Someone has vandalized the shalom. How do we know? Things are not the way they are supposed to be. To be more specific, before Christ, we are not the way we are supposed to be. Paul, who found peace in Christ, wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus, reminding them that the Lord had given them peace with God and each other, through his own death. Then he urged them to make every effort to live in unity through the bond of peace. What will we do with the peace we have found in Christ? Please pass it. Message based on Ephesians 2:14-18 and 4:3.
Quotes:
Cornelius Plantinga: Somebody has vandalized the Shalom.
Thomas Merton: We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
Cornelius Plantinga: In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.
Duane Brooks: Jesus is our peace. Psalm 34 tells us to pursue peace. The good news is peace is pursuing us.
Duane Brooks: Christ alone can move us from alienation to reconciliation: we cannot be right with others if we are not right with God. Christ’s peace is available and transmissible.
Rich Mullins: Surrender don’t come natural to me. I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than take what you give and I need. I’ve beaten my head against so many walls. So hold me Jesus, ‘cause I’m shaking like a leaf. You have been king of my glory won’t You be my Prince of Peace?
Tish Warren: In the Anglican liturgy the passing of the peace comes after confession and absolution, on the heels of our reminder that we are forgiven.This too is no coincidence. Our forgiveness and reconciliation flow from Christ’s forgiveness of us. Out of gratitude over the enormous debt our king has forgiven, we forgive our debtors. Receiving God’s gift of reconciliation enables us to give and receive reconciliation with those around us. In the end, God is the peacemaker. It is not simply “peace” that we pass to each other. It is the peace of Christ, the peace of our peacemaker.
St Francis of Assissi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
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