Peace

If I lived through the 60's I think that I would have really been tempted to be a hippie - not the drugs and free love type, but the grungy, long-haired wanderer who goes around talking about peace. What a concept...peace. It seems so elusive, like a dream that makes us want to sleep forever, knowing all the while that we must wake up to the reality of this broken world. There are days when the signs of peace emerge all around us - it feels like spring! Everything is alive and life giving. We see the truth, goodness, and beauty that we long for. It it a time that we simply call "blessed".

Psalm 133 talks about the blessing of peace in family relationships:
"How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
It's like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron's beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It's like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that's where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life." (MSG)

Even in our family relationships this kind of peace, in which we experience God's blessing, can seem elusive. We cherish it when it comes, but it doesn't seem to rest on us forever - the chaos of brokenness raises it's head again and we're thrown back into turmoil. When we don't have peace in our own lives, in our families, or in our faith communities - the microcosm - why does war and violence among nations surprise us - the macrocosm.

I long for peace. Jesus proclaimed peace over his followers. Where's the root of the problem? If I'm reading scripture correctly - the problem seems to run right through every human heart. As we live out the formless void of broken relationship with Reality, then peace is far from us. We know that peace is the true reality, but it seems so distant. Looking toward the horizon, we catch glimpses of the peacable Kingdom - and we wonder if it is coming or if we just saw a mirage. Then we remember the concrete reality of Christ's incarnation and we confess that is has come and is coming.

I've been thinking about this lately because I desperately want peace in my life - especially today. Hearing these words from Paul have been somewhat difficult in these days: "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6-7 NLT)

Anxiety and worry lie at the foundation of brokenness, chaos, and violence. There is a lack of trust that emerges from our broken relationship which elicits our anxiety, flowing out of a sense of self-sovereignty...a sense that the world rests on our shoulders - we've become Atlas breaking under the weight of the world. The peace that I long for only comes when I re-cognize (re-envision) the Reality of our finitude and that all things exist through the life-giving Word, the Word that loves all creation and wants to give it the blessing of peace. In the false reality I have anxiety, but living in the True Reality I have peace. May we find the way to true life in Christ and may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding reign in our hearts and minds today that it may become a living reality in our world. Until next time - Blessings ~ RLS