We
are continuing with our series on the workplace. To recap, we are defining work
as what we do, as an expression of ourselves, for the common good. That might be paid or voluntary, formal or
informal, and it certainly includes the regular activities of the retired. We
have taken a look at the common experience of frustration in our work, and experiencing grace in our work. And we have posed the questions in what ways has the work we have done been
the place where we have encountered the risen Lord Jesus? and in what ways does our work invite others to consider his call?
This
morning, I want to speak about being peace-makers
in the places we work; interceding for our co-workers and exercising a ministry
of reconciliation between them when people fall out with one another.
Much
of the New Testament is a collection of letters, written by people to people.
That might sound obvious, but it isn’t. Because ‘we’ as the Church possess the
letters, we easily forget that they were not written for us. They are personal.
Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi is a record of a deep personal
relationship, the concern of a very young community of believers for a man who
shared their life for a few weeks before he was taken from them, and who they
now hear is in prison; and he, in turn, is concerned for them. It is all that
remains of a correspondence between friends. And in the course of that
correspondence, this little community has shared with Paul their concern for
two of their number. Euodia and Syntyche have had a falling out. And it is
having an impact on everyone. In part because it puts others in an awkward
position: when you don’t want to take sides in your friends’ quarrel, but by
not taking her side each accuses you of taking the side of the other. But also
out of genuine concern for the cost of the falling out to these two loved
friends and co-workers.
Paul’s
plea to them, to be reconciled, surely comes from personal experience. You will
remember the close friendship and working partnership between Paul and
Barnabas, the man who first took a risk on Paul when no one else would trust
him. Their shared history was a beautiful thing. But they had fallen out, over
John Mark. Mark had accompanied them on their journey, but had abandoned them
when the going got tough. Barnabas felt that it was important that Mark be
given another chance, but Paul disagreed. Now, let us take a moment to consider
what is going on here. Mark would later go on to write the Gospel According to
Mark, and according to Church tradition he is the un-named young man who fled
naked from the garden when Jesus was arrested. That this is handed down as
tradition suggests that it was known among the early Christian community; and
that would make his abandoning Paul and Barnabas a second running away. I want
to suggest that Barnabas and Paul both had Mark’s best interests at heart: that
Barnabas was concerned that if he didn’t get back on the bicycle, so to speak,
he’d never risk riding again; whereas Paul was concerned that should he fall
off a third time, he’d never get back on. A difference of opinion – and one
over which they could not reach agreement, and, apparently fell out. We know
that at a later point, Paul and Mark were reconciled; but we have no such
assurance that Paul and Barnabas were reconciled, and I think that must have
weighed heavy on Paul’s heart.
An
un-thought but by no means malicious word from me, that looks like I have
exposed your secret insecurity. That thing about you that grates me, because it
reflects back to me that thing about myself that I don’t like. It is easy to
fall out. In fact, I think it is inevitable. Anyone can do it – even the closest of friends. But it is harder to
reconcile – and for that, we need someone to stand with us, to help us, to
struggle with us to take hold of the life that has taken hold of us, when death
tries to claim us back.
So
how might we act as peace-makers between our co-workers? As Paul concludes his
letter he writes down his ‘and finally’ – the last words, the
if-you-forget-everything-else-I’ve-said-don’t-forget-this words. Finally,
beloved. Beloved. See yourself and one another – including that person you have
fallen out with – as loved by God. Warts and all, beloved. Take account of
whatever is true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable. If there is
anything about that person which is excellent or worthy of praise, take account
of that too.
When
someone speaks ill of a third party, rather than agreeing, help them to take
account of the good things. That isn’t to say that there aren’t things about us
that are false or dishonourable or unjust or impure or displeasing or
reproachable: there are. And the media trains us to express moral outrage
against everyone. But we are called to train our response to be different, by
disciplining ourselves to take into account the good.
Yes,
Euodia and Syntyche, you have fallen out, and perhaps even with fair cause. But
take into account the times you have been there for one another, the things you
have gone through together, the love your community has for you both, the
concerns of all who know you, the life to which you have been called.
In
a world that daily provokes us to put ourselves in the place of the wronged and
others in the place of the wrong-doer, being a peace-maker is both simple and
hard. It is simple to insist that we look at the good in others. It is simple
to call into question the attention-grabbing headlines and political conference
sound-bites. And it is hard. Hard to take a stand as peace-maker, when everyone
is stirring-up division. And so Paul has some other advice too: celebrate God’s
goodness, trust that he is near, pray rather than worry, live guarded by God’s
peace. Do it together.
Peace-makers
help people to make peace with one another. Peace-makers can also help people
to make peace with themselves – something plenty of people struggle with. And peace-makers
help people to make peace with God. It may just be that being a peace-maker is
the most significant work you can do in the place where you work, the most
important focus of your intercession. And so this morning I would like to give
to you a bookmark with the words of Philippians 4:8 written on it, to take
away, and to place somewhere where you will come across it frequently in the
days ahead, as a reminder of those things peace-makers take account of.
Jesus
said, ‘Blessed are the peace-makers, for they will be called children of God.’ May
it be so of us. Amen.
