Peace.
Peace
is scarce. Peace - that is, tranquility, harmony, serenity, stillness, calmness
- it is a rare thing in most of our lives. On the contrary, tension and
turmoil, anger and agitation, fear and worry are often ever-present aspects of
our days.
There
is strife in our politics, bullies in our schools, catastrophes in creation, cancer
in our bodies, and worries in the workplace. Even when that which disrupts our
peace is not that upfront or outright, we still have to reckon with everyday
busyness. We have to-do lists that keep getting longer, schedules that are
increasingly packed, and demands that keep demanding to be met.
Look
around and you will find a people “on-the-go.” Running from here to there.
Multi-tasking at all times. Connected in all instances. Physically in one
place, while their hearts and heads are somewhere else.
Peace
is scarce. And the consequence of
this peace scarcity – of the tension, tempo, and turmoil we live with – is
often angst and anxiety that paralyzes hope. Devoid of peace, we become
creatures who endure today without thinking too hard about tomorrow. Without peace our focus turns to mere
progress. Just keep moving forward, we
tell ourselves. Weather this storm.
Tackle that obstacle. Keep going. The only hope we do allow ourselves is placed
in the vain notion that this craziness and emptiness is not our fault. This is just life and life sure is crazy.
But
this reality, let’s remember, while seemingly external – that is, imposed upon
us from this chaotic world – it is actually of our own making. We made this
restless reality when we accepted the notion of secularization that insisted
that God doesn’t have and shouldn’t have anything to say about our everyday
lives. We excused the transcendent from politics, education, healthcare, and
social ethics and then wondered where meaning, purpose, peace and hope went.
We
made this restless reality when we heard the voice of Jesus, when we read those
red letters in scripture, and then told ourselves that they were no longer
relevant or applicable. “Turn the other cheek,” Jesus says. So we drop a bomb.
“Love your neighbor,” Jesus says. We can’t; we don’t know our neighbors. “Give
to everyone who begs of you,” Jesus says. And we replied, “But that’s
un-American.”
We
made this restless reality when we resigned ourselves to decision-making NOT based
on doing what is right or what is good, but instead, on choosing the lesser of
two evils.
We
made this restless reality when we (literally) bought into the ideology that we
could somehow buy our way into happiness – that if we could only purchase, acquire
or get more, then, we would find true joy. As if the peace we’re looking for is
somehow a click away.
We
made this restless reality. We made this bed; and now we’re sleeping in
it. Or more likely, lying awake
frustrated with today and worried about tomorrow.
But
thanks be to God that our God does not leave us to our own devices, desert us
with our destruction, or abandon us in our depravity. But rather, our God comes
to us in the person of Jesus. God meets us through Christ whom the angels
announced in the Christmas narrative came to bring “peace on earth.” Time and time again in scripture Jesus
finds those in tension and turmoil and whispers, “Peace.”
Peace
to the sick. Peace to the suffering. Peace to the storm. Peace to the outcast.
Peace to the despised. And thanks be to God that our God does not leave it at
that, but rather continues to come to us through the Holy Spirit which still
speaks “peace on earth.” Peace in
the midst of politics. Peace in the midst of cancer. Peace in the midst of
divorce. Peace in the midst of unemployment. Peace in the midst of our storm –
whatever that may be.
In
his lesson to the Romans, St. Paul reminds a community filled with angst and
agitation that they have peace. Peace that doesn’t come from this world, but rather,
peace that comes from God. Peace that comes from knowing you are loved now and
forever. Peace that comes from knowing you are forgiven now and forever. And
because they have that peace, St. Paul reminds them, they have hope. Hope that
does not disappoint.
In
a world that continues to be peace starved and hope deprived, may we continue
to hold onto that which is and always will be ours: Peace that comes from God and Hope that does not disappoint. (Romans 5:1-5)
“Peace I leave with
you,” Jesus says. “My peace I give to you.” John 14:27
Peace,
PSDH
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