Discipleship and A Side Order of Peace
Proper 15C
Heb. 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
8/15/10
Lorraine Ljunggren

        There is a lot of media coverage of sports – sports of all kinds from the many seasonal sports here and around the world to international competition like the Olympics. It is common for reporters to go behind the scenes to chronicle the lives of certain athletes. Most athletes who want to be the best they can personally spend years training muscles and lungs and hearts to go the distance. Sometimes literally racing to beat the split-seconds of electronic stopwatches. Sometimes spending years and years of practice for a chance to compete against the best of the best. Week after week of hearing the same voice of their coaches. The tears when injuries seem destined to block the path to a personal best or a lifelong dream. And those moments of joy when the muscles and lungs and hearts come together to beat the clock or to score the winning point or to take home a medal.

        Many athletes and their families committed to their sport sometimes make gargantuan financial, emotional, and physical sacrifices. Sometimes these sacrifices lead to division and turmoil. The road to success in sports may appear from the outside to be a peaceful, steady routine of training, eating, and sleeping. But, it isn't likely that the road to success is very peaceful for any athlete striving to be the best. It's reminiscent of the author of Hebrews writing that 'it involves laying aside every encumbrance and obstacle that is set before us – that clings to us or holds us back…and calling us run with perseverance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus…'(paraphr. Heb. 12:1)

        The road of discipleship is anything but peaceful for the followers of Jesus. They endure the hardships of leaving behind family and friends, of not knowing where their next meal might come from, and add to that the uncertainty of what following Jesus up to Jerusalem will mean. The world in Jesus' time is plagued by warring factions and conquering armies, by people exiled from their homelands and subjected to slavery.

        Into this world scene enters One we call the Prince of Peace. It certainly must not seem to make sense to the disciples when Jesus says, “I come to bring fire to the earth…Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Lk. 12:49 & 51) Jesus saying this doesn't seem to add up.

        When Jesus goes on to tell his listeners about the internal strife between family members which results from following him, it may at first blush fly in the face of who they think Jesus is but their own experiences teach them better.

        The life of faith isn't necessarily a life of peace as the world would define peace. “Gwynne Dyer, an essayist and scholar on the subject of war, has said, 'Peace is an illusion created by the fact that there are intervals between wars.' That's a cynical way of putting it, but it's a good description of the human view of peace. As long as there is an absence of warfare or a minimal amount of 'hostilities,' we breathe a sigh of relief and go on with our business.” (Synthesis)

        But Jesus doesn't just breathe a sign of relief and look the other way when the circumstances of life don't reconcile with the dream God has for this world and the peoples in it.

        Our call to follow Jesus, so well described in the Baptismal promises in our Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer, is a call which doesn't make provision for looking the other way. The road to discipleship was not smooth in first century Palestine and it isn't smooth today for us. That's partly because it appears that the Gospel we are to proclaim by word and example “provokes division and controversy. The Christian message does stir up trouble. It thrives on it. To defend the poor provokes the anger of the rich; to defend the outcast enrages the in-group; to support a fair wage irritates the robber-barons; to call for peace incites others to war.” (ibid.)

        We may think that there is safety in being silent, in looking the other way. But, the truth is, “the only safe place for the Christian in this life is in the center of the storm, in the midst of the [fray], for that is precisely where Jesus is.” (ibid)

        Jesus is in the midst of the struggle for justice, mercy, and righteousness. The peace we are to bring about isn't just an end to hostilities for a few days or weeks or even months. We are to be the bearers of God's peace. “God's peace comes from doing something positive, building up justice and right, saving the weak and the poor, defending the humble and needy.” “…this is the road that God wants us to take… It is rough. It involves hard work and training, suffering and division and strife [may result – is sometimes likely to result]; it can make us unpopular; it can cause family arguments; it can make life in the business world very difficult; it can even bring division and turmoil to a congregation.” (ibid.)

        These things we know – I hope we know them to be part of being a follower, a disciple of Jesus. But, sometimes we are at a loss at where to begin.

        This past week I read a short blurb in a magazine called The Christian Century. The blurb, entitled “And A Side Order of Peace,” is about the Conflict Kitchen. “Conflict Kitchen is a takeout restaurant in Pittsburgh that sells food from countries with which the U.S. is in conflict. Every four months a different country – and menu – is highlighted, along with the culture and politics of the country and the reasons for the conflict. It is now serving Iranian food, with assistance from Pittsburgh's Iranian community.” (August 20, 2010, page 9)

        Well, my appetite was whetted (okay, pun intended). I went to the website to learn a little more. Come to find out, the Conflict Kitchen sells their takeout from the kitchen door of a place called The Waffle Shop. Every four months they paint on plywood a “storefront,” if you will, which highlights the food's country of origin. Right now it is called Kubideh Kitchen. “The Waffle Shop is a neighborhood restaurant that [along with the takeout food] produces and broadcasts a live-streaming talk show with its customers, [and] operates a changeable storytelling billboard on its roof. The shop is a public lab that brings together people from all walks of life to engage in dialogue, experimentation, and [what they call] the co-production of culture.” (http://www.kubidehkitchen.com/)

        I find this intriguing because we in the U.S. certainly need to be educated about other places and peoples. I also believe dialogue bringing together peoples whose countries of origin, or countries of adoption, are in conflict seems to me to be a way to open doors to true peace. It seems to me to be an act of discipleship.

        What if we were to do our own mini-version of the Conflict Kitchen? We wouldn't even have to do the restaurant part. What if we start simply by doing some reading about other countries and peoples to equip ourselves to ask good questions? What if each of us starts a dialogue with someone very different from ourselves – someone of another culture or religion or race or gender? What if we sincerely listen to the stories of their life – to the way they describe their cultural customs and favorite traditions – their religious customs and beliefs? What if we listen most deeply when they talk about the ways they see themselves as different from us? What if we don't get defensive? What if we begin one person at a time? Younger and older and all in between could do so. After listening to the other person, what if we ask if we can share our stories with them, inviting them to ask clarifying questions about the ways we see ourselves differing from them? What if we ask them if they want to be friends?

        It seems to me what Jesus does that threatens some but that overcomes divisions for others is engage everyday people in dialogue about the things that matter to them the most: being fed physically as well as spiritually, being healed and made whole, being freed from oppression, poverty, and violence. Jesus also engages secular and religious leaders about the responsibility they have to serve all the people entrusted to their care rather than dominating and exploiting them. In essence Jesus demonstrates love of God and of neighbor by wading into the deep waters where the currents are the strongest and the most frightening. As Luke says, Jesus challenges us “…to interpret the present time.” (Lk. 12:56b)

        The present time is one of change and challenge nearby and faraway. As, in every age, there is more than enough conflict to go around – more than enough opportunities for true peace-making. What seems in short supply are disciples willing to follow Jesus into the deep waters.

        Having love for one another, journeying the road of discipleship, bringing about God's peace, means being wherever Jesus was in his time and making sure Jesus is there in our time because we are there for him. Amen.
        
        

©2010 Lorraine Ljunggren