Bye. Cook. Cook. I could keep going on and on. It's just a lot. And.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: The picture I get when I think of this is Jesus sleeping on the boat in the middle of the storm.
I can imagine the scary scene. It's very loud. It's very stormy. There's wind and waves and fishermen who do this, they're on boats all the time, are scared for the. Their lives. And we look at Jesus who is asleep, and I think of the scripture that says, greater things will you do than Jesus? And what I take that to mean is, okay, then I can also sleep in the midst of a storm and not close my eyes to what's going on in the world, take a little nap while everything seems to go to hell in the hand basket. But to know a deep in my bones, peace that allows me the ability to rest and trust. That looks like sleeping in a storm.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: It's important to consider all parts of our lives and our experience in the world in need of peacemaking. Right. I think we think about it in the context of, did you guys watch John Cena's movie as Peacemaker? Did you ever see that him in a costume and superhero stuff? I mean, the front is Peacemaker holding out a gun, you know, and it's like, oh, yeah, that's. I think I've seen that before. We think about peacemaking in relation first to war, which is a good consideration, of course, but I think it also needs to be considered in anxiety, tension inside myself, unforgiveness.
There's peacemaking that can happen in all of these areas. And I think when we begin to knock all those things down or consider how peace can. Shame, can. Shame can change and shape our lives, that's when we really begin to enter into the fullness of God.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And you bring up how peace is a transformative work. It's not a default if there's an absence of conflict. And I think Christmas can lend itself to the kind of this cozy nostalgia of what's the absence of conflict? On the night when Jesus is born and the stars are shining, it's just quiet. And really the heart of the story is in the middle of a.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Empire in conflict and a wicked king murdering children.
Into that, you know, craziness comes the maker of all peace.
And I think it's a better.
A better picture than just how can we avoid. How can we create, you know, a life for us and our children where we're so far away from any conflict that life is happy and we experience peace? That's actually not the picture of the Christian life. It's not the picture of Jesus. And into the chaos, into the storm, comes the maker of all peace. And he forcefully and beautifully and scandalously drops peace into places where peace doesn't belong. I think that's a calling for us.
[00:04:42] Speaker C: Yeah. Peace comes in and then begins to move and to shape and change the world. It's not just the result of a world that's already been changed. That's beautiful.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And I would argue that that type of peace, the absence of conflict, is not the peace we see in Scripture. The peace we see in scripture is the Hebrew word shalom, which means wholeness.
And the picture that word kind of paints is a puzzle with no missing pieces.
So it's not that I feel right inside, you know, I can sleep well, even though that was my analogy, but it is a wholeness, every part of me, wholeness. And then in turn, bringing that in partnership with Christ to our world around us and very small individual worlds, but also the greater world at Large Shalom is what we're after, not the absence of conflict. And I think that differentiation is really important.
[00:05:38] Speaker C: And this concept was played with. And this is my little personal superhero episode. This was Thanos in Endgame. The idea, I'm going to bring peace and balance to the galaxies by destroying half of the population.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:51] Speaker C: It sounds so twisted and awful when it's just said as bluntly as that. But I think sometimes we think about it that way. If only this whole thing just then finally we'd have some quiet. And that's not the work of peace.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Right?
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Paul writes to the Philippian Church. He says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. A couple things that stand out to me, to not be anxious is a command in Scripture.
It's not even really like an offer if you do things right.
He's just commanding us, like, don't be anxious about this, but do this instead, which is to bring our prayers and petitions through Thanksgiving. And then the response of the God of peace is to give us peace that guards. Guards our hearts, guards our minds. And I can't think of a better antidote to this feeling of the world is in a spiral or everything's out of control, but to have the peace of the God of peace guarding our hearts and minds.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: Practice that in the line at Target, in the line at Costco, when you're cooking the 12th pie. Like, do. Yeah, that's a good.
That's a good reminder.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yeah. To practice peace. That's an interesting concept to me, and I think it is spot on. I think we do. We have to be intentional about reminding ourselves of who the Prince of Peace is and what his incarnation means for us and our access to peace, which is a fruit of the spirit that is ours in Christ Jesus.
So as we wrap up this episode, I would like the listeners to fill in this blank for me.
Lord, this week I am anxious about blank. And you fill that in, whatever it might be, that that is heavy on your heart and your mind today.
Help me to experience your peace and presence this week so I can bring your peace to others.
Amen.
