Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society Service of Word and Prayer for Peace The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul, Burlington, Vermont March 23, 2003 Sermon by the Right Reverend Thomas C. Ely Click here for more photos

In the midst of war, we gather tonight to hear and reflect on God’s Word of hope, love, reconciliation and peace. We gather to pray. We gather to pray for peace—peace not only in the context of the current conflict that occupies our attention—but peace in all relationships—personal, communal and global—that are strained, broken, or shattered. We gather to pray for those in harm’s way—members of the military, military chaplains, and the innocent people of Iraq. We gather to pray for our enemies. We gather to pray for the leaders of the world—for their wisdom and their restraint in these tense and perilous times. We gather to pray for those witnessing for peace, those seeking to bring humanitarian aid to those in need, and for ourselves—our fears, our uncertainties, our convictions, and the deepest longings of our hearts.

We gather under the auspices of the Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society, an association of Christian denominations who work together in pursuit of the illusive reconciliation that we call Christian Unity. The particular perspective from which the Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society listens and responds to God’s Word is that of our Christian faith and our various denominational traditions.

At the same time, our respect for other religious traditions means that we welcome any who are here tonight from other faiths. And, we welcome those of you who claim no particular faith tradition and yet who are drawn to this gathering tonight for your own unique reasons.

From the prophet Micah, we heard tonight a word of judgment, longing and hope for reconciliation and peaceful coexistence among peoples and nations that seems so remote right now as to be easily dismissed by many—but I hope not by us: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.”

We heard the Psalmist calling upon God's mercy and forgiveness. The pursuit of righteousness—the pursuit of God’s justice—is offered as the pathway to Peace, where we can live into the claim that “mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

In the Letter to the Ephesians, we heard that Christ is our Peace and that in and through Christ, and the cross of Christ, reconciliation is not only possible—it has already been accomplished.

And in the John Gospel we heard that love, agape—that unconditional, self-offering love of God—which is the abiding premise of the relationship between God and Jesus, is also meant to be the abiding premise of our relationship with Christ AND with one another. “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Love, mercy, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, peace. What are we to make of these Words of God in the here and now of this night when we gather amidst the reality of war—a war that is growing more tense and demanding hour by hour? Ultimately, of course, each of us will have to answer that question for ourselves, but let me contribute to your thinking with three ideas.

First, the Christian allegiance is to Christ and the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of reconciliation and peace. In the joint statement of denominational leaders from the Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society issued on March 7th, we declared, “Nothing could be clearer than that the Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of Peace." For Christians, reconciliation and peace are not abstract ideas. They are at the heart and soul of our mission—God’s mission. The question for us is not whether praying and working for peace is patriotic or not, but whether praying and working for peace is Christian or not. And the answer, I believe, is an unequivocal yes.

In a recent letter from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, entitled Finding our Way: A Christian Perspective, Bishop Frank Griswold wrote, “God sent his Son to reconcile the world and its people to himself and to show us how to live into the fullness of our humanity. In Christ we see power surrendered in favor of vulnerability, service to others and love of his enemies that leads him to the cross.”

The recent Encyclical of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America carried these words: “Our journey through the season of the Great Fast, one that coincides with the ordeal of war, leads us to the foot of the cross where we become once again witnesses of the Crucifixion of our Lord. In his bruised and battered face we behold all the sufferings of humankind, and our hearts are pierced anew with the violence and inhumanity of our world. However, we remain with every assurance that as he prevailed over sin and death, His promise of enduring peace, heavenly joy, and eternal life will be fulfilled. We look to the Life Giving cross, a ‘weapon of peace’ and a standard of love, as a source of strength and inspiration.”

God’s reconciling mission of love is Christ’s reconciling mission of love and our Christian reconciling mission of love.

A second thought in response to the Word of God we have heard tonight is a reminder that, as Christians, we do not inhabit the world alone. We are part of a global family, part of the whole creation of God, the whole cosmos for which and towards which the full measure of God’s love is extended.

The Christian voice is not the only voice of faith calling for truth telling, reconciliation, restoration and peace. Billions of human beings—sisters and brothers of other cultures and creeds—inhabit “this fragile earth, our island home.” Waging reconciliation, working for justice and shalom, respecting the dignity of all persons, loving one another as God loves us ought NOT to drive human beings apart, but rather draw us more deeply into community with others. Name-calling, vilifying, accusing, and humiliating are not worthy tactics in the pursuit of reconciliation. They are tactics of fear, prejudice, bigotry and nationalism that polarize and isolate people and nations from one another.

My final thought in response to the Word of God we have heard tonight is that the work of reconciliation and peace will need to continue throughout this conflict and beyond. When the particular hostilities in Iraq conclude—and we pray God, that might come soon—then the work of reconciliation, restoration and peace will have a new urgency. It will be an urgency focused on binding up the wounds of the broken hearted, reaching out in love and compassion for the victims of war’s cruelty—the dispossessed, the orphan, the homeless, and those whose lands and homes lie crushed and crumbled.

For those who have engaged in combat, there will need to be healing and restoration. For those who suffer the loss of loved ones, or those whose loss ranges from a loss of innocence to a loss of their physical, mental or spiritual capacity to function fully, there will need to be healing and restoration. For those who have protested the fighting of this war, there will need to be healing and restoration. Putting the pieces of people’s lives and the relationships between peoples and nations back together again will not be easy. It never is, especially when those lives and relationships have been shattered into tiny pieces by the hostilities of war. And yet, that is precisely where the God whose Word we have heard tonight is calling us to be.

So it is that Christ came and proclaimed peace to those who were far off and to those who were near. May the Peace of God, which indeed passes human understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God.