Peace Be with you!

Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 1:1-10; John 20:19-29

2021-04-11/2nd Sunday after Easter Sunday

Yonsei University Church

We celebrated Easter last week. The largest of the Christian seasons are usually considered Christmas and Easter. Christmas is often considered more important, and Christmas is celebrated like a festival in the world, but religiously, the meaning of Easter is the most important to us. Because if we do not have the resurrection of Jesus, the Christian faith will be meaningless.

Today we are seeing the shape of the discipleship community after the resurrection in the Gospel text. Yet the disciples were still in doubt and anxiety. Despite hearing the news of Jesus' resurrection, the disciples were gathered in one place without conviction. It can be said that the disciples were gathered with courage rather than scattered, but it is clear that they were in fear closing the door. At this time, the resurrected Jesus opened the door and came to him. The word I gave to them was "Peace be with you." Jesus repeatedly says, "Peace be with you."

Eight days later, Thomas, called Didymos, joined the community. He was a disciple who was not there the last time Jesus came. He was skeptical of Jesus' resurrection. He showed a stubborn attitude to rely on his own experience to judge. But Jesus approached him tenderly and sincerely, and even then said, "Peace be with you!"

The message of the resurrected Jesus was'peace'. Therefore, we, who should become the resurrection community of faith, should enjoy peace and become those who make peace. But, like his disciples after his resurrection, we still do not enjoy true peace. Because, like the disciples, we live with anxiety and doubt.

It is understandable that the disciples were anxious. They saw Jesus, who they followed, entered the city of Jerusalem, welcomed by the crowd a few days ago, because he witnessed his crucifixion within less than a week. However, it is no different in the way that we today still live in anxiety. The anxiety of life lies deep among us. The recent COVID-19 incident shows this well. As of yesterday, there are 134.5 million COVID-19 patients in the world. 2.91 million people died. The number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeds 30 million, with 1/10 of the population of 300 million patients. Even in Korea, which is saved through K-quarantine, there are signs of the 4th pandemic, with more than 600 confirmed cases a day. It became difficult for us to think of the society before COVID-19 and the days when we were without a mask. So how can you not be anxious?

However, it is not only the COVID-19 pandemic that makes us anxious. With our society becoming an aging society, and with over 50% of non-regular workers surviving, concerns over health and jobs have become a concern for everyone. In particular, the problem of retirement is serious for our generation, the bay boom generation who went to college in the 70s. Personally, I remember the words I said to comfort my father while attending the hospital with my father, who died two years ago. “I am not worried about my father, but I am more worried.” It is literally. In the case of our parents' generation, however, our generation had an average of about 5 children, and it was possible to support it because the economy was active. However, our children's generation is only 1-2 people on average, and it is a difficult time economically, so it is difficult to have a much larger number of our generation, and it is a reality that the burden is increased socially. In this situation, the life expectancy has increased, making it difficult to lead a basic life. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is an ‘anxiety era.’

The reason why we cannot enjoy peace with this anxiety is'doubt'. It is said that doubt comes from loss of trust and weakness in faith. In today's scripture, Thomas is a pronoun of doubt among Jesus' disciples. But I think it's a little unfair to stigmatize Thomas as a suspicious disciple. This is because it seems that Thomas's doubts may be rational doubts, and maybe'methodological doubts' to seek the truth. This can also be seen from Thomas's later changes. In fact, sometimes the harm of unconditional belief can be far more dangerous than rational doubt. It is said that the deviation of the faith of the Korean church today is actually due to the emphasis on 'unconditional faith'. Just as a student who asks good questions is a good student, someone who has many questions of faith may be a good believer. In fact, how can there be no questions or skepticism on matters of faith that are far more complex and profound than schoolwork? However, we have to make a good distinction between'methodological meetings' and'cynic meetings'. There are many problems with a cynical attitude that does not give faith and trust in anything, has a weak relationship, and always keeps a distance from devotion and a rational attitude without devotion. Suspicion or distrust that comes from such an attitude leads to conflict and skepticism, which in turn harms true peace. Yes! We must overcome doubt and anxiety and enjoy the peace that the resurrected Jesus gives us.

So, what do we need to enjoy true peace? Today's words of Acts clearly show that what we need most in order to enjoy true peace is a “community”. Today’s scripture is probably the most used Bible passage in the social science world. This is because it conveys the archetype of the primitive community. We understand this as the form of the primitive Christian community, that is, the early church. In 4:32, it is a good description of the community. “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” Communities, so to speak, are places of people who are willing to give up their personal possessions and share them with those in need. However, what is even more surprising is that they have a vision to have 'one heart and one will.' While the former refers to the material community, the latter emphasizes the spiritual community and the community of faith. The result is that there are no poor people among members. In today's globalization era, the reality of one billion people living on a dollar or less can realize what an amazing evangelical community this is. However, it is not easy for us to find such a community in the world. Moreover, the church, which always emphasizes the community of faith, has not been able to show this kind of community. It is even more serious that the Korean church has lost its sense of community. However, among these, Christian communities around the world are embodying these communities.

Last year, as the chairman of the NCC Education Committee, I hosted the Ecumenical Pastoral Academy of the Transition Era with churches belonging to 10 local NCCs. As my last program, I went to the UK to conduct a program to visit overseas community-town pastoral fields. At this time we visited the Darbell Bruderhof Community in East Sussex in southeastern London, England. German Eberhard Arnold started in Germany in 1920, but was expelled by Hitler and moved to England in 1945. It turned out that there was a slogan “There is no law, but love” all over the community. In the village, there were schools, hospitals, workshops, baby houses, and publishing houses, and it was a perfect self-reliant community, producing high-quality wooden furniture. In a community of about 300 adults and children, the family ate together in the morning and lunch, and there was a whole group of adults meeting once a week. These are Christian communities that carry on the tradition of radical reformation, simple and frugal living in their villages, eco-friendly organic and healthy food movements, ecological environment using sunlight, education and service for human peace, economic support for refugees, It was an alternative community that practiced quality education for leaders and thorough children's education. There was a Korean couple living in the community for 18 years, so I was able to hear a lot of specific stories while being treated with a lot of noodles. Although I had been there for half a day, the basic feeling from the community was peace. I could feel the peace that the Lord gives me.

However, such a community, even if it is a religious community, cannot be easily achieved. In that respect, it is the “village community movement” that stands out recently. To form a local community in our neighborhoods and villages, it appears as a village-making movement and a local community movement, and this is called a transformational village movement around the world. Another place I went to on the UK visit program was Totness, a village in the southwest of England, where the “Transition Village Movement” began. The Transition Village Movement was a movement to create various reciprocal networks within a kilometer radius of the central base and transform them into ecological and community values and methods. The goal of Totness Village was to maximize the happiness and wellbeing of all village members, create opportunities to satisfy our needs, and to live in an ecological way that equally shares resources and recognizes the limitations of resources. They emphasized the internal conversion of each member as well as the external conversion of energy self-sufficient housing, local currency, local food, and farmer culture. The three keywords they emphasized most were community, resilience, and localization.

The village community movement is spreading in various ways not only in the UK but also in Korea. There are two things to pay attention to in such a village community, one is the'village education community' and the other is the 'care village'. The village education community is where schools and villages “raise together, become a learning ground, and become a host”. The village education community aims to “educate about villages, education through villages, and education for villages”. Education about villages is to learn the historical, natural, cultural, and industrial specificity and development patterns of the local community. Education through villages is conducted by actively utilizing the human capabilities of the local community. Education for the village is about allowing students to remain in the community and become an excellent resource for local development. These village education community movements are being developed into various village schools and village education and learning communities through local governments through local offices of education.

The necessity of a care village is closely related to the aging of Korean society, and this can be well understood through an article by someone who wrote the subject of “Aging in place”. “I have no way right now. I don't make a lot of money, and I'm sure I'll get sick when I get older, and I'll have to go to the hospital and take care of myself. What should I do? Until now, the unit of care was the family, but nuclear families cannot take care of themselves. In the future, there will be more single-person households, and there are times when young people as well as the elderly living alone need care, but there is no one to take care of them. From housing to food, leisure and labor, we need to prepare seriously. After all, establishing a mutual care system among residents in the community is the only way for us to survive.” Now, in the village, experts such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists and community volunteers who claim to be health care workers should take care of me, take care of my neighbors, and take care of each other in my place.

In response to these village movements, there is a village pastoral movement in which the church should be the church of the village at the church level, and the pastor should be the pastor of the village, not just the church. In fact, the prototype of the village ministry is Jesus' village ministry in Galilee. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said, “Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:38). However, the village ministry of Jesus has three characteristics. First, it was a healing ministry. Healed those who were physically and mentally difficult and allowed them to return to their normal lives. Second, it was the educational ministry. Jesus gave people new teachings. He gave an easy but profound teaching through storytelling, not difficult teaching of the law. Today, it can be likend to alternative educational mission. Third, it was a cultural ministry, but it can be said to be a pastoral ministry. Jesus formed a table community with many people. He practiced sharing and communication while eating and drinking tea together.

Today, churches must imitate Jesus' village ministry and participate in the restoration of the locality of the church and the creation of a village community. It is necessary to participate in the village pastoral, which creates an ecosystem of education and welfare culture that conducts life network ministry based on the regional coalition movement. Because that is the way to practice the words of Jesus that gives us peace, the message of Jesus of the resurrection.