Peace. What an elusive word. In this season of giving thanks it can be difficult to be grateful when you are not experiencing peace.
Peace. It is sometimes difficult to imagine it. Just look to Ferguson, MO. Not much peace there. Not with the Brown family who had to bury their child. I cannot imagine their grief. Not with Officer Williams and his family. I cannot imagine their fear. Not with the residents in the national spotlight. I cannot imagine their division.
Peace. It can be hard to come by. Ask the child frightened by gunfire in Gaza. Look at the housewife weary with abuse. Consider the alcoholic just trying to hang on.
Peace. When Jesus was born the angels sang about peace (Luke 2:9). When Jesus grew up he preached about peace, saying “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” (Matthew 5:9). When he was resurrected he appeared to the disciples and said, “Peace be with you,” (John 20:19).
Peace. It is a lovely word and it is a lovely thought and deep within us all is the longing for peace; to be whole; to be complete.
Just imagine that things could be different; that you and I do not have to go on living divided against others or divided against ourselves.
Just imagine that wherever you are in the tension between peace and conflict God is present.
The Great Story in scripture is the reminder that no matter how un-peaceful things may be in this world or in your life, it does not negate the presence of God. The Psalmist sings gently to us that God is pervasively, frustratingly, mercifully present to us.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
God is present in our loftiest ambitions…
If I ascend to heaven…
God is present when we have hit rock bottom…
If I make my bed in Sheol…You are there. (Ps 139)
We can flee, we can run, we can hide, we can fight, we can despair, we can blame, we can flail and fail and yet God is there, wherever “there” might be.
We can assume that we or events are beyond redemption, but that still will not be enough, because God is there.
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become
night,” even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Only when we come to a place of acknowledging and knowing God’s abiding and pervasive presence can we embrace peace; perfect and complete peace. Knowing the presence of God dwelling beside us in our confusion and doubt or our bitterness and rage does not take away the conflict. It gives company to the conflict.
Peace. Peace does not come with more striving. To strive is to negate peace before it ever gets started. Peace comes not with more striving. Peace comes in the accepting.
Angels sang about it to the shepherds who did not seek it out and did nothing to earn it. Still they sang, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth Peace…”
Peace was the word that Jesus gave the frightened disciples hiding behind locked doors. “Peace be with you.”
Peace is what God imagines for you, wherever you are and whatever you have done or not done. Peace because God is with you no matter what.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
(Psalm 139:6-10)
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