May the Peace of Christ Be With You

Some things that we do in church are more than a little bit unique. Have you ever spotted a friend in Walmart and then ran up to them saying, "the peace of Christ be with you"? (Probably not)Yet, when the community comes together on Sunday, we stop the whole service to acknowledge the people around us. We shake a hand or give a hug. We say the special words that we never say anywhere else, "the peace of Christ be with you." Sometimes we feel like only reaching out once. Sometimes the person we touch first wants to engage us in a conversation. Sometimes we try to achieve the goal and be a high performer touching a large group of people. Sometimes we only touch people we know. Sometimes we intentionally find a new person to be welcoming. Sometimes we wish this part would just end quickly. There is a clear variety of ways to be present in this moment of worship.

What if you had to explain this event to a new person that had never really seen it before? I am having the joy and honor of speaking to new people about faith, and worship, and all that it means to be church. The work is both exciting and challenging.

Jesus comforts his followers in the gospel of John chapter 14. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you"..." The world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also shall live"...."peace I leave you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Peace means different things to different people. It could be the absence of war. Maybe it is the absence of chaos. Is it the quiet time in the house after the kids go to school? Is it the majestic silence after a blanket of snow covers the community and all activity comes to a halt? Is it surrender or is it control? One of the words used in the Hebrew language for peace is shalom which implies that peace is a wholeness - a harmony of body, mind, spirit, and emotion moving into safety, prosperity, and well-being. It even implies the existence of hope for wholeness for the individual, within societal relations, and for the whole world. The existence of shalom is the very movement toward fullness and wholeness.

When Jesus is comforting his followers and offering his peace as a gift, I imagine that the wholeness and fullness of God is being offered and that the disciples would rejoice in the movement toward the very perfection of harmony.

That said, is this what we are passing at the worship service every Sunday? Or is our activity more like a holy "hi, how are ya?" Where is this peace of Christ? Was I expected to bring the peace of Christ with me from home for distribution at church? What if I don't have the peace of Christ? Will I get it when I go to church? We only have 3 minutes to pass the peace during the service. Does that mean I need to either be lucky or strategic with the peace passers that I engage?

I believe that the scriptures are telling us that the peace of Christ is both of God and from God. More than that, I believe that the peace of Christ alone is reason enough to engage in worship. We have many states of being on Sunday morning (and on every other morning, for that matter) that are alternatives to the peace of Christ. Sadness, loneliness, dreadful, worried, ambitious, hungry, rejected, addicted, abused, successful, self-absorbed, proud, haggard, tired, and frustrated just to name a few. Are we more likely to enter the sanctuary with the peace of Christ or one of the many alternative states of being?

The fact is that the time we spend passing the peace is precious. First of all we have the opportunity to notice that we need, seek, and crave such a peace. We can reflect on the fact that there have been times (even briefly) when this peace has made itself known in our lives. If not, we might be willing to believe that such a peace could be known in our lives at any time. In some ways the passing of the peace can be experienced as a search for the holy wholeness of Christ in the community of the church. In some ways we are willing to pass and distribute the peace that we crave the most because we know that we can't just squirrel it away for a rainy day. Some of us are searching the sanctuary for the thing we need most as if it were a light flickering in a dark space. Some of us wait expectantly for the return of a welcome friend. And there is always the possibility that some of us have no idea what this strange tradition is all about.

Opening ourselves to accept and welcome the holy; this is the very meaning of worship. Shouldn't we come to our times of worship expecting to engage with God? When we pass the peace of Christ, we are acknowledging that this peace that is both of God and from God is accessible in this place. We have the intention of sharing this peace and we are willing to receive it from any source in which it dwells. We acknowledge that God is so loving that we do not need to protect ourselves from God; but rather, we open ourselves to the God that makes us whole and moves us toward fullness and harmony.

That's right says Jesus, "my peace I give you."

In the spirit of self-examination, do we have room to re-engage with the meaning of passing of the peace of Christ? Are we ready to ask ourselves if we have been practicing the churchy version of a Walmart greeting? Are we hungrier than we thought for the peace that Jesus promised us? Are we ready to give it away?

The Peace of Christ is among us. The promises of Jesus are true. May this Peace be yours today.

Enjoy God

pg