Peace

There has been much talk of peace… promises of peace… peacekeeping missions… talk of peace prizes… and recently the declaration that peace has been achieved after 3000 years in the most embattle region of the world. My newspaper celebrated peace with a picture on the front page above the fold of signatories to a document that the framers claimed would secure peace. But those documents are only as good as the efforts that proceed from that photo op. The first steps looked promising. We celebrated as 20 families were reunited with their loved ones after 738 days of captivity. But the subsequent scenes of guns brandished and shots fired, of missiles launched and little ones yet again caught in the crossfire… those scenes prove that bold declarations of peace mean little when war continues to be the plan of the day.

When my children were young, there were times when their disagreements were rather loud and even physical, requiring the intervention of a mother’s peacemaking efforts. Often my response to those moments was tainted by the crush of emotions in the room. Thus, my effort to calm the conflict in my home was often a loud cry: “PEACE!” Imagine my arms gesticulating and my face contorted in anger rather than radiating a mother’s love. Somehow my contribution to that moment did nothing to bring peace. The best I could expect was a cessation of hostilities long enough for the parties to go to their respective corners. Navigating healing would take an act of diplomacy that I often lacked in the heat of the moment. Over the years our children have found a peaceable friendship that allows them to navigate their many differences. But in their youthful exuberance, peace was sometimes hard to find.

We all know the truth, that peace is hard to find and even harder to maintain. How can we expect people in the Middle East, whose identity has been defined for thousands of years by the hate of the other, to treat each other peaceably when our own lawmakers cannot work together for the common good? Instead, our elected officials are engaged in a game of brinkmanship. They are like children playing chicken, waiting for the other to blink. All-thewhile the American public is caught in their crossfire of words that leave many without a paycheck today. I wonder how our leaders cash their own paychecks in good conscience while so many struggle during the government shutdown.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom - וםֹ ֔ל ָׁש. Shalom conveys a deeper sense of wellbeing than just the absence of conflict. Shalom encompasses tranquility, prosperity, security, and health. Shalom describes a state of wholeness. When the people of Judah lived in exile in Babylon, God sent them a letter through the prophet Jeremiah. “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you in exile. Pray to the Lord for the city, because if the city prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7) God’s letter to the exiles exhorts them to care about their captors, to pray for their captors, to even seek the well-being of their captors. God’s letter demonstrates that our peace is intricately tied to the peace of others, our well-being reliant on the well-being of even our enemies. I wish our law makers would learn that lesson. Certainly, those who are working on peace in the Middle East need to consider that lesson. The security and wholeness on one side of the border relies on the security and wholeness on the other side of the border. Jesus commanded, “Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.” Only then will we know shalom.

How many of us yearn for peace in our homes, in our neighborhood and workplace? How many of us feel the wear and tear as our nation wars with itself? We need peace, not just the cessation of hostility, but the wholeness that allows all to live together in harmony. If you are waiting for someone to get the job done, I do not have a peacemaker to recommend among our leaders. They have all chosen a side and their own political ambitions rather than the common good. So, don’t wait for someone else to do the work. Jesus is calling His people to be peacemakers. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.” Be among those who reflect God’s glory in your actions and words. Be among those who are God’s instruments of peace in this world. “Seek peace” even for your enemies, that together we might live in harmony.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 7:24-26

With you, learning the way of peace,
Anita