by Rev. Tom Ott
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
There are two great spiritual awakenings that underlie every religious tradition in the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.
The first spiritual awakening is a personal awakening. It is an awakening to our own true identity. It is the awakening that we were reminded of at the beginning of this season of Lent on Ash Wednesday when we marked our foreheads with the ashes of burned palms and repeated the ancient words from our creation story: “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
For those who are outside of our religious tradition, that probably sounds like a very self-deprecating awakening. For non-believers, hearing someone say, “remember that you are dust…” is like being told, “you are worthless, you are inconsequential, you are good for nothing.” Dust is something we get rid of, we sweep it out the door and dispose of it in vacuum cleaner filter bags.
But as Emily Joye reminded us on Ash Wednesday, our creation story tells us that dust is sacred. It is the stuff of God’s creation. Our creation story tells us that God formed us by breathing into the dust of the earth the breath of life. We are not just dust, we are the dust of God’s creation. We are holy dust, formed into the very image of God and animated with the spirit of God. “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up…the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being (Gen 2:4,7).”
Our first spiritual awakening begins with the realization that we are part of God’s good creation. And that awakening gets further defined in our baptismal anointing when we claim our identity as God’s beloved sons and daughters. We aren’t just made by God, we are claimed by God. We share the same baptism of Jesus, who, as he came up out of the water heard the voice of God proclaim, “this is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Our baptismal identity isn’t something we have earned, or deserve. It isn’t an identity that can ever be forfeited or revoked. It is our birthright. In the same way that parents cherish their children simply because they are their children, flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone, so we are God’s beloved sons and daughters.
Our first spiritual awakening begins with the realization that we are more than our parent’s sons and daughters, more than our job titles, more than our social standing, more than our financial net worth, more than our marital status, more than our clinical diagnosis, more than our dress size, more than the sum total of all our life’s failures and achievements. Our spiritual awakening begins with the realization that above and before all else, we are children of God. We were created by God for God. We have come from God and are returning to God. The spirit of God is upon us, the Kingdom of God is within us and the love of God can never be separated from us. That is our spiritual genesis.
That is why we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by everyone, regardless of the circumstance of our lives. That is what entitles us to our place here in God’s creation. That is what endows us with certain inalienable rights, among them being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As God’s own creation, we are entitled to all of those things and more.
But if our spiritual awakening stops there, if we never grow beyond our awareness that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters, then our religion will turn us into oppressors. If all we know is our own self-worth, then we fall into narcissism. If all we know is our own self-worth, then we will be blinded by our privilege. If all we know is our own self-worth, then we will be condemned to live self-absorbed lives. Our orientation to the world will teach us that we are entitled to have what we want when we want it, regardless of the impact on others. We are entitled to “everyday lowest prices” even if it means that manufacturers don’t pay livable wages to their employees. We are entitled to own whatever we can afford, regardless of the disparity between the rich and the poor. We are entitled to consume whatever natural resources are available to us without regard to the environmental impact. If we stop our spiritual development after our first great awakening, then we will live narcissistic lives.
But the second great spiritual awakening underlying every religion of the world is a social awakening. It comes with the realization that not just I but all people everywhere are also children of God. Everyone is made of the same sacred dust. No exceptions. No exclusions. No exemptions. Every human being has the same genesis. Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female. We are all one. All beloved sons and daughters of God. All siblings. All connected. No matter what color of skin. No matter what nationality. No matter what religion. No matter what sexual orientation. No matter what political affiliation. No matter what age. No matter what intelligence. No matter what level of physical ability. No matter what marital status. No matter what arrest history.
The second great spiritual awakening is the realization that there is no “other.” No one was ever made out of unholy ground because there is no such thing in all of God’s creation.
We may not all know or appreciate our divine genealogy, but that doesn’t negate it. What it does negate is our capacity to treat our spiritual siblings as “other:” as outsiders, enemies, felons, foreigners, infidels. We are all first and foremost, beloved children of God.
That is the perspective that is hard for us to hold when we get into arguments, when we have differing points of view, when we want different things, when we hold different expectations. In our culture it is perfectly acceptable for us to divide people into allies and adversaries. And it is perfectly acceptable for us to show favorable treatment to those who are allied with us and show disrespect, contempt and hostility towards those who are against us. They become “other.” They are not like us, they don’t deserve what we have, they are expendable. In the face of any conflict, the greatest challenge we face is to hold on to our second spiritual awakening, to remember that even when we are at odds with each other, we are and will always remain God’s beloved daughters and sons.
That is the root of all peacemaking. It grows from the two great spiritual awakenings that make us mindful of our connection to God and to each other. When we see God in ourselves and when we see God in every human being then we are inspired to honor what is of God. We live with reverence for those who are God’s own daughters and sons. When we are caught up in conflict with others, we don’t just avoid harming them. We treat them with dignity and respect, even when they suffer amnesia. Even when they forget who they are and behave as if they are other, we know their true identity. We know that they are our spiritual siblings. We know that the bond that joins us cannot be severed.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” I always thought that was the best blessing anyone could ever attain. What could possibly top being children of God? But now I realize that being “children of God,” isn’t the reward bestowed on those who successfully devote themselves to being peacemakers. It is the identity that makes it possible for all of us to live as peacemakers.
Peacemaking isn’t an activity or a strategy or a tactic. Peacemaking is an identity. It is a way of life embraced by those who have experienced the two great spiritual awakenings that underlie every religious tradition. Blessed are the peacemakers who know that we are all children of God. Amen.
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