when Peace=Security and Security becomes an Idol

I recently heard Tim Keller, the Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, speak about his new book, Counterfeit Gods. In the book he helps his readers understand that at the heart of the human condition is a sinful tendency to make idols out of just about anything. In his book he taps a rich vein of contemplative theologians within our Christian tradition as he explores our susceptibility to place the weight of the affections of our heart on everything from sexual gratification to the addiction of pleasing people. As I heard him talk and reflected on the passage we are looking at Philippians right now I thought about how many of us are tempted to make security and safety into an idol. In Philippians 4, Paul promises that the Christian who relies upon the Lord in prayer will be guarded by the peace of God. The word which is often translated, "guard", is a Greek word commonly used in military contexts, invoking an image that God's peace would be, for the Philippians Christians, a garrison around them. But he is telling them this as he is in prison and even as he is warning them that the same persecution will come to them. So, the question arises naturally, what is the peace of God that is promised? We talked about this some last week (for that discussion please consult the previous homily recap) but for the sake of continuity I include here the last paragraph from that recap:

"Jesus mourns well and Jesus hopes well; and, he does so with us, in us, and through us. This is at the heart of what it means to be guarded by God's peace in Christ Jesus. Guarded in a peace that passes understanding is not about being comforted by an idea or an abstract truth; it is about being comforted by Jesus himself as we are drawn more and more into his life. Rather than attempting to escape pain and suffering as we so often do through all manner of sinful and destructive behavior, Jesus weeps with us and for us, inviting us to do the same. Rather than shying away from the pain of others or simply trying to make them feel like everything will be OK, Jesus shares in their suffering and beckons us to do likewise. Instead of offering intellectual answers to the problem of pain, Jesus embraces us in his love and brings us to the hope of the resurrection. Instead of taking on the identity of a victim, Jesus unites us to him as one to whom the future is open to redemption."

So, the peace of God that affects us is not the absence of pain, fear, suffering, and even persecution. Neither is the experience of God's peace a stoic face-down of pain. Rather, the peace of God is the presence of Jesus in the midst of fear, suffering, and adversity. But it is not a static experience of Jesus' presence that Paul has in mind, for the actions and movements of the Philippian Christians are in view: "let your gentleness be evident to all". It is fair to say that Paul is concerned that the Philippian church not let their fear and anxiety eclipse their mission to give and receive Christ's love to one another and to those outside of their Christian community. So, the garrison of Christ's peace which will guard them does not guard them so that they may be safe from harm and danger, but their confidence in their ultimate destiny in Christ frees them to continue to give an receive love even in terrible times.

As Christian people in Chicago today our fears and anxieties are different in many ways from the church to which Paul wrote this letter. Each of us is responsible to hear those edifying words and think imaginatively and prayerfully about how they apply to our own circumstances.

In instances of anxiety and fear over loss of jobs and financial security, health, relationship struggles, etc. we must be careful to be honest about our fears and sadness and not pretend that the peace of God and the hope of the resurrection keep us from sadness. Moreover, as a Christian community we must be the sort of community which encourages honesty over fears and struggles and offers sympathy and empathy to those who struggle. Not allowing these fears to eclipse our mission to love and be loved as Christ has loved us does not come at the price of denying our frailty and confusion. I think what is to be prayed for and striven towards is a dynamic equilibrium (dynamic equilibrium, I think comes from C.F.D. Moule and is not original with me) wherein we grieve "but not as those who grieve without hope"; we grieve but we also have joy in the midst of the grief. We grieve but we still love and receive love.

In instances where we think of God's rule protecting us from harm we need to remember that we can turn security into an idol. Recently Miroslav Volf said the following at a lecture series at Yale's Center for Faith and Culture - the title of the series was "Are we Safe Yet?". One purpose of the series was to help Christians in the post 9/11 world think about how to tell when an obsession with security violates a gospel motivated affirmation of regarding a certain degree of vulnerability as quintessential to what it means to be human. Here is Volf: "vulnerability is obviously the reason why we pursue security. If we were not vulnerable, the question of security would never arise. I’m a theologian, and presumably I can say with some degree of confidence that God needs no security force to protect God’s throne. God is by definition inviolable. Human beings are not by definition inviolable. We need to have our existence and our well being secured. That is why those lights flash on the buses when kids get on and off of them; that’s why we lock our homes at night and sometimes also during the day; that’s why we have a police force, and so on. But vulnerability also touches on security in another way: human vulnerability places a limit on the pursuit of security. It determines in part, or at least shapes in part, the nature of what it means to be secure. For vulnerability is fundamental to who we are as human beings. To be inviolable is to be divine; to be human is to be, and I think is always to remain, vulnerable. You can almost put it this way, that vulnerability is the essential condition of human life. No vulnerability, no human life."

Now, many of you reading this will immediately evaluate some or all of what Volf says here in light of your political theory. Some of you will think he is right on, others will think he is not being pacifistic enough, while others of you will find the direction he is taking to be naive (it would be hard, though, to call him naive since he has served in the military in the former Yugoslavia, was persecuted for his faith under the communist regime, and witnessed the ethnic cleansing undertaken in the war Serbian/Croatian war). At any rate, I think that all of us, regardless of our view of America's place in the world around these issues of "security", need to be careful to remember that, as Christians, we confess that the mission of the church cannot be ultimately defined by a quest to be secure. It is rather the case that to follow Jesus is to embrace always a certain degree of vulnerability.

Finally, we talked on Sunday about how many of us can make being safe and secure against potential hurt into an idol. C.S. Lewis speaks chillingly about this in the Four Loves:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.” - C.S. Lewis

Questions for discussion:

1. What does it look like to have joy in the midst of suffering? Can one be sad and joyful at the same time?

2. A friend comes to you and says: "I want to move out of the city because I don't feel safe here anymore. Can you help me think through whether this is consistent with the gospel?"
How would you help your friend? What questions would you ask? What principles could you offer?

3. Another friend comes to you and says: "I am not going to open myself up to anyone again after my last relationship ended the way it did. Am I justified in doing this?" How would you help this friend? What questions would you ask? What principles could you offer?

4. Another friend comes up to you and says: "I just spoke with Jezebel and she told me that I should get over being sad and walk in the peace of Christ. She said my faith was weak, but I am still sad in the wake of my family's recent tragedy. I want to have joy, what does that look like?" What would you say to this friend?

5. How can you tell if you have made security into an idol?