Monday, December 5, 2016

Monday, December 5, 2016
John 14: 25 – 30

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.
John14: 27

Like so many other aspects of our lives, peace comes in a variety of ways, shapes and even colours. It has a number of interpretations depending on the situation in which it is sought or given. From the Hebrew, we get “shalom”, a familiar greeting; from the Greek, a sense of “concord”. One commentary suggests that when one experiences peace there is a feeling of completeness, soundness, even neighbourliness, well-being and security; the reward of a sound mind stayed on God. Peace is also linked with honest dealing and true justice.

In today’s world many of us struggle to find even elements of peace in any of it may interpretations; war, strife, violence, disease, racism, injustice, poverty, corporate greed, negative politics often overwhelm me. It is hard to hold on to the words of the psalmist “I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.” Psalm 4:8 We exist on so many levels; and the presence or absence of peace often has a different impact on each of those levels. We may have some peace within ourselves, but it is often ravaged by the lack of peace we sense in those whose situations are so different from ours.

And then we come to Advent . . . . to be reminded yet again of the unending source from which we can draw:

“. . . a child has been born for us,

a son given to us,

authority rests upon his shoulders

and he is named . . .

Prince of Peace.”

 Isaiah 9: 6

– Mary L. (Bunny) Stewart