Peace in Our Time

Robots have become a part of our lives. Machines wash our clothes and dishes with little human interaction. Robots have been programmed to work in factories and have replaced the human worker on many assembly lines. Millions of robots are vacuuming carpets in households around the world. And now, a robot priest in Germany is blessing worshipers in five languages.

Now if there’s one occupation impervious to automation, surely it’s the priesthood, right? I mean, you can’t simply remove the pastor from his or her role and insert a robot made of metal and circuit boards. Could you program a robot to tell bad jokes like a pastor?

And then there are the denominational concerns. Would a Presbyterian robot differ in appearance and function from that of a Lutheran robot?

And yet, in Germany, a robot has been developed to offer blessings to congregants upon request. It’s called BlessU-2 — which sounds like it might be a robot that says “gesundheit” every time you sneeze. It’s German, after all.

It’s made from the body of an ATM machine. It’s activated by a touch screen on its chest. It gives you the option of hearing your blessing in a male or female voice. It asks you the language you’d like to hear — German, English, French, Spanish or Polish.

Then, BlessU-2 raises its robot arms and pronounces a blessing.

Another robot, SanTO listens to confession and recites Bible verses.

Robots are not unique to Christianity. In Beijing, Xian’er is a robot that chants mantras and dispenses Buddhist wisdom to temple worshipers. But there’s no word yet about rabbi robots or imam robots.

Perhaps the robot priest would utter some of the blessings found in today’s Psalm. Three thousand years ago someone evidently said to the psalmist, “Hey, let’s go to temple today.”

And the psalmist replied, “Great idea!” And later, he wrote this morning’s psalm, a little song, the lyrics of which begin, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (v. 1).

This sounds genuine. He really was truly glad.

This is noteworthy because you have to wonder if this is the honest emotion of the heart and mind in many for whom “church” has become something of an obligation.

Have we lost the “glad” part of worship? How is “glad” expressed? Can we tell if a person is glad?

The “glad” part is generated deep within our souls, not only because of our love for God, but because we anticipate eagerly our interaction and connections with others who will likewise be worshiping God with us.

Studies have repeatedly underscored the value of the physical, emotional and psychological health of churchgoers compared to non-churchgoers. Christianity Today reported earlier this year that “a new study by Pew Research has found that people who practice a religion are happier and more engaged in their communities than the rest of the population.” That sounds like “glad” to me.

So “glad” is not always about God — it’s also about others. Being with the company of the faithful results in blessing and it results in gladness of heart and spirit.

Here’s a blessing from verse 6: “May they prosper who love you.”

The “you” in this sentence, of course, is Jerusalem. The writer hopes that there will be many people who will love the city of God, and he wishes for prosperity for those who do.

His thinking is a sign of the high regard he has for this city — a city that is central to the plan that God has for his people.

It’s a touching thought, and one that can be carried over on a personal level. To say, “May they prosper who love you,” is to say that the “you” is valued and considered dear. It expresses a desire that all people will have a network of those who love and care for them, and that these people, in so doing, will prosper.

No one can be certain what type of prosperity the writer has in mind. But clearly, when we are among those who love others, a certain kind of inner prosperity, inner health and inner well-being is sure to ensue. And the love we offer will surely bless and uplift the “you” of our affections and support.

A second blessing found in this psalm is “Peace be within your walls” (v. 7).

This blessing expresses an aspiration for the well-being of a community. The walls refer to the walls of the city. The hope is that peace may come to the neighborhoods and communities who live within these walls.

The implication here is that peace is not always within these walls. Our neighborhoods are too often divided by economic and ethnic strife. Our office relationships are likewise often a source of tension rather than blessing.

We can be grateful to those who devote so much time and energy into promoting peace within the walls of neighborhoods, cities, workplaces and churches.

The final blessing narrows the focus even more: “May peace be within you” (v. 8). The progression has moved from the community to the heart.

Once again, the assumption is that too often peace is not within us. Something else is within us. Anger? Bitterness? Ingratitude? Pettiness? A longstanding grudge? A lust for something or someone we cannot have? Dissatisfaction? Are these things within us? Where is the peace?

Truth is, behind the walls of our personal lives is a reality that bears no resemblance to peace. Our relationships might be fraught with tension, uncertainty, discord and perhaps even abuse. It’s also possible that many people are likely to confess that within the walls of their hearts, the emotional turbulence is terrifying.

Appearances are often deceptive.

Neve Tzedek (which means “Oasis of Justice”) is a Jewish neighborhood outside the ancient walled city of Jaffa in Israel, and not far from Tel Aviv. Today, it is a fashionable and desirable place to live thanks to an array of shops, trendy cafes and bars and the restoration of many old houses.

Some of these houses, while being refurbished and designed within, have also been given a highly distinctive façade — beautiful to be sure — behind which the old house sits. The façade bears little resemblance in design or style to the house it fronts. One can tell little about the house simply by looking at its exterior.

A fancy façade hiding a fake existence is not what the psalmist wishes for us. He doesn’t want us to have a life in which the front yard is beautiful, but the back yard is a mess.

The blessing in this psalm expresses the wish — the hope — that peace might be within our “walls” and that peace might be within us.

God wants us to have peace. Peace is a huge theme in the Bible. Jesus talks about the peace he wants to leave with us. The apostle Paul prays that the “peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:8).

Robot blessings from a jerry-rigged ATM machine might serve a useful purpose. But there’s another truth: The church exists in part so that the people of the church can bless each other and bring a word of peace.

So, in the absence of a robot, I offer you this blessing:

May they prosper who love you;

May peace be within your walls;

May peace be within you. Amen.