Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest, Canberra, ACT
Tuesday, 10 February 2004, 7:45 a.m.
SERMON by The Reverend Professor James Haire, KSJ MA PhD DD D
UnivPresident, National Council of Churches in Australia: Executive Director, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
Professor of Theology, Charles Sturt University
Malawi, formerly Nyasaland, is a land-locked country in East Africa. In its northern region lies the town of Livingstonia, named after David Livingstone who had travelled and worked in the area. During the British emergency prior to Malawi’s independence in 1964, there were fears of violence between the European settlers and the indigenous Malawian population, and indeed between the various Malawian ethnic groupings. Communications from the north had been cut off. A British reconnaissance aircraft set out from the colonial capital, Blantyre, to observe the area. From the sky they could see no activity. They feared the worst. Had the population turned on itself? African and European against one another? African against African? In Livingstonia’s town centre, on the grass in front of the town hall, they observed from the air whitewashed stones in a shape which read “Eph. 2: 14”. What did it mean? Was it a message? The RAF blokes hadn’t a clue. Was there a Bible – maybe a Gideons’ Bible – in the aircraft? No, there wasn’t. They circled over Livingstonia a few more times. No signs of activity. So they rushed back to Blantyre. As soon as they were on the runway, one of the crew ran over to the mess, and came back with a Bible. He read the words, read again by the Prime Minister a few minutes ago, from Ephesians 2: 14, pointed to on the whitewashed stones, which you will see to this day, if you go to northern Malawi. They are the words of our text this morning: “For he (that is, Christ) is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us”. That was the message to the world from northern Malawi. As they moved towards an independent Malawi, they were at peace – African with African, African with European. These whitewashed stones are northern Malawi’s proudest symbol of independence.
“For he is our peace”. Peace. Eirene in Greek. Shalom in Hebrew. Salaam in Arabic.
We live in a deeply ambivalent age, an age of high technology and of mediaeval conflict. In this age we in the church are called to speak of, and to live out, God’s peace for us. We speak of the wonder of God’s grace, that is, we speak of the wonder of God’s condescension to us. Our Christian faith and life is built on the inexplicable will of God to be with, and for, humanity. The mystery is that the triune God chooses not to be God apart from, or separate from, humanity, but rather to make God’s very life intersect with our human life through Christ. The theological basis of all Christian life, then, is the wonder of God’s condescension, in the intentionality of God to be in solidarity with those who find their self-identity completely within themselves. Here is expressed the fact that God does not wish to be alone in celebrating the wonder of God’s inexpressible love for humanity. God in Christ calls into existence an earthly Body of His Son who is its heavenly Head, in order that humanity may responsively rejoice with God in the harmony and peace which God has established for creation.
We are called to a life of praise, the praise of God, which embraces all of our personal and social life, in all its practical, ethical, religious, political and intellectual aspects. It is a praise which stands counter-culture, over against the idolatrous self-worship of individuals and even nations in our time. In our time especially we are called to stand against that self-worship, and to stand for the true praise of God, the praise of all our life, in public and in private. This is the heart of the Christian faith.
At the beginning of 2001, I was the first foreigner permitted to travel through the Moluccas in Indonesia, after the violence, because I had worked there for many years. I preached one Sunday at a makeshift camp for internally displaced people. They were deeply grateful to the Australian government and people for the assistance given to them. Most of them I knew; many I had baptised in years gone by; some I had confirmed. All were traumatised by events so gruesome. Afterwards some Muslim acquaintances of mine joined us from nearby. Both Christians and Muslims had been engaged in atrocities. We talked of burnt homes, ruined schools, and desecrated churches and mosques. I remarked how amazed I was that both sides we meeting together so soon. An elderly woman, who had lost everything, used the words: “He is our peace”.
The Greek word for peace, eirene, based on the Hebrew shalom, means harmony and security. In the New Testament it points at two factors. First, it means the final salvation of the whole community, and of the whole person. Secondly, eirene proleptically refers to a condition of peace and harmony here and now. The New Testament in this is bifocal. It always looks to the perfect end of history, and at the same time seeks to see how our life today can reflect that.
In more precise terms this New Testament concept of peace, based on the Old Testament, assumes three factors. First, it points to one’s identity under God. Second, it speaks of a harmonious relationship with God. Third, it points to a harmonious relationship with one’s neighbour and in one’s community.
So, how do we live out the vision of peace presented here in Ephesians? Paul was addressing a divided Christian community in Ephesus. The Church in Ephesus was in the process of formation. It was formed of Christians of Jewish descent, and Christians of Gentile, or non-Jewish, descent. It would seem that the Christians of Jewish descent had very considerable economic power. They had, however, suffered political oppression. Between 49 and 54 CE/AD they had been excluded from public life, at the end of the reign of the Emperor Claudius. They remained economically powerful, but politically very incorrect. The Gentile Christians, on the other hand, had much more political influence, although in all likelihood they were largely economically disadvantaged. They certainly had the numbers, but not the financial clout. So here was a Church in Ephesus with a minority of people who were economically powerful and politically oppressed, on the one hand, and a majority of people who were poor, numerous and politically powerful. It was the perfect cocktail for social chaos, as it is in many situations where these factors exist. Moreover, in the world of Early Christianity, social groupings were based on kinship, ethnic issues and power. Kinship was the central factor of social organisation. Religion was enmeshed in issues of kinship. So here were all the ingredients in the creation of social chaos.
Out of this, Paul’s community stipulations summon Christians to new social roles. They are to be based on peace, shalom, identity in Christ, harmony with God, and harmony within the community. The ideals of the end of history are to be sought as far as possible in the present.
How are we to live out this peace in this country?
We are blessed in this country with a land of remarkable peace and harmony in many ways. Great numbers of those who have come to this land have sought peace as much as they have sought freedom. For they have often come from places where both peace and freedom have been denied them.
However, much in the processes of our democratic society depends on confrontation, adversarial stances, competition, and symbolic conflict. Much of this is predicated on the search for truth, and the avoidance of corruption. The processes of our representative parliamentary democracies (in local government, in the States and territories, and in the Commonwealth) demand confrontation and adversarial stances, however benignly they are carried out. The legal system cannot function without confrontation, in its inexorable pursuit of truth.
However, we must face the fact that the requirements of the processes of our democracy can so easily spill over into the content of our democracy. Confrontation and adversarial stances – the quite legitimate servants of our democracy – can become its master.
Let us go back to Paul. Paul calls us to peace, to shalom, to a life where our identity comes from beyond, from Christ. Christ Himself is our peace, for God in Christ creates a new humanity. Christ is not only the Son of God; He is also, in the seventeenth-century English translation of Martin Luther, the Proper Man. In today’s language we would say that Christ is also the picture of humanity as God intended humanity to be to live in perfect confidence in God, and in perfect harmony with God’s intent.
Peace within us. Peace in the Australian community, in our region, internationally.
Peace within each one of us. “He is our peace”. God in Christ has created us to share in this new humanity. God has given us a new identity, a new harmony with God’s very self, and thus a new human community one with another.
As you, our parliamentarians, the Members of the House of Representatives and the Australian Senate, begin this new year of service; you do so with the knowledge of that internal peace, which is God’s gift to each of you, and to each of us also. Members of my own family have served in both the Commons and the Lords on both sides, and I know how relentlessly stressful life can be for parliamentarians. Yet that peace, that identity in Christ, that harmony with God can make it all possible, indeed energising. Popular polls in the media (even with very doubtful research methodologies) often place politicians pretty far down the list, along with journalists and used-car salespersons! (And, may I add, the clergy in recent times have been far from the top of the list!) However, we all know that that is not the whole story. The Australian people, especially recent arrivals, have very high aspirations for their parliament. Maybe that is why at times they become disappointed. May each of you this year have lives of true peace, as you seek to have your identity in Christ reinvigorated, and as you seek to live in harmony with God. For myself, I am very happy at any time to provide whatever pastoral support I can.
Peace in the community, in Australia, regionally, internationally. “He is our peace”. A remarkable multi-cultural, multi-linguistic, multi-religious society has developed on this continent. There are still pains. There are still those who are marginalised. Our identity in Christ calls us to share that peace, that harmony, throughout this continent, throughout our region, across the world. In our time it is not easy. No one but a fool would imagine that it is. At times it is important to be sceptical. But we must not become cynical. If we in this country can be an example of harmony and peace, and can demonstrate that style of ours to our neighbours, then that fact alone can have a vast impact internationally. It comes, first of all, by being secure in ourselves.
Twenty years ago I took part one Saturday afternoon in a march in Northern Ireland of the Peace People, the group founded by two women, Betty Williams and Miread Corrigan, both later to go on the receive the Nobel Peace Prize. We walked through both Catholic and Protestant areas, trying to pull the community together. As a Protestant minister I walked alongside a colleague from the university where we had been lecturing, who had become a Catholic bishop, later Cardinal Archbishop of Armagh, Cahal Daly. Protestant young people were hurling abuse and rotten fruit at me for consorting with a Catholic. A person rushed out of a Catholic church wielding a great crucifix with which they hit Cahal over the head, questioning whether his parents had been married at the time of his birth. Cahal fell. I asked him if he would like to sit down for a few minutes in a shop door. Although in his seventies, he looked at me with steely eyes. “James”, he said,”there’s a handkerchief in my pocket. Get it out and clean up my head, and on we go, arm in arm. If we give up at this point, there will be no peace”.
As you come down from the Hill each night, or even in the wee small hours, can you ask yourself two questions: Am I at peace with God? And, what this day have I done to advance the peace, the harmony of this Australian community, of this region, of the world? May God richly bless each one of you this parliamentary year!
