Not Peace, but a Sword...and then Peace

Having just attended the Churchwide Assembly, I find it fitting that this week's lection is Luke 12:49-56. The beginning verses of this reading are haunting and violent.

^"49I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!"

Not the usual fare that we are so accustomed to having from our Prince of Peace. Yet, after this Churchwide Assembly, I see so much of the truth of this verse, and do not think it is a coincidence that it falls where it does.

At the Assembly the ELCA took a position on a number of items, from HIV/AIDs to investment in Palestine. Yet, all that we continue to talk about is sex. Sex is the topic of conversation that seriously divided those in attendance, as we sought to make a statement that was Christ-centered and just for humanity.

And the fire came. I saw it.

I saw it on the tongues of those at the microphones, adamantly speaking in favor of their particular position. I saw it on the heads of those voting members as they sought to discern where God is leading the church anew.

And I saw the votes aflame as they shown on the board for all to see. Truly, this day, the work of Christ had brought a sword to the church, as the votes were near evenly split.

And then I saw the fire again, this time in worship. It was after the vote as a thousand members on both sides of that sword gathered together around the flame of a candle, around the flame of the Word, around the flame of an impassioned God present for a weary and distraught people.

And suddenly that sword cut through our hearts. It cut us to the core as we worshiped together, eating and drinking the things of God. And those divisions that were before were no more around that table where all were welcomed. Our hard hearts once again split by the God who continues to show up to burn the chaff and harvest the wheat.

Being a Lutheran Christian is not easy. Indeed, divisions will arise as we continue to discern where God in Christ is calling us to move. But Christ knew this, God knows this, and we must realize this. The Prince of Peace can heal such divisions.

I leave you with a prayer by Walter Brueggemann that I picked up this morning. It seems like an appropriate prayer for today.

"God sovereign and generous,
Who commands the rise and the fall of nations,
who calls and has chosen many peoples,
who weeps when they harm each other,
who haunts every local culture-including ours-
with your will for well-being
who draws close to the powerless and
surprises with power via weakness
You are the one whom we praise in astonishment,
we adore in gladness
we thank in gratitude...
for who you are,
for what you do,
for how you hope.
Look with mercy on us this day,
on all the churches we serve and love,
on all the people we name,
on all the communities so fragile in which
we are embedded.
Look with your mercy, and we will obey you all the day long.
In the name of Jesus who obeyed fully, Amen.

See you in church,
VT...

Prayer taken from Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth by Walter Brueggemann.