He is our Peace

At the Saturday community brunch, the cathedral has guests who speak many different languages.  I got talking to a couple of participants yesterday about their concerns for what is happening in the world.  We shared our words for peace.  In some languages it is similar: Spanish paz, French paix, Farsi pẽs, from the Latin root pax.  In Hebrew and Arabic the sounds are close: shalom and salam. But no matter whether you say zaman lafiya in Hausa or rugare in Shona, there is a common human yearning signified.  People want safety, wellbeing, and opportunity for themselves and those they love without the threat of violence or hurt.  Some have come to this country recently to find a peaceful life far from the conflicts of where they were born.  But once here in Canada, it is not so easy to make a new home, get a productive job, and build up community supports.  The needs of some clash against the needs of others and create friction.

Human history is full of wars where groups fight over control of resources for their needs.  There is little peace in the world.  In 2024, the Geneva Academy is tracking 114 armed conflicts under the definition of international humanitarian law, where organized and armed violence between hostile groups has led to ongoing injuries, imprisonments, and deaths.  Major armed conflicts, where more than 10,000 have died in the past year, are currently in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, and the wider African insurgencies in the Maghreb.  Only this week, student uprisings in Bangladesh have led to curfews and permission for government forces to shoot to kill on sight.  Even democracies with the rule of law struggle with terrorism, racial discrimination in the police and the justice systems, and the oppression of minorities. We are not very good at making peace with each other.  To shift from hostility to reconciliation seems beyond our human capacity.  We need help!

Paul, in his letter to the early church at Ephesus, reminds us that when we are incapable of finding the way on our own, Jesus is our peace.  He speaks from personal experience.  Once he was a proud Jewish Pharisee that hunted and judged followers of Jesus for blasphemy.  Then his understanding was enlightened by his encounter with the risen Christ.  He came to see that God’s plan is for all people, not just the nation first chosen to learn the way of righteousness.  When he addresses gatherings of Christians, he invites us to walk together, even when we are very different from each other.  God makes a peace treaty with us through Jesus, who has adopted us into the people belonging to God.

To those on the inside- the Jews- Paul speaks of remembering grace.  After all, the children of Israel were once strangers and aliens themselves before they were brought into the covenant.  The land and the faith are gifts from God.  To those on the outside- the Gentiles- there is the promise that in the household of God there is enough for all.  What has been shared with them is also to be shared with others.  After all, Jesus is not destroying what came before his time on earth.  He is opening up a wider vision of shalom.  For our community today, it is good to remember that we are both on the inside and the outside.  We gather as the Church, with our tradition and our inheritance of resources and our faith, with the mission to extend a welcome to all.  And we are also strangers and aliens who have found a place to grow together, even though we are very different from one another.  Each of us has got to know Jesus Christ in a particular way, but we are one in the Spirit before our Creator. 

Like many, I sometimes grow weary when I hear the daily news.  There is a danger of compassion fatigue, when I don’t think that I am making a difference through my actions.  Being good or kind or generous is not enough to save the world. I have to go back to the assurance of Jesus’ work on the cross. It doesn’t depend on me, but on God showing up through the resurrection community.  If I can get my fear and need out of the way, it gives room for reconciliation.  Trust in God’s peace-making helps me to avoid engaging in the thinking and behaviours that can sabotage real change.

What prevents us from finding peace with God and our neighbour? 

• when we demonize the other. No person or group is so evil that God doesn’t love them or want them to find peace.
• when we are unable to listen to a difference perspective or experience that doesn’t agree with ours. There is a difference between facts, which can be investigated, and feelings, which are subjective.
• When we engage in catastrophic thinking about what might happen and allow anxiety to paralyze.
• When we attribute motivation about why someone has acted without knowing their side of the story.
• When our need for vengeance or punishment for past wrongs outweighs the possibility of forgiveness and a different relationship.

It takes courage to come to the table and listen to another without letting trauma, grief, or resentment shut us down.  Difficult situations call for the presence of our hope and our peace in Christ.  He is never far off when we need him as our mediator: “in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14). 

We have the ability to draw on his strength to deal with the work of human relationships.  When we engage in the process of striving for a common solution, I wonder how often we think that we come with God on our side rather than allowing the Holy One to be the host?  There are wars fought with people firmly convinced that Yahweh is on one side and Allah is on the other.  Armies have gone into battle believing that God is under their banner against the godless.  But we affirm there is only one God and Creator of all!  Maybe instead of assuming that our way what God wants, we ought to be asking what God wants for all involved.  Perhaps we will discover paths to safety, wellbeing, and opportunity not only for ourselves but for our enemies. 

 I’m not saying that conflict resolution is easy or quick because we have faith.  But faith challenges us to look beyond our limitations and prejudices and assumptions about the other.  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall  be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).  No matter what language you use: our word for peace is Jesus. Amen.