Six years ago, the world was shutting down because COVID was on the march. That included our church services. Everyone was uncertain about what the future held. Would this last a few days or weeks? No one knew at that moment. Just a few weeks earlier, I had shared with the folks at Central Woodward my plan to retire at the end of June 2021. Since I was giving them a nearly eighteen-month head start, I thought we had lots of time to prepare the church for the future. Suffice it to say, things didn’t work out the way I planned.
As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. While we might not be facing a global pandemic, the recently launched war with Iran is making people just as anxious, uncertain, and fearful as we were six years ago. That’s because we don’t know what the future holds. We know that gas prices are going up dramatically, and the stock market is going down. We don’t know how long the war will last and what form it will ultimately take.
As we gather here this morning, we bring our fears, anxieties, and our uncertainty into the room. The most important thing I can say this morning is that because we’re members of the body of Christ, we’re in this together.
The word we hear this morning comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. In our reading, Paul declares: “Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1 CEB). Yes, it is because of Jesus’ faithfulness that we have peace with God. This promise is confirmed by the chorus of the hymn “My Life Flows On”: “No storm can shake my inmost calm while to the Rock I’m clinging. Since love is Lord of heav’n and earth, how can I keep from singing?” This isn’t a counsel of complacency or passivity. Rather, it is a reminder that as we navigate the storms of life that beat against us, we can find a sense of inmost calm or peace through our relationship with Jesus. Therefore, we can keep on singing.
When it comes to defining the kind of faith Paul has in mind, we would be wise to think in terms of trust. While putting our trust in God doesn’t mean we won’t experience doubt or anxiety, at the end of the day, like Abraham, we can go forth in the knowledge that we are not alone. As the Psalmist declares, “even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4).
If we step back to chapter 4 of Romans, we hear Paul say of Abraham that he “believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” How did Abraham believe God? When God made a covenant with him, Abraham responded by packing up the family and heading out on a journey to an unknown destination. But, he went on this journey with this promise that God would bless the nations through his descendants (Gen. 12:1-4). At the time God issued the call, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were quite old and didn’t have children of their own. Nevertheless, Abraham put his faith in God. Although Abraham’s story is rather complicated, the point Paul wants to make is that Abraham put his trust in God, and God recognized this to be a sign of righteousness.
Now, even if we put our trust in Jesus so that we might experience peace with God, that doesn’t mean we won’t experience suffering. But, as we face the challenges of life, we do so in the company of Jesus, who is present with us through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when we experience suffering, our endurance builds character, which in turn produces hope. Paul assures us that this hope will not disappoint because God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we can find peace with God. There is a line from St. Augustine’s Confessions that I think offers confirmation of this message: “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” [The Confessions (Oxford World's Classics) (Kindle p. 3)]. Yes, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. That is, when we experience peace with God.
When we think of peace, we often think in terms of the absence of war or conflict. We sing “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” I love that message, but what does it mean? How does peace with God fit into our understanding of ourselves and our world? Does having peace with God influence the way we live?
In the Beatitudes, Jesus called peacemakers blessed because they will be called children of God (Matt. 5:9). I would think we would all like to be considered children of God, but what does it mean to be a peacemaker? Some would answer by suggesting that peace requires strength, especially military might. That was the promise made in Paul’s day by the Roman Empire, which offered the Pax Romana or Roman peace. This Roman peace was rooted in the empire’s use of its military to brutally enforce its decrees. One of the ways Rome demonstrated its power was by crucifying people the government believed might threaten its power. Jesus got caught up in Rome’s anxieties and faced the consequences. However, history has demonstrated that peace through strength is an illusion.
The kind of peace that Paul offers is quite different. Instead of the Pax Romana, he had in mind the biblical concept of shalom, which is much more than the absence of war and violence. The kind of peace Paul envisioned could be experienced even in the midst of suffering. It is a form of inner calm that allows us to persevere and find hope even in the midst of difficult times.
While we might be attracted to the principle of peace through strength, the pathway to peace that Paul envisions tends to look like weakness. That’s why he told the Philippians that the peace of God surpasses our understanding (Phil. 4:7). Although the pathway to peace with God that Paul envisions might not make sense to those who embrace peace through strength, he tells us that “while we were still weak at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Dying on a cross is a sign of weakness. After all, it was a slow, painful, and humiliating form of execution that was reserved for the kind of people the government didn’t like. Rome used this form of execution to deter people from threatening its power. But Jesus turned that sign of oppression upside down, and offered his death on the cross as the means of reconciling us to God and to one another.
The Scripture readings for Lent often speak of sin, death, and weakness. These readings fit with a season that invites us to examine our lives and make confession of sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and then be restored to right relationship with God and with our neighbors. While Paul speaks of suffering, he doesn’t suggest that suffering is a sign of divine punishment for sin. So, we shouldn’t see pandemics, earthquakes, tornadoes, or casualties during a time of war as forms of divine punishment. These things happen to good and bad alike, which is a message we find in the Book of Job. However, sin, which in many ways is a spiritual illness that creates an environment of brokenness that needs to be healed, can be seen in both personal and systemic terms. In many ways, what we think of as personal sin is rooted in broken systems that negatively impact our lives. But, whether we think of sin in personal or systemic terms, it is important that we take stock of how we contribute to the brokenness of this world so that we might experience the reconciling effects of God’s grace that brings healing to our world. In this, there is peace with God through Christ.
When it comes to the suffering that we endure as we move toward this hope that doesn’t disappoint, many will ask about where God can be found. In seeking answers to this question, I’ve found the teachings of theologians like the late German theologian Jürgen Moltmann helpful. Moltmann wrote that “God goes with us, God suffers with us. So where Christ, God’s Son, goes, the Father goes too. In the self-giving of the Son, we discern the self-giving of God.” [Moltmann, Jesus Christ for Today, p. 38]. So, God may not always rescue us from suffering, but God experiences it with us. Because God is with us as we undergo suffering, whatever form that takes, God provides the grace that sustains us. This takes us back to Paul’s vision of the church as the body of Christ. It is within the body of Christ, the community of faith, that we discover the grace that sustains us. It is grace that is revealed in the presence of others who walk with us, offering support and compassion when we need it. It is always good to remember that just being present with those who suffer can be a sign of God’s presence that can bring inmost calm or peace with God.
So even as we navigate the storms of life, we can cling to the Rock that provides us with inmost calm. Yes, and “the peace of Christ makes fresh my heart, a fountain ever springing! All things are mine since I am His! How can I keep from singing?” [Lowry, “My Life Flows On,” CH 619]. As we do so, we can join together in embracing our call to be peacemakers who join with Jesus in God’s work of reconciling the world to Godself. That leads to peace on earth, as we join together in pursuit of the common good by loving our neighbors!
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, MI
March 8, 2026
Lent 3A
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