Micah 5:2-5 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace.
Goal: To describe a life of Shalom offered by God Malady: We tend to base our lives in many other things besides God’s shalom Means: Jesus is the source and the perfecter of our peace
“And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.” - Micah 5:4-5
And He shall be their Peace.
We live in a world with lots of stress: job stress, family stress, even just the simple day to day stress. Not to mention tornados, viruses, and all the other big ticket “stresses.” Describe each stress a little.
Out of the swirl of chaos. We hear the words again: And He shall be their Peace.
God’s peace is so much more than what we often think about as peace. Peace is not just the absence of war or quietness. The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom. And with it brings the memory and stories of lives lived well.
And He shall be their Peace.
And He shall be their Shalom.
Peace can be talked to death and we still feel far away from it. But when it is experienced it can open our eyes to new realities. New realities that are really quite old. Realities of God as old as Creation itself.
Peace as order of creation. Story of philmont seeing the stars Driving into the Philmont reservation Weighing packs, double checking we have everything Then get on a bus and go 90 more miles into the reservation Hike, bumpy start until we find our groove Describe the ponderosa pines Setting up camp Sun goes down and stars come out Describe the night sky. Breathless Try to take a picture, but didn’t work Beauty and Peace
And He shall be their Peace.
And He shall be their Shalom.
Peace as friendly relations and enjoying someone, not just absence of war. Story of getting to know Jason. Ever meet someone you just know you won’t get along with? Put into the same learning group together. Meet every week. Awkward silence. But we had set things we were supposed to do. Over time we both grew and actually became friends Not super close friends but it was definitely a God thing
And He shall be their Peace.
And He shall be their Shalom.
Peace as completion and rest in the moments, not removal of all distractions. Moments of rest and completion: Sunrise Baby snuggles Moments of quiet contemplation Hearing the word of God
And He shall be their Peace.
And He shall be their Shalom.
Peace as hope for the future. Kid waiting for presents under the Christmas tree Wonder as the excitement grows. See the presents and now it’s real Don’t know what they will be but the trust it will be good Finally the time comes and family gathers as present get opened
And He shall be their Peace.
And He shall be their Shalom.
Peace as wholeness.
Crafting as exploration of wholeness.
Have an idea or see something you want to try
Description of finding materials
Practicing a form or technique
Slowly comes together
Finished sometimes not exactly what you expected but you explored
Story of Bruce walking with me through things sitting and having tea.
Come into his office
Make myself a cup of tea
Sit and talk
Time always seemed like it was up before you knew it.
And He shall be their Peace.
And He shall be their Shalom.
Conclusion:
All of what we are and hope to become flows from Jesus. He is our Peace. He is our wholeness.
And He shall be OUR Peace.
And He shall be OUR Shalom.
Description of life of peace.
“We keep sculpting little models of the city of God, and we hope people around us get a glimpse - as we ourselves want and need a glimpse - of the kingdom. Here we cobble together a little island of reconciliation in a sea of callous violence; there we carve out a comfort and peace in a storm of pain and suffering; at a graveside we hear and speak defiant, hopeful promises of resurrection for all to cling to like life preservers after a shipwreck. We wrestle, and push, and pile up and carve out and move around, we plant and we uproot, and we try and try again, and in the end we know the result is not very good but we point and say anyway: “This means something! This is important!” - Schumacher, Concordia Journal Fall 2021 V47