A Possible Peace?

Is peace possible?

Come, children, and listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.  Who among you loves life and desires long life to enjoy prosperity?  Keep your tongue from evil-speaking and your lips from lying words.  Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. - Psalm 34:11-14

How would you define peace?

Is it the absence of war, or is it something onto itself, something tangible we can see and touch and experience?

The psalmist describes it as something we can pursue, something real, not imagined, not existing in a void of war or evil.

But why is it, then, that when we find examples of it, we fail to help it spread?  What is hold it back?

As a child I was taught to be kind and respectful of others, and that included those who were less than kind to me.  That's a tough thing for a kid to do, and it is even tougher for adults, people in authority, and heads of state.

We live in a time of deep turmoil, where respect for others is no longer an objective, if it ever was.  People actively seek to destroy one another, to shed blood and create fear.

Is peace possible in that type of world?

Without respect for one another, how can peace take hold?  From the streets of Istanbul and Paris to the South Side of Chicago, terror reigns.  Police and armies are powerless or ineffective against the mounting disrespect and pure hatred.

This coming July, the Episcopal Church will hold EYE17, an Episcopal Youth Event on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Edmond, OK.  The theme is Path to Peace.

According to Bronwyn Clark Skov, the Presiding Bishop's Staff Officer for Youth Ministry,  “Embracing this theme, the 2017 Episcopal Youth Event will focus on helping participants identify how they can engage peacemaking and reconciliation in their communities.”

The event will bring a focus on peacemaking to young people within the church communities, and it is part of an overall return to the Jesus Movement, a hands on, community-based involvement in the Gospel.

We might look at this small effort as a mere pebble in the ocean, but even the smallest ripple can have an effect, if we believe in God's involvement in the world.

The path to peace is probably not something we have tried before, but something very different, something from God.

So, as we begin this new year, we pray for all who have been victims of terrorism in all its ugly forms, and we lay foundations of hope for the future.  Let us not leave this up to our youth to tackle alone.

If peace is something we can find, then we all need to be looking for it.

More to come...