John 14:25-31a

It was called the Peacemaker. It was a single-action, six-shooter
revolver, made by the Colt company. Of course the "peace" it produced
was the peace of Boot Hill, where the wooden slab at the head of each
grave said "R.I.P." Rest in Peace.

       "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
       I do not give to you as the world gives."

It was called the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace. It reached north of
the Rhine, east of the Jordan, south of the Sahara, west to Ireland.
But this was a peace imposed by a bully, the kind of peace you get
when someone is bigger and stronger and meaner than everyone else.
I've heard that after the Spartacus slave revolt 6000 people were
crucified, and the roads out of Rome were lined with crosses in every
direction.

       "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
       I do not give to you as the world gives."

It was called the Grove of Peace. Tall redwoods reached 300 feet in
the air. The silence was so thick you could almost touch it. The man
and woman stood side by side with their heads craned back. Finally
one of them broke the silence: "I can feel myself relaxing. I can
feel the tension leaving my body." And the other replied, "It's so
peaceful here. I wish we could stay here forever." "Well," said the
first one, "what do you say we drive into town and look for some
action? Maybe a casino, or an adventure movie?"

       "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
       I do not give to you as the world gives."

This past week I have been wondering, what do we mean when we say
"peace"? What is peace? How do you know when you've got peace?

At first the peace that comes out of the barrel of a gun, and the
peace you get giving in to a bully, and the peace you find in a
beautiful environment seem very different from each other. But I
think I've found something they all have in common: the absence of
frustration.

Our son, who lives in South Carolina, says that if you ever are on
trial for murder there, one defense will always work. All you have to
do is convince the jury,

"He needed killin'!"

In other words, I was so frustrated I shot him! Peace is the end of
frustration. A bully is one who is easily frustrated, but once the
bully gets his way the frustration stops, and peace reigns. The
beautiful vacation spot is far away from the frustrations of modern
life; at least until the RV with the broken muffler drives up beside
you, belching pollution, and unloading a flock of screaming kids.

Peace is the absence of frustration, and so a peace maker is a tool
or a method or a person that takes the frustration away from you, or,
in the case of the vacation, takes you away from the frustration.

I've known people who moved from New York to Seattle, to get a little
peace. People who've moved from Seattle to Spokane, to get a little
peace. From Spokane to Creston, to get peace. From Creston to a home
in the canyon overlooking Lake Roosevelt. Oh, how peaceful!

Except even down in the canyon there are weeds that get into the
flowers and deer that get into the vegetables and rust that gets into
the pipes and germs that get into the body. In all sorts of peaceful
places today there are people wandering about the garden with a spray
bottle in their hand, looking at the underside of leaves. Psssst! He
needed killin'!

       "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
       I do not give to you as the world gives."

If peace is the absence of frustration, and the environment is filled
with frustrations, then it doesn't matter how hard you try to change
the environment with your Colt Peacemaker, or how hard you try to get
away from the environment in your RV, that frustrating environment is
all around us. The only people in this world who can achieve peace
for any length of time are those people on Boot Hill! R.I.P!

There has to be another way! We need a peace that isn't given the way
the world gives. Well, it just so happens I know another way. If the
world is filled with frustrations and you can't get rid of them, or
get away from them, then the only thing you can change is yourself,
the only environment you really have control over is your internal
environment. Peace has to come from inside.

That wasn't a surprise, was it? You already knew that. In fact the
world already knows that. The world supplies you with all sorts of
internal peacemakers: alcohol, cocaine, oxycontin, chocolate. The
world supplies all sorts of gurus to help you find inner peace: Dr.
Phil, Dr. Ruth, maybe even Dr. Seuss.

And it hardly ever works. Almost no one ever finds the inner
resources to deal with frustration, even people who've read the
self-help books, even people who've had counseling.

       Charlie Brown goes for counseling, where the sign says, "The Doctor
       Is In." "I don't know what to do," he says. "All of life is
frustrating. I
       love this little redheaded girl, and she doesn't know I'm alive. Every
       time I try to kick the football, it gets moved. Every time I
try to fly a
       kite, it gets eaten by a tree. I'm so frustrated I could scream!"

       His psychiatrist knows exactly what to say: "Learn to relax! That'll be
       five cents, please!"

       "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
       I do not give to you as the world gives."

Nothing in the world gives peace, except maybe that six-shooter.
That's why Jesus doesn't give the way the world gives; because the
world doesn't give. Everything in the world is about getting peace,
seizing peace, imposing peace, finding peace. And yet peace has to be
given. Even if Lucy could teach Charlie Brown some biofeedback
methods, so he can really learn to relax, that won't bring peace.
Even relaxed people have frustrations. The world is filled with
frustrations. Peace must be given.

Another way of saying it is to realize that peace is all about
control. The fellow with the peacemaker in his hand feels in control.
The Roman emperor with his army feels in control. The people who move
from the city to the country are trying to take control of their
lives. The people who go to the peaceful redwoods are trying to gain
control of their lives. Even the person who learns to relax is aiming
for control, inner control, self-control, but still control.

Jesus says, God is in control. Notice that Jesus, the master of the
universe, who can quiet storms with a word, who can heal the blind
and raise the dead, this mighty Jesus says, "The Father is greater
than I." Here is the center of his peace: the realization that
someone else is greater.

Peace comes when we realize that God is in control, that God is
greater than we are, that we are not the center of the universe. When
we give up control, admit that we don't have control, can't get
control. Peace comes when we die to self, take up our cross, follow
someone who is more important.

"Bang," says Jesus, or possibly "Psssst! Your self-image needed killin'!"

(Comments to Don at crestnch@televar.com.)
Creston Christian Church, Creston, Washington, USA