When I was living in New York City I was invited to participate in a discussion group of young Christians dedicated to working for peace and nonviolence. It was mostly Catholic Worker types, Pax Christi, Quakers. The group met in the basement of the Catholic care home where Father Daniel Berrigan lived. He was in his 90s and in frail health – this was just a year or two before his death. Father Daniel Berrigan, as you may well know, was a very influential Jesuit priest who had been for decades an important leader in struggles for peace and nonviolence.

Every now and again, when he was up for it, Father Berrigan would show up for these discussion groups. He’d mostly just listen, with this quiet gravitas.

I’ll never forget one time the conversation in our group became very anguished and despairing – folks were expressing their pain over the horrors of war and over just how deeply entrenched war-making seems to be. We knew it didn’t have to be this way, but we were despairing of whether anyone’s efforts to change our society and world to be more peaceable were having any real effects.

After listening to everyone saying their piece, Father Berrigan spoke. His voice had a clarity and simplicity and a gentle power. I can’t do justice to his precise words. But this is what he conveyed with his words, and more important than that, what he embodied.

The Kingdom of Heaven is real, and it is stretched out upon the earth, here and now. This is true whether or not we have eyes to see it. If we seek to follow Jesus, then we become citizens of this Kingdom of Heaven. We belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, we are beholden to the Kingdom of Heaven. As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we live by its laws. This Kingdom is an upside-down-kingdom, unlike the empires of the world. With God as Sovereign, the law of Heaven is the way of peace. Our task is to live by these laws of peace, and to be willing to do so even when that comes into confrontation with the ways of violence to which the powers and principalities of the world are so often beholden. The outcome of those confrontations, the outcome of any of our actions, is not in our hands. We do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. We live by the laws of the peaceful Realm of Heaven because they are true, the truth that guides our lives as followers of Jesus.

Again, I’m putting into my words what I understood Father Berrigan conveyed. I have a strong memory of the shift this caused in me. I realized that questions about hope or despair had caused me to lose touch with the reality that should truly be guiding our actions. We do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not because we’re guaranteed it will be effective. If we know it’s wrong to kill and we know that a more peaceful way of life is possible, well, it’s our job to live on behalf of that reality, for it is a sacred reality, a holy way of life. Whether the outcome is a “success” or a “failure” is not in our hands.

Faith in God means trust in the truth of love and the ways of peace. This is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. The faith expressed in Psalm 46 is a faith that has been born from times such as these, times of strife and fear and division, and tremendous acts of love and courage.

The folks who have been laboring for peaceful and secure coexistence in the holy land all these years, all the helpers and healers in the midst of war, they may be crying out to God right now about whether their work is in vain. But then they turn again to the task at hand, for the urgent human needs are too great. We too, whatever our station or position in life how close or far we are from the suffering of others, we must not succumb to despair or cynicism or numbness. But simply keep doing the next right thing.

Hope born of faith is really more about courage on behalf of love and truth rather than any optimistic belief.

Someone else who has expressed this well is Valerie Brown, who is a contemporary African-American Quaker and Buddhist spiritual director and writer. This is what she writes in her recent book “Hope Leans Forward:”

“Hope is not about swinging between optimism and pessimism…

“I am called to awaken to a basic truth: whether hope is there or not, I must live from my deeply held values of simplicity, awakening, and peace and let that be my guide…

“Rather than weighing my chances and moving forward only if I feel hopeful, I allow my intention, my aspiration, and my purpose to guide my actions and focus instead on choosing to act in alignment with these values…

“It’s in not knowing that ‘hope comes alive.’ It’s in our capacity to see things as they are and to believe that our actions matter even if we don’t know, can’t know the outcome. We are guided by what we care about, what matters most to us, and what we can do to support healing within ourselves and in our beautiful and broken world…

“We are being called to braver things, to lean forward into hope and action. Despite it all, choosing hope feels right, makes sense. It’s true I didn’t ask for this mess of losses, complications, and challenges. But at some point, recognizing that loss, that woundedness is a part of life as risk is a part of love, leads me to choose hope as a way of connecting with everyone else who knows about loss and love, and it leads me toward a more soul-filled and hope-filled life. Hope is the resolve to live with a generous heart, to dedicate and rededicate myself, to awaken my soul’s voice at this time of global disruption.”

Valerie Brown, from “Hope Leans Forward”

So, what can you do right now to advance peace, whatever your stage and station of life? Peace near at hand or peace far away.

If, when you reflect on this you are swarmed with thoughts that lead you to feel despair or powerlessness, let me suggest you ignore those thoughts. Focus on what you know about your own love and courage, what you know about the heart of Christ, about compassion in the midst of suffering, about where you feel grief and where you feel anger, about what you know about the power and promise of God.

Now, none of this should be used to say that we shouldn’t try to be smart and effective in working for peace. We know enough about what works to reduce violence to find ways that any of us can help.

When people have enough for their basic needs, there is less violence. When people are in an environment that affords them dignity and respect, there is less violence. When people have less access to the tools of violence, there is less violence. When it is harder to profit from violence, there is less violence. When people have peaceful resolution of conflict taught and modeled rather being taught that violence is how you assert power, there is less violence. When people are not taught to demonize and hate others, there is less violence. When people are afforded opportunities for meaningful contributions to their families and communities, there is less violence. Research also show that things like when people have more access to parks and community gardens, there is less violence.

We could keep going, and come up with a great list together. We could help each other finds the ways we can each and all contribute to living into the peace of the Realm of God to which we all belong.

Despair and hopelessness can get lost.

There is too much to grieve and too much work to do. And when we let ourselves be guided by the Love of Christ, we are freed to do what we are called to do.

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief,” I’m going to keep repeating the words of Rabbi Tarfon commending on the prophet Micah,

 “Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

Psalm 46

Version by Nan C. Merrill, from “Psalms for Praying”

The Beloved is our refuge and our strength,

a loving Presence in times of trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though

the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the

heart of the sea;

Though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble

with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams

make glad the Holy City,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

The Beloved is in the midst of it,

it shall not be moved;

Our loving Creator is an

ever-presence help.

The nations may be at war,

                        countries left in ruins,

            yet is the Voice of the Almighty

                        heard,

            melting hearts of stone.

The Beloved is with us,

            the infinite Heart of Love.

Come, behold the works of the Beloved,

            how love does reign even in

                        humanity’s desolation.

For the Beloved makes wars to cease,

            breaking through the barriers of fear,

            shattering the greedy and oppressors,

                        refining hearts of iron.

“Be still and know that I am God.

            I am exalted among the nations,

            I am exalted in the earth.”

The One who knows all hearts

            is with us;

The Beloved is our refuge and strength.

Delivered Sunday, October 22, 2023, by Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg, at the United Church of Christ at Valley Forge