The Peaceable Kingdom - 12/4/22

“The Peaceable Kingdom,” 2022.12.04 (Isaiah 11.1-9)

The title of today's sermon is "The Peaceable Kingdom." That is also the title of the painting on the screen and on the front of your bulletin: “The Peaceable Kingdom.” This image was painted over 100 times by Quaker artist and minister Edward Hicks of Pennsylvania. Only 25 of these paintings are still around. The closest one here is at the Worcester Art Museum, about an hour away. Hicks produced these paintings between 1820 and his death in 1849. In other words, he painted a version of this scene twice a year for close to 30 years. He apparently never tired of it. He must have experienced the peaceable kingdom in painting it.

If you look to the left in the painting, you will see William Penn negotiating a treaty with the Indians, which took place in 1683. Nearly 150 years later, Hicks saw this treaty as a fulfillment of the peaceable kingdom.

Look at the wide array of creatures in this peaceful vignette: wolf, lamb, lion, cow, bear, and of course, children. Isaiah says, "And a little child shall lead them" (11:6). The child in the upper part of the painting is attempting to lead the lion and the other cat. The two children in the lower part of the painting are playing with a snake, as Isaiah says. "The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den" (11:8). Where are these children's parents? Maybe they're off negotiating a treaty with William Penn. Today they would be charged with parental neglect. But the children don’t seem to be too upset. They’re playing with their buddies, the animals.

Notice that the upper child has his right hand on the lion. Nice kitty, pretty kitty. Perhaps that’s the reason for the lion’s “big eyes.” It looks like he put on too much eye makeup. And the leopard did too. They seem to be looking at us, expecting a response from us. What about your peaceable kingdom?   

Hicks has a mob of animals here, but Isaiah has pairs: "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid," (v. 7) and so on. It's interesting that the line "The lion shall lie down with the lamb" has entered popular culture, though Isaiah doesn't say exactly that. But it makes for nice alliteration: “The lion shall lie down with the lamb." It has a nice rhythm to it. There are several pubs in England called “The Lion and the Lamb.” Woody Allen said that if the lion lies down with the lamb, the lamb doesn't get much sleep.

In other words, this scene is impossible. These animals don’t live together peacefully, and especially they don’t lie down together. "But God" as my students at Howard used to say. But God. God reverses the natural order and puts at peace those creatures antagonistic to one another. Isaiah, though, does not actually say that. He does not link God’s instrument, the spirited shoot, with the living and lying down of the animals. We assume that the shoot/branch does it, but Isaiah doesn't make it explicit.

What do you think that the prophet Isaiah is trying to say here? Isaiah lived when the Assyrians were at the gate of Jerusalem. They were on their way to fight the Egyptians. Israel was at a crossroads between the mighty empire of Assyria to the northeast and Egypt to the southwest. And later Assyrian would be replaced by Babylon, which would be replaced by Persia, which was eventually replaced by Rome. Isaiah and Jesus were separated by 700 years. Both were prophets proclaiming God’s word amidst empire. With war and the threat of war, they were creating the peaceable kingdom.

Where do you find the peaceable kingdom at this church? I hope that you find it in the warm words of wisdom coming from people who love and care for you. I am continually impressed with the way people care for people in this church. It is good for me to stand at the entrance to the sanctuary before worship and see the greeting, handshakes, the hugs. Yes, that is how the peaceable kingdom works. Maybe they fought like cats and dogs and lions and leopards in committee meetings this week. Still they become as gentle as lambs on Sunday. It's the peaceable kingdom. Peace. Peace.

Take this scene of the peaceable kingdom inside, that is, take it inside your own soul. What is going on with those lion-like energies that sometimes we let out occasionally at church, when we roar at people in committee meetings, when we slink back and don’t offer our opinion because we’re afraid of what people might say. In what sense does this picture represent a worship service or Fellowship Café or a church council meeting or a trustees meeting? Maybe you can identify the wolf or the lamb or the leopard in our congregation. But guess what? They are inside of you, all of them. Sometimes they are lying down at peace. Other times they are going at each other to establish dominance.

In what sense is the peaceable kingdom going on inside your own soul? Look at the first pair that Isaiah has: the wolf and the lamb. A wolf is often depicted as aggressive, while a lamb is seen as gentle. A wolf would probably go after a lamb, but here they live together. How do they coexist within this church? How are we fostering and celebrating the peaceable kingdom here, not just in worship but in all our dealings with one another? Some people may be wolf-like, lion-like, always roaring. And that is their gift, and I celebrate it. But sometimes the little child pats the lion on the head and says, It’s OK. It’s OK. God is still in charge here. Providence is not just a city in Rhode Island. Providence, God provides. Everything is going to be alright. In my discussions with other interim ministers, I hear talk about church bullies. Can you believe that? Church bullies, that is, those people who have read the book Ministry through Intimidation. That’s not really a book, but sometimes people—both ministers and lay people--act like it is. In a church there are people who are aggressive, who are wolf-like. That is their gift. They have a lot of enthusiasm, and praise God for that. And praise God for the gentle lambs. We need all of them. Because again, all of them are within us. That is good. That is how God created us.

            We need the child, though, the child to lead us, to guide, to play with us, to come to our wolves and our lambs, our leopards and our kids. Jesus said, “Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Becoming like little children, leading the wolf and the lamb within us, our anger and our gentleness. What does the child bring: wonder, wonder. And play. Isaiah says, “The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp” (11:8a). I remember when I used to pick up my elder daughter Anastasia at preschool. I always asked her, “What did you do at preschool today?” And she would say enthusiastically, “Play, play, play!” And that’s what we do here: we play, we pray, we praise, we sing, and we serve. And oh yes, we love. We love one another—caring enough to confront when people are out of bounds. We pray and we play.    

And we all breathe the spirit.  

In response to the passage, I drew this image on my computer. It's obviously very different from Hicks'. It is abstract while his is realistic. My drawings represent one place where I find the peaceable kingdom. How about you? Where do you find the peaceable kingdom? Perhaps it is some hobby like mine, such as drawing or painting or writing or walking or getting together with friends socializing. The key, though, is our focus on the spirit. Notice in verse 2 when Isaiah describes this coming ruler. he repeats the spirit three times and describes it in pairs: The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. That is the key: being people of the Spirit. The word that is translated “Spirit,” ruach can also mean “breath” or “wind.” Here at FBCEG, we focus on the spirit, our breath as it comes in and out from God.

I will close with a prayer exercise, a breath exercise, a spirit exercise. Close your eyes and get comfortable in the pew, your feet flat on the floor and your back up against the back of the pew. And focus now on your breath. You inhale, and God breathes into you the spirit of peace. You exhale, and you breathe out peace. Keep your attention focused on your breath, as you breathe in God’s peace and breathe out God’s peace into the world. . . . Let go of that meditation, and return your attention to this time and this place.

As we focus on the Spirit, we accept the lion and the lamb within us and around us.

And all God’s people said, “Amen.”