What do you rely on? What is it that you look at or to for stability, direction, or consistency? If we’re Christians or in the church we “know” it God, He’s faithful, but that doesn’t mean we actually respond to the world and others like God is actually reliable. Because there is what we say and “know” but then there is how we functionally believe, act and respond. Comforted with the Gospel, but then we quickly begin to seek reliability in others. There are few things in life we find truly reliable. We plan, prepare, and promise but we are rarely able to provide a guarantee of significant flourishing on our own. If we are going to have courage, we need our faith placed where endurance can be guaranteed. Relying on people will leave us disappointed. When has someone let you down? When has someone else disappointed you? How have you responded? Why did it sting so much? Why is it the people we care the most about who we rely on the most are the ones who have the greatest capacity to frustrated or upset us? Was it because you had expectations that were unrealistic, or because we didn’t really understand the whole picture? Or maybe the just legit failed. What about when we consider leadership, who we trust, who we follow. We seek reliability and we seek integrity. We want leaders in our lives, homes, churches, and communities we can rely on for a sense of stability, strength, to encourage us to continue on. We need to be grounded beyond ourselves or other imperfect people if we are going to be truly comforted in the midst of affliction, difficulty or pain. We need our reliance shifted from inward, or outward, to upward and onward!

We are Weak and Weary. Courage is needed to overcome fear and strength to supplant our weakness so we can continue in confidence to where a final victory is experienced. This journey is long, includes difficulty, but it can include joy and ultimately leads to a destination of glory. We need to endure. To endure is to remain or continue even in the midst of great difficulty to a greater destination. Endurance is usually a sign of significant strength. Yet paradoxically we find ourselves both weary and weak the longer we endure difficulty. The more affliction the longer we endure the less endurance we realize we have. When do you need comfort? Well it is not when everything is going well is it? When you’ve received a great gift, achieved an accomplishment, enjoying peace and harmony in relationships you might be moved to celebrate but you don’t necessarily “need” comfort. When we need or crave comfort is when things are difficulty. It’s bitter cold you want the comfort of a warm fire. When you’re feeling alone or isolated you want the comfort of friendship and companionship. When you are in physical pain you want the comfort of relief. When anxious you want to be comforted with peace. We NEED comfort when things are unsettled, unknown, or worse seem hopeless. It is not wrong to desire comfort because it’s acknowledging that things are not as they should be. Desire for comfort is a barometer that something isn’t right, and that’s ok. Where do you go for comfort? What do you turn to in order to find comfort when you’re suffering? How do you self-medicate? How do you use food, alcohol, entertainment when you’re experiencing pain or difficulty? Maybe you seek comfort in areas where you feel strong or competent. When afflictions come, we begin to look inward hoping we have the strength to endure. We need to find both comfort in the present and courage to continue not despite our weakness, but in our weakness. We often think of endurance in terms of individual character not collective interdependence. Seeking strength, we look within ourselves for affirmation or beyond ourselves for inspiration. Yet when our hope is in ourselves alone, or even. Simply placed in others, we will eventually find ourselves disappointed as we fail or other don’t live up to our expectations. We need our gaze shifted beyond ourselves or other imperfect people if we are going to be truly comforted in the midst of affliction, difficulty or pain. We need our reliance shifted from inward, or outward, to upward and onward!

We are Weak and Weary. The challenging journey of life taxes our endurance and reveals the shallow depth of our resiliency. We have moments in our journey that serve as key markers. When they are difficult or painful, they can be traumatic and linger. When they are positive or even considered a win, they can be transformational, transitional surges of zeal. But invariable after a time the impact of that transition, the intensity of the zeal, and the memory of the experience can begin to fade and we can fall back into old patterns or lose sight of the path ahead. Crushing fear begins to set in as we begin to doubt our ability to finish well or even enjoy the journey we are on. Courage is needed to overcome fear and strength to supplant our weakness so we can continue in confidence to where a final victory is experienced. This journey is long, includes difficulty, even opposition, but it can include joy and ultimately leads to a destination of glory. We need to endure.

We are not a satisfied people. We show this at the conclusion of one year and the beginning of the next we intuitively assess aspects of our lives and find areas we want to see change in, or achievements made. These are sometimes very specific ie: run a marathon, get out of debt, etc and relatively easy to see progress, achieve our goal, or admit defeat. Other times we set vague ethereal goals like “laugh more” be a “better” spouse, parent, friend, or employee with no real understanding of what this will look like or how we should get there. We know we’re not the best version of ourselves. We want more. We want to be different that we currently are. Therefore, each year we make resolutions grow our budget or to shrink our beltline. We again go through a cycle of great effort followed by less discipline. Why do we fail to achieve what we want? We are driven by our desires. Our deepest desires will always overcome our efforts of self- discipline. What we want will drives us to what we do. Our desires are usually very immediate, temporary, and selfish so we regularly act driven by these desires which bring us short term pleasure even at the expense of long-term joy. We seek immediate comfort over long term correction. True flourishing cannot be found without looking beyond right now, outside of ourselves, and ultimately to things that are eternal. What we need is not greater discipline but greater desires. We need our attention and affections directed towards things that can stir us to strive for contentment over surrendering to compliancy. We need to be capable of being joyfully uncomfortable in the present for the purpose of greater rewards both in the near term and for eternity.

Something we should ask ourselves this morning as we close out the year, is in what ways has this world tried to offer us peace & comfort admits all the chaos we’ve faced? Slogans such as “We are all in this together,” others such as “Do your part, mask up!” But all of these are shallow attempts at trying to give us peace. that we have seen and learned from this year as things are being stripped back and the daily noise of everyday has been bogged down, is that the world has nothing to offer us for our comfort and our peace, it’s not enough to make us whole; to make us well, to heal us. I just heard on the radio the other day that of adults that live in king county, more than 50% say that they are struggling with depression this year. I think that is a number that is largely reflective of the rest of this state and maybe even the country as well. What we don’t need is 7 steps to peace or some other process were by comfort is the end goal. No, what we need is God Himself to intervene in our lives, to change and transform us. This is the job of any preacher, to present us who God is, and how we should live differently in light of Him. So here’s where we are going in Mark’s gospel today, is a couple scenes where chaos erupts and Jesus is revealing who He is in the midst of chaos for the purpose of bringing about peace. So if we would seek God first above all else, then He will give us peace, come what may.

We have moments in life that are key markers. When they are difficult or painful, they can be traumatic and linger. When they are positive or even a win, they can be transformational, transitional, surges of zeal. But invariable after a time the impact of that transition, the intensity of the zeal and the memory of the experience can begin to fade and we can fall back to old patterns or lose sight of the path ahead. If Peace is “wholeness” then where we look for and find peace needs to actually fulfill and needs to last. Peace needs to carry and lead us to where the final victory is going to be experienced. This is the journey we are on, one where peace is both present and where peace is pursued. This journey is long, includes difficulty, even opposition, but it does lead to a destination of glory. We need a peace that perseveres. Peace - From the beginning there has been enemies of peace, of God (and Man’s flourishing) came into the garden sowing seeds of doubt about God’s goodness and the consequence of rejecting God leading to darkness. Humanity willingly exchanged the presence of peace for a war of independence rejecting God’s rule, but also the connection to the source of life and wholeness. This is sin. Sin separates. Sin takes peace and brings conflict. It takes out the right relationship between God and His People. Why is peace something so difficult? Sin, evil, brokenness, unnecessary division, lack of joy and wholeness all spring from this conflict. Sin is what robbed us of Shalom and introduced conflict. God comes and engages with this conflict bring both justice, holiness, as well as mercy and grace. He makes a promise. That a savior-king will come who will bring both victory over evil and establish a real and enduring peace. Generation waited for Peace.

Peace (Shalom/Eirene) More than absence of conflict. It is completeness, wholeness. A state in which there is more than nothing clearly wrong but everything being completely right. No imperfections but also perfect. We instinctively know the difference, even if naively we like to hope when there is no conflict there is peace. Every been in home, marriage, relationship where the “conflict” is quiet but there isn’t joy. Maybe you’ve been on the road trip from hell where you’re in the car together and you’re not saying anything. That is not peace. It’s missing the joyful complexity of a full complete relationship. This presence of conflict and lack of peace is not how things have always been or how God has intended us to be. God created everything and He created it “Good”. The gospel (good news) begins with God making man and women in His image joins them together in marriage, places them in a peaceful Garden. Gives them purpose to cultivate a flourishing world while they enjoy multiplying. God dwells with them. There is wholeness, the is not conflict. This seems like the perfect conditions for lasting peace. Yet a conflict was instigated. An Enemy of God (and Man’s flourishing) came into the garden sowing seeds of doubt about God’s goodness and the consequence of rejecting God leading to darkness. Humanity willingly exchanged the presence of peace for a war of independence rejecting God’s rule, but also the connection to the source of life and wholeness. This is sin. Sin separates. Sin takes peace and brings conflict. It takes out the right relationship between God and His People. Why is peace something so difficult? Sin, evil, brokenness, unnecessary division, lack of joy and wholeness all spring from this conflict. Sin is what robbed us of Shalom and introduced conflict. God comes and engages with this conflict bring both justice, holiness, as well as mercy and grace. He makes a promise. That a savior king will come who will bring both victory over evil and establish a real and lasting peace. After generations come and go each wondering and hoping “Is this it?” only to be disappointed and near defeat. Even God’s voice is silent for 400 years until Peace arrives in Jesus.

We have to go all the way back to Genesis, where we see that God created all things good, and He created our first parents Adam and Eve, and provided for their joy and flourishing by giving the tasks to work and keep the land and to grow in number, literally discipleship. God created everything good and they sinned. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God despite all the good that He had set up for them and provided for them, and still they thought and we think that we are better on our own without God. Ever since the fall we have been as humans in a constant pursuit of peace, trying anything and everything. From one extreme of people mutilating their flesh, to another of people using essential oils. We are in need of peace. So where do you look for peace?

I don’t feel like celebrating Christmas this year. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas. Things are supposed to be back to normal by now. Come to think of it, nothing has gone according to plan this year. I know some of you put up your Christmas tree early this year, and I get it. It’s going to take a couple extra weeks to get in the mood for Christmas this year. As Chris and I were talking about a theme for Christmas this year… I wasn’t ready for Joy to the World, but maybe just a calm Christmas… or a quiet Christmas. We settled on “Peace on Earth”. Each week we will be talking about peace. My hope and prayer for each of us (including me)… whether here or online would feel true peace. Not that we would ignore the problems, minimize our pain, or pretend all is well, but find moments of real peace. Peace that comes from knowing you are right with your maker. Where you know everything is going to be ok.

It’s not how a story starts; it’s how it finishes. Condemnation of God’s people has been plotted by Haman. There is a movement to see the Jews exterminated but there is a moment that God orchestrated to have Esther and Mordecai able to effectively engage to help bring hope and relief. So now there are competing decrees one encouraging the death, destruction of the Jews and another giving the Jews the ability to not only defend themselves but to end the threat to their people. This first decree came out with a one year dead line. There was three months of activism to bring the other decree (and end evil Haman’s rule) to Persia leaving nine months of hopeful, anxious in between where victory has been promised but full resolution has yet to be experienced. We have come to the conclusion of this story where the was a great threat, great chaos, great fear, which has been meet by a greater God who has (while unseen) been greatly involved in a dramatic reversal of political and cultural fortunes. God’s people shifted from a place of certain condemnation to potential for relief to now Justice and victory being at the doorstep!