Peace | Rt. Rev. Peter Buss, Sr.

We often say that we have peace, but it is a worldly kind, which passes away. Rest from war, from aggravations, going on a holiday with no domestic or business worries to affect us - sure, these things are peaceful. But the Peace the Lord offers is so much deeper, and it is eternal.

Readings: Matthew 14:22-33; Isaiah 55:10-13; Arcana Caelestia 2780, 5662

Minister: Rt. Rev. Peter Buss, Sr.

Delivered June 7th, 2026 at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Bryn Athyn, PA. 

The Bryn Athyn Church is a congregation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, located in Bryn Athyn, PA. We are committed to helping each other draw closer to the Lord God Jesus Christ through lives of love and useful service, guided by the Old and New Testaments and the Heavenly Doctrine for the New Church (contained in the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg). Please join us for worship on Sunday mornings; services and times can be found at brynathynchurch.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good morning. Our first listeners from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, 14. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into their boat and go before them to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent their multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Now when evening came, he was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost, and they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. So he said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him, O man of little faith, why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat the wind ceased, and those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God. Our next lesson is from Isaiah chapter 55. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth and make it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word that be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing to which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the Briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. And then from the Akana Silesa number 2780 and 5662. The state of peace in heaven is like that of dawn on earth. Within the state of peace in heaven all heavenly and spiritual things manifest themselves. From it comes a delightful and gladsome air spreading through all things. Similarly at the time of dawn, all things appear to be before us, full of delight and gladness. Jehovah lift up his face upon you and give you peace. Almost everyone believes that peace consists in being kept safe from enemies and in living in security at home and among companions. That kind of peace is not, however, what is meant here, but another kind that is immensely superior, namely heavenly peace. No one receives this unless he is led by the Lord and abides in the Lord. That is, unless he is in heaven, where the Lord is the all in all. For heavenly peace enters in when the desires that spring from self-love and love of the world are removed. These are the desires that take peace away. They molest one inwardly and cause one to have to, at length, to consider rest to consist in unrest, and peace in molestations, because you consider delight to consist in evil desires. Peace is central to every form of happiness and bliss, and is therefore what reigns universally within every individual thing. Therefore, the ancient people used the common saying, peace to you, meaning, may all be well. Or else they would ask people, did they have peace? Meaning, was it well with them? All unrest is due to evil and falsity. Whereas peace is due to goodness and truth. Amen. And may the Lord add his blessing to the reading from his word. We have two texts. From Psalm 4, I will both lay down in peace and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. And from John chapter 14, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Nearly all people long for peace and pursue it. We may go for excuse me. We may go to war for peace. We may stay with our particular friends or families, renouncing others. We may go to a holiday, favorite holiday place to enjoy it. We may try for riches thinking that the worries of low finances will then be banished. And none of these things bring true peace. Wars break out all over. A lovely holiday spot or family group can easily be spoiled by conflict. The pursuit of riches is a very stressful thing. And more than anything else, people cannot escape themselves, not in worldly security, nor in quiet, restful surroundings. If there is in them that which is opposed to peace, then the quietness of the world God made so beautiful is in itself a torment, and paradise will be a prison. The jailer is within. Worldly things bring an interim of rest, perhaps, but it passes, and peace is no nearer than before. The realm of this world is transient, and so it is not peace. Not as the world giveth, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. People are afraid and their hearts are troubled, because the rest of their soul is threatened. If they have any intelligence at all, they long for the peace that's inside of them, knowing that if they have that, even tragedy will not remove it permanently. My peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Today let us talk about three things: the ingredients of peace, the joy of peace, and the path to true peace. Ingredients. The writings for the new church redefine two words, peace and tranquility. They say that true peace is so deep that we just feel its blessings. We know it to the full, only in heaven. And tranquility is the word they use for what we call peace on earth. They define it as, quote, the rest of mind that those enjoy who are content in God. It also exists when combat with evil ceases, when no more are people driven by evil forces which they have to resist and whose attack they never know when to expect. Peace and tranquility are thought of as negatives. That is, a freedom from stresses and challenges. And that's not how the teachings of the new church define them. They are found in an active life. Peace and tranquility are found in an active life. They are not neutral states as we so often conceive them to be. They do not make us sit still and revel in the absence of turmoil. Peace is inflowing joy or delight. And tranquility is the life itself, the ongoing, going forth into useful effort, the reaching out to benefit of a mind that is free from evil. It's the joy in creative work with people who no longer fear that selfish desires or animosities are going to intrude on those things that they love to do. We know from experience that the person who works without pressure and worry can work many more hours than the one who has anxiety and frustration. They who are at peace put their heart into their labors, not to sitting still, but into their labors, and are not harmed by them, even when they are pushed. If we are anxious or mad or resentful at someone, we find out that our mind is divided and the work is frustrating. So if you're following the Lord, you will enjoy tranquility. But peace itself will be in your heart. And you will reap its benefits even here. And there is benefit, and here is the benefit that makes it precious. The teaching of the new church says that peace rules every delight that we have. That is the teaching of the new church. Peace rules every delight that we have. It's the essence of it. The essence of every delight. They say that an innocent heart receives goodness from the Lord. And then that goodness, coming from the Lord, flows down softly, gently, imparting a quiet, restful enjoyment to the good things we are doing. That's peace. People who receive it know what they love to do, and they set about doing it with no interference and no anxiety, for they are content in the loves that the Lord has given them. They have come into a covenant of peace with the Lord. The Lord gives and they receive, and they know the blessedness of receiving that soft, gentle beauty that flows into their hearts. They are joined to the Lord, and the joy of this conjunction is peace. For the mountain shall depart and the hills be removed, but my mercy shall not depart from you. Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you. So an essential requirement of peace is what the trust in what the Lord offers. That is why he has given so many assurances of peace to those who would follow him. It seems elementary to say that we must trust in the Lord. Yet you know it is a knowledge that does not come easy to the unregenerate mind. To know that it is a part of a simple faith that life and goodness are from the Lord. Yet we are tempted to not think about that very often. To believe that happiness and good are from Him is almost impossible when we want something that He has forbidden. And it seems only this can bring us happiness. Yet without this trust in the Lord, there is no peace, nor ever will be. When a person feels that they govern themselves, then the first thing they do is look at what they desire and they try to seek it. It may be wrong, but they want it. And in seeking it they have care and anxiety, because now they are going to ensure that they are going to get it. They have their own ingenuity to ensure that, their own brains, their capacity for work, and good luck. But if they meet with others who can outstrip them, they may lose what they want. And if their health falters, they may lose their goal. And if their luck fails or another person's luck holds, they may not gain their desires. So there is care for the morrow, distrust of others, contempt for some, anger with others, no peace. And there is the tendency to cling to present delights and to imagine future ones and plan feverishly for their realization. Such is the life of so many on earth. For without trust in the Lord nothing is secure, nothing safe. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. So these are some of the ingredients of peace. But what is joy is like is really impossible to describe. In the spring. But it imparts a feeling. Also, the beauty of spring is something that is not tangible and specific. It is something which permeates the whole creation and touches everything from within, breathing in a new joy, awakening to a new life. Well, that is how peace is with the angels of heaven. It is gentle and soothing, but it also awakens every sensitivity with its gentle touch as it flows down from the Lord of love. It is the peace that the angels feel each new dawn as they wake in heaven and hear songs expressing heavenly affections, and together with their partners in the quietude of their own homes, they pray to the Lord and think with delight of the work that is to be done that day. They know that they may labor with no interference from angry sources or any disturbance from indolent or selfish loves within. They know that the labor will be fruitful because it is a labor in peace. The joy that inflows each day of eternity is represented in the Lord's Prayer by the words, give us this day our daily bread. It is new every morning. And of course, there is peace only in mutual love. For when people love others as much as themselves, they bear them no enmity. And what of the path towards peace? We can see that the enemies of the state of mind are within us. They're not with other bad people up there. For a person who has chosen to love evil knows no rest. They may seem to at times, especially when they've just gained something, they wanted very much. For they think to themselves that at last they are happy. But they quickly look for new goals. And even in the enjoyment of success, there are within them needs and hatreds and resentments and contempt, which as soon as they are thought of destroy all rest of mind. Peace that comes and goes is not peace. And in the other world it's lost altogether. For the true internal state with an evil person is combat for things that are against God, against laws, against others, and it keeps breaking out. All unrest is from evil and falsity. And all peace is from truth and good, the Lord says in his new word. It's a simple statement. All unrest is from evil and falsity. And all peace is from truth and good. Therefore, we enter into combat that we may have peace. We seek a state of unrest by declaring war. On the foe within, knowing that they and the hells will fight back and give us no rest for a long time. Just as it takes courage for an adult to declare war on one who threatens them and their own, so it takes courage to declare war on the spirits that afflict us. That is why the Lord said on earth, do not think that I came to send peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword, for one's enemies will be those of his own household. And he meant, of course, the interior household. That is, for the things which destroy our rest of mind are all things that we treasure. They are spiritually our close relatives. Though they would kill our spirits, we have to see them as enemies, which is why the Lord came to send a sword upon them. And the battle is never pleasant. It's not enjoyable to be at war with our own desires, to be fighting a part of ourselves, to have the torment of temptation. In such states it seems there is no peace. It is easier if we realize that these feelings don't come from ourselves. That's one of the very strong things the writings say. These feelings come from the hells, every single one of them. We didn't create evil or bad feelings. The hells inspire them. And we can see them as our enemies. And yet there is peace in this battle. After all, what are we fighting for? We are fighting for our own peace. We fight that the enemy may be cast out, whatever the evil the hells inspire. Peace is our goal and is inwardly within the person who fights. Peace is within us, even when we fight evil. The moment you turn from evil, something of peace is within you. That is where our strength comes from. You long for that wonderful moment when evil doesn't threaten your happiness. And you can live in the tranquility of heaven. If you didn't have this as your goal, the Lord says, quote, you would in no way have the power and strength to combat. So I ask you to picture in your mind's eye your own peace. Think what your lives will be like when the things that bring unrest are cast out. Imagine what your tranquility will be like on earth, and envision what your peace will be like in heaven. Think what it will be like for you to wake in your home in heaven, in the early dawns of perpetual spring, to labor with your partner into eternity in peace, to love unselfishly in a kingdom that knows no turmoil. And then we reflect on what stops our present enjoyment of beautiful surroundings or a quiet home and discover or a job simply done and discover the enemy within which is making these worthwhile joys seem undelightful, then we will fight so that we can have these joys, and the peace that they will bring eternally. Knowing that no other state of life is worth striving for if we don't have this. Thus, peace is within the battle. That's what causes us to have strength. And at times, during our fighting, there are many moments when we know tranquility, when the Lord gives us rest, so that we may experience a little of that for which we are fighting, and return to the battle refreshed and strengthened. But it was the end of this confrontation that the Lord promised when he counseled people to have confidence in his power to overcome their foes. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, in the world you shall have con you shall have tribulation, but have confidence.