So, asking for a friend…

Is it possible to graduate from High School and be at peace?

Because whenever we go through major changes and disruptions in life, whether those disruptions be joyous or agonizing, peace can be elusive if not just entirely absent.

And yet Paul assures us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace, right?

So, if we are filled with the Spirit one of the evidences should be that we are at peace; that no matter the circumstances we should sense deep within us that God’s got us.

I remember graduating from graduate school way back in 1983. I was soon moving from Boston back to Buffalo. I was searching for a church to serve at as a pastor. And Sue and I were going to get married in just a few months.

It was wild and scary and exhilarating. 

And I couldn’t sleep. I was sad for no good apparent reason. And I was confused. So, I went to see my fieldwork supervisor, the pastor at the Fort Square Presbyterian Church in Quincy, Massachusetts.

I told him my story and he simply said, “Jeff, your stress level right now is through the roof. And you are grieving the life you are leaving, even though the life ahead of you will be amazing! It’s okay. It’s normal. And God will help you get through this. Relax!”

Stress is normal. We all deal with it. But peace is possible too. And it when it comes with all of its blessings is a clear mark that the Holy Spirit is in you!

Transitions like we are going through after Covid are normal. Everything is changing and we are stressed by it all. It as though everything has moved up ten notches to warp speed. 

Vacation destinations are booked solid all summer. Candy Burnett reports after her and Ben’s trip to Oregon, the airplanes are packed.

Wedding venues are booked, and DJ’s are overbooked. 

Life is beginning to spin at 100 miles an hour. As a church we are booking up with baptisms! And sometime after November 5, 2021, we will be baptizing the little girl who will be joining the Farley family!

And High School seniors are graduating. Congratulations to each of you! 

You all are amazing, and so smart and creative and talented and gorgeous. It’s all amazing and wonderful and joyous and we are all just blown away at the good news. 

But…

In all of this hoopla you may find peace to be elusive.

Because it is hard to be at peace when you are worried about and wondering about the future.
And that’s exactly the time when we need to hear these words from God in the book of Isaiah, as God reminds the captives in Babylon that he’s got this.

In case you don’t understand the setting, the people from Judah and Benjamín who had been part of the southern kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem had been carried off in captivity.

The prophets had told them captivity and destruction was coming because they had continued to follow false Gods, ignored their clear calling  to care for those in need, to make justice a priority, and to love their neighbors as themselves. 

Now in captivity they were mourning and worried that not only had God punished them by allowing them to be carried off, but that God had rejected them forever.

So, God through Isaiah reminds them about the one who loves them.

Yahweh, the one who went and found and led home another group of his people held in captivity in Egypt. Who walked with them through the deep waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan, who walked with them through the deserts, and saved them even when things seemed hopeless!

Though what was happening in their lives in Babylon seemed strange and scary, and perhaps even beyond solution, God was still with them.

God said, “Don’t be afraid. I am with you!”

It’s the very words we need to hear!

We are in God’s care. God has not forgotten us. We need not worry, because no matter what we are dealing with, no matter where we are going, even a strange dorm room in a far-off college, or a tent in a far away country, or just into an adventure we have never experienced before…

Like birthing a new baby girl

Or taking a new job

Or having a teenager in the house

OR a new driver in your car

Or trying to figure out retirement…

God is with us! And we can be at peace!

When we can’t see what’s next, when we can’t see over the horizon, when all before seems scary and we feel lost.

God whispers, “Don’t be afraid. I am with you!” 

The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

And all God’s people said, Amen.