living peace

I'm preparing my sermon for sunday. Jesus comes to his friends after the resurrection and his firsts words are "Peace be with you". After some reflection it has occurred to me that most often Peace is seen to be a symptom of other things. IF we stop fighting THEN there will be peace in our homes. If we spend time in silence then we will enjoy inner-peace. If world leaders find agreement and cease fire, then there will be peace - and end to war.

But what if Peace is not a symptom, but rather a Causal kind of thing?

What if it works the other way around? If World leaders were keen for peace, then the result (symptom) of that would be a cease-fire and an end to the war. If we longed for and chose peace as a primary value of our home life, then we would stop shouting and screaming at each other. If we really wanted inner-peace, we'd find ourselves much more comfortable with silence and rest.

We have assumed that we don't experience Peace because the circumstances aren't right - and when we rectify the circumstances, then we will be in a position to experience Peace. This leads to one of two reactions: Hopelessness, because the changes required to bring about the right circumstances for Peace to reign are just to great to achieve, OR a frenetic buzz of activity aimed at bringing the necessary changes to circumstances to achieve the desired result - i.e. Peace. Peace (supposedly) becomes a product of our frenetic activity. It seems we give up Peace in order to try and achieve it...

But Jesus says - "Peace be with you". It's as if he gives it - as a gift. He encourages us to start there - start living peacefully, being peaceful, making peace central to our way of living. If we receive the gift, we may be surprised to find that our peaceful way begins to influence and affect the circumstances of our lives. Bringing Peace into a home may affect the way we speak and relate to each other. Wanting Peace, more than power, may lead to responsible and wise political leadership - and an end to war. Peace is then, not a product of our achievement, but a gift and catalyst.

There is much talk about the quest for inner peace, but I wonder if inner peace can actually be distinguished from other kinds of peace in any meaningful way. Is it really possible to distinguish inner peace from "outer" peace? Perhaps what we are realising is that "inner" peace and "outer" peace are the same thing. When we live peaceably, without busy-ness and speak with kindness we will find inner peace - evidenced by silence and the freedom to rest. And when we rest and take time to be silent, we may find it possible to speak more kindly and to live with less frenetic activity.

Peace is then better understood as a catalyst, than as a product or a symptom. The measure of peace in our lives will not be only relative to the circumstances we find ourselves in, but more likely related to the level of longing and desire we have to live in the Peace - that is a gift of the Spirit...