All is not well in Jerusalem.

Jesus has just put a damper on the Passover meal with his disciples by saying that one of them will betray him; and, Judas has left the scene with Jesus’ words still hanging in the air: "Do quickly what you are going to do."

Ahead lie Jesus’ arrest, trial, flogging, mocking, crucifixion; Peter’s betrayal; the fear and grief of Jesus’ followers…

And Jesus says,

How we long to believe that – and how often we forget!

All was not well in Jerusalem, and all is not well in our world.

We’ve had earthquakes in China, Chili, Haiti, Mexico.

Volcanoes in Iceland.

Terrorist attacks.

Wars.

Economic crises…

Fear and panic abound! And Jesus says,

And all is not well in our own lives.

We’ve had our own personal upheavals, earthquakes, with our children, our parents, our jobs, our health…

We’re stressed and anxious. And Jesus says,

Sometimes we want to ask, "Just where is that peace, Jesus?! What do you mean – do not let our hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid?! Our lives present us with some real things to trouble us, to make us anxious, to make us afraid!"

I grew up during the fifties, when the "Cold War" was at its height, and people were frightened because Russia had "the bomb" and who knew when they might use it? It was the age of backyard bomb shelters, and – for those of you old enough to remember – the periodic "duck and cover" drills in the schools, when we crouched under our desks, covering our heads with our hands, and awaiting the "all clear" – or the bomb drop, from which our desks were supposed to protect us. And, because my family lived in Germany at the time, we had the occasional "evacuation drills" in the middle of the night, where we Americans practiced leaving our homes – and pets! – to caravan to the airport in Frankfurt to be airlifted to home and safety.

Talk about anxiety-provoking! Going to sleep at night was its own challenge – my mind full of a world totally out of my control, where all kinds of awful things could happen. In the midst of what must have been my increasingly-obvious distress, one night my father came in to my room to comfort me, to try to ease my anxiety. I remember him sitting on the foot of my bed that evening, and reading to me from Psalm 27 – a Psalm which has since become a favorite:

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

Or, in the words of Jesus this morning:

Over and over again Scripture tells us NOT to be afraid:

None of these people had an easy, trouble-free life; but, God tells them, "Fear not!" Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid…

As I was driving this week, I saw a billboard along the side of the freeway which said something like, "I’m your traffic cigarette – learn a new way to deal with frustration."

It’s as though Jesus is telling us: You know your agitation? Your anger? That drink you need? Your sleepless nights? Your worries and anxieties? Learn a new way to deal with your fear…"

Jesus wasn’t offering to make the world of the disciples peaceful; he was giving them a tool for responding to that world.

Jesus isn’t offering to make our lives, our world, peaceful; he is giving us a tool for responding to our lives, our world.

God’s peace doesn’t change the world – it gives us a response to what happens to us.

I think of that when I hear stories of Jews who went into the gas chambers, praising God. Of the cellist of Sarajevo, who played in the midst of the ruins during the siege of that city. Of the band on the Titanic, who went to their deaths playing, "God be with you ‘til we meet again." Of the Haitians, who came out from the rubble of their earthquake, praising God…

How do we get there?

How do we move from our own troubled hearts, our agitation and fear and anxieties, to that peace?

Yes, Jesus, I understand the words:

And I believe you – but I don’t FEEL the peace. How can I NOT be anxious?!!

How can we NOT be anxious?!

We long to reclaim that sense of peace, safety… that sense we first had in our mother’s arms… We long to feel that way again, to rest in God, to feel ourselves similarly held in the arms of Jesus, to know that we don’t have to fear because God is here.

We don’t have to fear because God is here.

We know that peace, I believe, by practicing the presence of God in our lives, by moving our focus from "out there" where things are scary, to "in here" where we can find the relationship with God who is WITH US as we move through whatever troubled waters are being stirred up.

It is cultivating the presence, seeking and holding the God who is already holding us, that gives us that peace, that untroubled heart.

Regular prayer and worship are important in this regard. As with any relationship, intimacy develops with attention and nurturing. It works to deepen and enlarge the spaces within us where we feel God’s presence.

Paying attention to God in the world around us is also important. Where do we find God in the ordinariness of our lives, in our interactions with people? Can we be intentional about seeking God in the daily?

Sometimes we need specific reminders to help us through difficult times.

How do you remind yourself that God is with you?

How do you practice the presence of God in your life?

For, as that presence is real, so, too, is the reality of Jesus’ words:

May we know that presence of God in our lives.

Amen.