"In the Grip of His Peace"

John 14:25-31
Dr. Anne M. Cameron
September 11, 2011
Lake Highlands Presbyterian Church

      "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

      "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me."

      "Come now; let us leave."

      I have a friend who often signs her emails or personal notes with the phrase "In His grip." That is "His" with a capital "H". It has always sort of bugged me, I am not exactly sure why. Maybe it has seemed to me to be trite, maybe it has sounded a little too "baptisty" for my Presbyterian sensibilities, but now, after much meditation on this scripture from John, now, all of the sudden this phrase makes complete and utter sense to me. All of the sudden "In His Grip" seems not only not trite, but utterly important. Because we are always----always----in the grip of something---or someone, whether or not we realize it. The question is: In whose grip are we being held?

      Today we remember the events of 9/11/01. We recall the loss of life, the terrible fear, disbelief, and horror that gripped the entire world as the morning's unbelievable events unfolded. Each one of you may vividly recall where you were, what you were doing, when you heard the news. I had just dropped our boys off at their little Christian school. I was driving southbound on the I-35 access road north of Georgetown when my cellphone rang. It was my mother. "Anne, we are being attacked. Something horrible is happening."

      Now you need to know my mother was prone to anxiety and overestimating threats (we used to tease her and call her "worst case scenario Shirley"), so I wasn't too alarmed. Until I turned on the radio and began to listen with shock to the news of what was going on in NYC and Washington, D.C. It was a Tuesday. It also happened to be our daughter's 14th birthday. She came home that evening, subdued and disturbed. She hugged her younger brothers and said, "I am so glad you are not old enough to be drafted."

      In the ten years hence it has become utterly clear to us---as a nation, as Christians, even as part of the global community, that we do not have any kind of grip on peace. We have attempted solutions. We have poured trillions of dollars into what some hoped would be military solutions. We have stepped up our national security. We have tried economic sanctions, diplomacy, and education. You name it, we have tried it. I think if you ask most people if the world is more peaceful than it was ten years ago, most people would say, "no." And that, of course, makes us all more anxious.

      In our gospel today Jesus is dealing with his disciples in the grip of anxiety. Jesus gives his final words to the disciples before he goes off to suffer and die. He addresses their fear as they anticipate Him leaving. They are in the grip of panic, wondering what in the world they are going to do without Jesus. Jesus assures them He will not leave them. The Holy Spirit is going to come and teach them, and remind them of their beloved leader. And Jesus also leaves them his peace.

      Scripture tells us the peace that Jesus gives is not like the world's peace. The peace that Jesus leaves is not a false promise of security. The peace that Jesus offers is not the absence of conflict.

      The peace that Jesus gives is something that cannot be located in this world. It is something completely different, because it is located in God.

      It is almost as if Jesus had said, "I do not give you peace as the world gives. I am of a different world, a different realm. A realm that you cannot even begin to imagine, a realm that is so much better than anything this world can offer that it seems impossible to you."

      The peace that Jesus gives is nothing less than the presence of God. When God is present, peace is made manifest.

      Every week in worship we ask forgiveness of God for the things we have done wrong, and for things we have neglected. Immediately following our prayers of confession, we exchange a sign of peace with each other. We love exchanging the sign of peace in this church! This may seem a social ritual, a time of being friendly, but if we think of it this way, we miss something quite profound. When we connect the sharing of peace with God's forgiveness, we recognize when sin is forgiven, then true peace is possible.

      Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit are not of the world. Jesus speaks of this not only when he says that his peace is not what the world gives, but also when he mentions "the prince of the world is coming." This is chilling. He says, "He has no hold over me. I am not in his grip, I am in the grip of my Father."

      "The prince of the world" is the devil, the embodiment of evil and opposition to God. This is nothing less than a cosmic battle that will be played out on the cross, when Jesus descends into the realm of hell and then ascends into the world of life. Jesus conquers evil once and for all. Death loses its grip of humanity once and for all. This alone should give us peace.

      In whose grip are we?

      Are we gripped by concerns for our own well being? Are we held hostage by the past? Are we tied down by our biases? Are we holding tightly to hate? Are we gripped by fear?

      Are we being held in Christ's grip, or something else?

      Imagine for just a few minutes, the alternative. Release yourself from the grip of all these things that are not God.

      Let go.

      Place yourself into the arms of a loving God. Know that you are forgiven, for everything, for every misstep, for every mistake, for every sin, even those you are afraid to admit even to yourself. And know that God offers this same forgiveness to all people. Cleansed! Made new! Forgiven!

      Stop and rest deeply in the gentle, loving company of the Divine. Breathe in the beautiful aroma of Jesus' promise: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Do not let your hearts be troubled."

      "Fear not, for I am with you."

      Let yourself be gripped by your Savior. Find yourself in the grip of His peace, the peace that passes understanding, the peace that the world cannot begin to touch. The peace that the powers of the world can neither understand nor steal.

      And the strange thing is this. The strange thing, the paradoxical thing is this. When we allow ourselves to be gripped by God, we find ourselves free. We are not strangled or constrained, but free! Free to be who it is we are created to be. Free to forgive others, even those who have hurt us most. Free to do and be what God is in our world, which is, in the end, only love.

      It is this peace I pray for you, this peace I pray for our country, this peace I pray for the millions of people, the survivors and the heroes, the grieving and the afflicted, the war numbed and the protesters. The dead and the wounded, the guilty and the innocent. For Americans of all faiths who have turned on each other in fear. For families and businesses and communities in all parts of the world whose lives and homes have been shattered in the terrible wake of 9/11/01, it is for God's peace we pray.

      Not as the world gives, but as God gives, gripping us tightly in his love.