1) The 8th verse of the Micah reading tells us: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah lays out the course of peacemaking. We are not told that it will be easy, in fact, to achieve “peacefare” is one of the most challenging and difficult tasks for us as human beings and as people of faith. Some of our human efforts that elude us most frequently are discovering the difference between revenge and justice, to practice random acts of kindness, and, that most difficult of human behaviors…humility, especially with our God. We so often would much rather BE God, avenge a wrongdoing, or practice anger against God or our neighbor. Some of our politicians would rather practice the misuse of power, the abuse of freedoms, keep poverty wages in place to keep the poor in place, and to engage in torture because, after all, the end – the holy war against terrorism – is worth any means we deem necessary. You might have noticed that I am using a word that is probably not in any dictionary – “peacefare.” The same day I went to Harold Plenert’s memorial service, my daughter Cora and her fiancé, Ben, went to a Catholic mass in New York City. Cora told me that during the homily the priest had contrasted the word warfare with one he perhaps had made up, peacefare. So…it became the title of this sermon and a word that I hope will be unforgettable for you.

In his last speech, the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, Martin Luther King said: “We’ve got some difficult days ahead.” And those words apply here at Fairmount as well. But, on the other hand, Mother Theresa said: “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.” That is happening also here at Fairmount. We have much to be joyful about. We all have times when we need what I call “soul repair” and it has nothing to do with a shoe repair shop. “Soul repair” is the great calling of the church – and that comes with the difficult and joyful work of doing justice, practicing and loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God and with each other. All of which does not happen without the hard work of peacefare.

2) Point number two: “Let mutual love continue.” Another of the readings for this morning is the familiar passage from the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. It is usually read at weddings and we rarely hear those words outside the context of a wedding. But I heard them at the memorial service for Harold Plenert. They were used because when it came right down to it the most important summary of Harold’s life was his deep and abiding capacity for loving. His example for us all come in the last verse of the reading: “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” Let us live simply in the needs of the day and as Paul writes in his letter to the church at Corinth the greatest of these needs is love.

In September I gave a sermon in which, among other things, I suggested that we revise out mission statement, make it much shorter, much easier to memorize, four words from the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament: “Let mutual love continue.” I still believe in those words as an inclusive, revolutionary, radical welcoming which we are called to extend as the church of Jesus Christ. In our cynical times we might say, as Tina Turner does in her song, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” It’s too idealistic, love is too weak, warfare, tough love, unilateral attacks, trillions of dollars in national debt, we’ve got to be strong, we say, even as we die an internal death, nationally, individually and our collective souls become so close to being beyond repair. The Paul says: “We are fools for Christ’s sake.” Faith says – the faith that ultimately the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of humanity, the lunacy of Jesus saner than the grim sanity of the world. To take the first steps toward peacefare, let mutual love continue.

3) The third point: “What others think of us is none of our business.” I wish someone would have said that to me in seminary as I was preparing for this profession so fraught with rumors, lies, gossip, side glances, half-truths, and, worst of all, silence in the midst of crisis or even joy. The good news is not always so easy to live with, act upon, or proclaim…sometimes, unfortunately, the church is one of the poorest places to go for “soul repair.” Fortunately, it is also often the great oasis in the wilderness, where we find caring in abundance, selfless love overflowing, sacrificial work on behalf of all of God’s Children.

However, so much energy, physical and spiritual, could be saved if we all took these words on as our motto: “What others think of us is none of our business.” Now, I am not talking about accountability on the job or responsibilities in the family. I’m talking about the fragileness of being human…how little it takes to paralyze our hopes, our dreams, our lives and our most authentic work. If we concentrate the majority of our energies on what we believe others think of us there will be no room or energy for that which is most important to us let alone the establishment of peacefare. Don’t you remember those times, maybe not so long ago, when something you thought you heard someone say about you that was not who you are at all. Remember what that felt like? And what it did to you? And how it kind of builds and builds until you have poured so much into what you think they think that the burden is just about too much. If you are trying to do one random act of kindness, yet are also listening to what someone else might be thinking about that action, you have to be very strong not to let the negative take over and sabotage the most faithful, humble walk with God. What if Jesus made it his primary business to be guided by what others thought of him? He would never have made it out of the 1st chapter of Matthew let alone into the 25th and today’s reading: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” We are members of the family. What your brother or your sister thinks of you is none of your business. You will get bogged down in a swamp of worry, self-doubt, anger, and lose sight of the God whose child you are and the pathway that God has chosen for you. And what is that path? Psalm 85 gives some very poetic as well as life and death clues: “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts….Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”