Peace Be With You

Peace Be With You

By April McQueen

What does peace look like?  Is it a soft, easy existence, like peace of mind, or more physical, like hard-earned financial rewards, wealth, and comfort for all of one’s days?  Is it steadfast or fluid?  Something to hold on to, or, for the charitable person, something to give away or leave behind?  Can peace even be bought or seized?

 Can peace be elusive?  When you are just about to grab it, does it slip between your fingers, beyond your grasp?  And before you know it, your temporary peace escaped.  You are losing it, your peace, that is, and you’ve slipped between the Christian social cracks.   We have to move on as time marches on.   The other parts of the service that follow push us forward, eliminating the chance to linger at any one part too long.   Peace is important.  But we have to keep it moving.  There are groceries to buy; restaurants to visit; laundry to do.  It’s the weekend after all.

Is peace an artificial exchange between church strangers because that is part of the service, or the sigh of relief when you realize that you don’t have to  carry your burdens alone?  That’s peace, too.

Peace can be a hip greeting or goodbye or a 2000 year old ritual.  But is it enough to make solitary ones feel less inclined to be reclusive?   Could a visitor ease into the peace exchange and exit more connected, even if it is a momentary illusion of shallow community?  Performance is expected and encouraged with waves, signs, and the word “peace” on our lips but being the body of Christ is far from our minds.

Peace is an opposite to war, to noise, and to chaos.  Peace can be shared without really fully meaning it, allowing yourself to fake it til you make it.  Few take it further and share it with the world or by how they live their lives. 

Is it more than a cool religious ritual, however?  Is it a small part of a trifecta of heart, mind, and spirit?  Is it a dying fire’s ashes for those who feel locked out of love and empty of faith?  It has meaning; it has its place: accepted, rejected, or barely even thought of for about two tepid minutes out of a sixty minute long service.  

Does peace require such little effort to make a statement, reside in a known gesture, or mean more than a half-hearted reminder?  Are churchgoers more than merely prompted but encouraged to pass it on, in spirit and in truth, beyond lifted arms, bowed heads, or church walls?  For those who seriously practice the faith, a sign of peace is more like radical religion.  Invitation or obligation, the choice is yours.