Perspectives: Reflections of Peace

 See the doves? Do we reflect peace?

 

Perspectives: Peaceful Experience

I posted this today because riding the lift at Snowshoe is a very peaceful experience.  Enjoy some peace today, friends, while you remember that peace does not equate to quiet.

Know Peace Together

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent--its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.  Isaiah 65: 17-18 and 25

My normal pattern for writing for the blog is that I write several posts ahead of time, and I plan out what will be posted at what time.  I'm writing this post before the election, and I do not see much evidence of the lamb and the wolf feeding together - I do not see much evidence of peace among us.

This will be posted after the election, and my prayer for all of us is that we shall know peace together. I pray we shall not hurt or destroy each other. This peace is the vision of the new heaven and the new earth - this is the ideal of God. It is God's will that we should love each other. May it be so, for you and for me.

Peace and fear

Yesterday, I wrote about peace - how peace is dependent not on the absence of conflict, but also on the presence of wholeness, and not just our wholeness, but the wholeness of the relationships within our community and with God.

Peace isn't not just a state, but also a process.

There is much talk in the current political races about security. Fear. Terrorism. This has created a fear of the Muslim community that is part of our greater community in the United States.

If you consider what shalom - peace - means, it is not the absence of conflict between two groups. It is the presence of wholeness between us.

I'm not suggesting that we ignore terrorism, or that we do not take appropriate steps toward security; however, I do believe that some politicians are using fear to manipulate our relationships with those among us who are different than we are, whoever we are. Politicians paint Muslims as terrorists, when that is as accurate as saying Christians are hate-filled white supremacists.

Remember, peace is completeness.  Peace depends on the welfare of those around us. Peace means we reach out and change the world around us; we do not give into fear. We live as Christ has told us to live. We love each other.

Shalom

What is peace?  How do you define it?

I was thinking about peace after worshiping at B'nai Sholom - and what the definition of Shalom is.
My research tells me the following:

1. We sometimes want to define it as the absence of conflict. This definition might arise from the Latin word, pax, which has that definition.  Shalom is different. It relates more to the idea of completeness. Wholeness.
2. Shalom is a now, but it also relates to a verb. The meaning is best understood not as a state of being, but as a movement toward peace. We can understand it best when we think about it as something we do - a process.

I like this quote from Cornelius Planting's book, Not the Way It's Supposed to be: A Breviary of Sin:

The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom.  We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies.  In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight - a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights.  Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.

The face that we aren't fighting with someone doesn't mean peace.  The idea that we are calm and tranquil doesn't mean we are at peace. When those around you are not in need, when you are whole and complete, when your community - all of it - is whole and complete, when your relationship with God is whole and complete, then we are the way we ought to be. We have arrived at peace.

Peace Like a River

Two Sundays ago, we sang the song Peace Like a River.  I started thinking about the phrases in the song - peace like a river, joy like a fountain and love like an ocean.  What do those analogies mean to us?

What does it mean to have "peace like a river"?

1. A river contains fresh water that sustains life.  Have you lived without peace?  What accumulates in our lives when we do not have peace?  Worry, preoccupation, hatred, selfishness?  What pollution cuts off true life when we are without peace?
2. Rivers can rise up and overwhelm us with flooding. Peace can rise up and overwhelm us, filling us, changing us.  As I read that, I think it might not be a good analogy - flooding so often does not bring peace. Still, though, peace can flood into us, and it's a good experience.
3. Rivers carry us from one point to another.  I think peace can do the same thing.  Peace can carry us from dark times to lighter times.  It can carry us from sadness, heartache and worry to resolution.    
4. Rivers connect us to other places.  I think peace can connect us to other people.  It flows between us - peace is contagious.  
5. A river can be calmly flowing or rapidly rushing, but either way, it is moving.  Peace can be calming, or peace can move us to action - either way, it motivates us to action.

What am I asking for if I ask for peace like a river?  Do I think I want calm, meandering quietness? I probably do, but that's not what rivers are always like.  Sometimes rivers are anything but quiet - they are often full of life and movement.  Peace isn't stillness or absence of violence.  Peace is the result of connection with God, and that might bring us what we won't imagine, or what we don't expect.

May we have peace like a river.

How do we see each other?

I'm reading a book called The Anatomy of Peace; Resolving the Heart of Conflict.  I'm a member of our Annual Conference's Covenant Council, and we've been asked to read this book in preparation for an upcoming meeting.  To be honest, I wouldn't have chosen this book to read on my own, but as I read it this morning, the following thoughts came to mind.

The authors say:

The deepest way in which we are right or wrong...is in our way of being with toward others.  I can be irght on the surface -- in my behavior or positions -- while being entrely mistaken beneath, in my way of being.

To have a heart at peace, and to resolve conflict, one must see the other person as a person, rather than as an object.  Think about that for a minute, as I did.  When you are in a situation of conflict, do you see the other person as an enemy, or as a person?   Doesn't it seem like the most important goal, when you are in conflict, is to win?  To prove the other person wrong?

What if it didn't matter as much who was right or wrong, but instead what was really important was how we respond to each other?  What would happen?

Perhaps this is the meaning of Christ's words -- love one another.  See each other as persons. 

(Easy for me to say.....)

Epilogue

In worship yesterday, Joe's sermon was entitled Epilogue.  He talked about the time between -- the time between Christmas and the next Holiday.  The time between one thing that has happened, and the next one to happen.

Some of us rush from one event to the next, but he encouraged us to wait in the Epilogue -- in the time between. 

On Christmas morning, I was up before anyone else.  The house was quiet -- even the dog was still asleep.  Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  I turned on the Christmas tree and all the lights in our village, and read.  I sat quietly for about 20 minutes reading, and then another 20 minutes, doing nothing.  It wasn't Epilogue, really -- it wasn't the time after, but it was an Intermission.  It was unplanned time to breath, enjoy, relax, listen to God. 

Joe seemed to think that Epilogue was a time of nothingness -- an empty time between.  I think Epilogue -- that space between -- is a time of something.  In that time of quiet, we do something very important.  We are still.  We listen.  We turn aside to see God.

Remember in Moses' experience with the burning bush?  He turned aside, and saw the bush.  There are times when we must turn aside from what demands our attention in order to see God at work. 

We are called to Epilogue.

What does the Lord Require?

There is a scripture from Micah that begins something like, "What does the Lord require of you..."

I think about the shootings in Connecticut, and I hear so many people talking about what needs to be done to prevent it in the future.  Most of what I hear is external.  "They need to..."

What does the Lord require of you?  And me?

Do you believe we live in a culture of violence?  What have you done to increase peace?  Have you forgiven a neighbor? 

Do you believe there is no justice?  What have you done to stand up for the oppressed and downtrodden?  What have you done to increase justice?

Do you believe God has been removed from schools?  What have you done to teach children about your faith?   What have you done to share the love of God with a child?

Do you believe we need to increase the availability of mental health care?  What have you done about it? 

Do you believe evil and hate are becoming more prevalent in society?  Do you shake your head in disbelief at what has happened?  What have you done to love more?  To share kindness? To show the world a different way of living?

What does the Lord require of you?

(Please don't read this as me pointing at you -- I point at myself, as well.)

Peace

In the devotional I read today, written by Candace Lewis and published in Disciplines, the author talks about a village in Ghana, West Africa.  The well the village used for water was damaged, so they dug deeper, in the same well, to find another water supply.  They were able to accomplish their task, and clean water sprung up from the well, amid praises to God.

What will we find if we dig deeper?  What live-giving water will spring forth?

I've been thinking alot about peace lately.  At last week's Advent luncheon at St. Marks, where my office is located, Janet talked about God's peace.  It made me ask, "What is peace?"  We all want peace of mind, peace and quiet, a peaceful Christmas -- but what does that mean?  I don't think it's the same as God's peace.

She said God is the only one who can give peace.  It's a gift, I imagine, like grace is a gift?  But what does it mean? 

God certainly doesn't leave us at peace -- he nags and prods, pushing and pulling us until we get up and follow. 

Perhaps God's peace is found in the stillness.  Be still, and know that I am God.  Does peace lie here?  Does the knowledge of the presence of God bring us peace?  Grant us peace?

Don't read this and think, "Wow, what's going on with her that she is looking so hard for peace?"  I feel at peace, but I'm just digging deeper to understand it better.

Peace

Go and read this devotional -- Piece be with You, written by Ryan Lavalley.

Next, take a look at these verse from the Gospel lectionary reading this week.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:19-22)

Picture it. The disciples are in a locked room. Their teacher and friend had been crucified. Dead. Buried. The situation seems irredeemable. Suddenly, Christ, the one who was dead, is standing in the locked room. In this impossible situation, Christ arrives. With him he brings peace. Offers them peace.

Christ enters our lives, enters our impossible situations, and brings us peace.

How does he do that? He breathes his spirit onto us, into us. He gives us a piece of himself.

Peace.

Image: First United Methodist Church, Ashland

Peace in Unrest

Take some time and go read the Bishop's blog post about Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading Bishop Grove's comment as well, I was struck by the idea of remembering Dr. King.

Do you remember him? I was pretty young the year he died, but I do remember small bits from his death. I also remember the same year, the death of Robert Kennedy.

In 1968, we lived very near Washington, D.C. In April, my grandmother was in the hospital in Georgetown. I remember driving into town to the hospital. Mom was a teacher at the time. I still remember her talking about the riots in town, and having to drive through them to reach the hospital. She had an African American student who volunteered to ride with her. I remember even as a kid that I thought this was a wonderful demonstration of love and peace in the midst of unrest.

Peace

We were talking today in our office meeting about peace. How can it be that in the midst of stress we are able to find peace? Why is it that peace exists in times of uncertainty. It seems to me that these would be the most unlikely time to find peace.

Except that peace which comes from God is not dependent upon circumstances. It's a gift.

What is peace? What is not peace?

Peace is not:

• The assurance of a certain happy ending.
• A lack of conflict
• Getting what we want or think that we need

I think peace is the reassurance of the presence of God. It is the quiet that comes with the assurance that we are not alone; that God is with us. It is beyond our understanding, and it is a gift of grace.

Be still, and know that I am God.
Rest assured, and know peace.