Finding Peace in Coffee Break

About 80 people attended the first-ever Perfect Peace Global Coffee Break online retreat Nov. 12-13, which featured three main speakers and a series of workshops that gave participants a chance to share thoughts and concerns and to pray and reflect on Psalm 91 and a verse in Isaiah 26.

Most of the participants came from the United States and Canada. There were also a few who attended from Mexico and Korea. Coffee Break leaders were able to translate the main sessions in Korean, Spanish, and English by using Zoom translator.

They also offered small groups and breakouts in the three languages. Juan Sierra, program director for Global Coffee Break, and Amy Friedman, Raise Up global specialist, played important roles in organizing and translating the sessions, said Diane Averill, small group representative for Global Coffee Break, which is part of Raise Up Ministries.

“The keynote sessions were in a webinar format and were excellent. And during small group times and breakouts the participants were able to interact with each other,” said Averill.

Reflecting on the study of Psalm 91 and Isaiah 26 and the personal interactions, she added,  “The participants commented on how much they appreciated this experience on the Friday evening of the retreat.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Coffee Break had to offer the retreat online, and that was something that Ellen Joy Sharpe, a Coffee Break leader from Alaska, appreciated.

“I have never been to a Coffee Break retreat or workshop, and I would not have gone this year had it been held in Michigan or probably anywhere outside of Alaska. Well, perhaps, I would have gone to Seattle! God’s blessings often come in hard times,” she said.

The main speakers for the event were Sam Huizenga, director of the CRC’s Raise Up Ministries; Janice McLean-Farrell, professor of metro-urban ministry at New Brunswick Theological Seminary; and Scott VanderPloeg, senior pastor of Sunlight Community Church in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

With the content of Psalm 91 as a backdrop, the speakers used Isaiah 26:3 in their presentations. This verse reads: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

Huizenga opened her session by showing the image of a peaceful lake. Two boats sat on the near shore and snow ringed the rest of the shore, behind which stood tall trees.

The lake was peaceful now, she said, but a storm could come up, and that is when it is important to have someone to lean on.

“I want to talk about Jesus as peacemaker and Lord,” she said. Jesus is the one who calms our troubled souls, Huizenga explained, and he is with us in the tumultuous times of our lives.

“What in your life makes you feel peaceful? What situations in your life might be stormy and not so peaceful?” she asked. “How do we live as followers of Jesus, the peacemaker?”

Huizenga told the story of her family’s pet dog, a cute little animal they called Kiddo. A great companion, Kiddo nonetheless kept eating items — like a sewing needle — that required the family to take Kiddo to the veterinarian.

After a few trips to the vet, the vet took them aside and explained that Kiddo was confused, not sure where she fit in the pack. She was full of anxiety. Was Kiddo the leader or not?

The family learned to be more stern with Kiddo, making the dog sit before eating. “We needed to wait for her to relax and defer to us,” said Huizenga.

It didn’t take long for Kiddo to learn her place and calm down.

“I’m often like Kiddo,” said Huizenga. “I think I’m in charge even though I say Jesus is in charge. We say Jesus is Lord, but if our actions say otherwise, that can be a form of practical atheism. What if we really practiced recognizing Jesus as the peacemaker?”

This can be difficult if we are thinking of God, who is invisible and whose attributes are hard to see. But in Jesus we have a real human being who lived a life we can emulate.

“When we look at Jesus, we see who God is. We see his mercy and power before all creation,” said Huizenga.

She gave an example of this by turning to Mark 4:35-41 — the story of Jesus and the disciples in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Dangerous waves were rocking their boat and filling it with water. This terrified the disciples, who turned to Jesus, who was sleeping, and pleaded with him to calm the storm.

“Jesus woke up and said, ‘Be Quiet! Peace!’” said Huizenga. “He had ultimate control over those waves and the wind. They were in the boat with the maker of heaven and earth.”

Reflecting on this story, she added, “What practices do you have to help you follow Jesus as the peacemaker?”

Before taking on the topic of trust as stated in Isaiah 26, Janice McLean-Farrell referred to Isaiah 24:1, in which the prophet says, “See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face. . . .”

Here Isaiah predicts destruction for those who no longer follow the ways and laws of God. But at the same time that devastation is declared, said McLean-Farrell, there is a remnant of those who hold to the desires of the Lord, and they will receive God’s abundant blessings.

As these people take up praise to God in Isaiah 26, she said, we see “the graciousness God plans for people who align themselves with him day by day.”

For those who follow the truth, she added, “God will put a richness on his people.”

Looking at society today, said McLean-Farrell, she feels a heaviness as she surveys what seems to be too many places of death, despair and destruction. “There is a lack of food and of health services. There is a sense of oppressiveness, of a tyrannical system over the people.”

Living under this rule, under the rich and well-off who make the rules, can lead to hopelessness. “It is hard to believe God is for you when everything around you says God is not for you,” she said.

But we need not give up; people can trust in God no matter what happens. “Trust isn’t a one-off thing. It is cultivated in small day-to-day reality,” she said. “Things shape us day by day. If I can’t trust God in the everyday things, the trust may not be there in the make-it-or-break-it moments.”

It is possible, said McLean-Farrell, that by building our trust in little things we can trust in God and “know his abiding presence when things are raging fully” around us.

Addressing the issue of being steadfast, Scott Vander Ploeg focused on the faith of Hezekiah, a king of Judah. Because Hezekiah was steadfast in believing in the Lord, God stepped in and fought a big battle in which the Assyrian army laying siege to Jerusalem was wiped out (2 Kings 18-19).

“Hezekiah prayed to God and trusted in God. He and the people stood firm — and the Lord put 185,000 Assyrian soldiers to death,” said Vander Ploeg.

Those of the Lord’s people who persevere, he added, “God will protect and save. There’s no point in believing we can save ourselves.”

What’s important is believing and holding on to the truth, Vander Ploeg said, and “knowing that Jesus stood in our place and that now the way is open for us if we trust in him and have faith.”

We can make a decision to steadfastly commit ourselves to Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again to give us new life. We can trust that the Lord offers inner peace to those who follow him and adhere to his plans for peace-filled living.

“These are not wistful ideas,” said Vander Ploeg. “This is not escapism or holding on to a security blanket. It is not brainwashing. Christians are people who think deeply.”

Solid, steadfast Christians are people who don’t veer into unbelief; they see themselves as God sees them, Vander Ploeg added.

“We have fallen short of what God wants,” he said. “We need to accept that God sent Jesus, who took on a perfect life. This is historical, accurate, and true. Once you understand that, you can lean into it. Those whose minds are steadfast can have perfect peace — shalom.” They can trust that they can find rest and refuge in God, who is merciful and wants to save us all.