Calm Yourself, And Live A Life Of Peace [Sunday News (Lancaster, PA)]

One of my favorite places to pray is in a grove of trees at the corner of our church's property. More than 80 years ago, a bandshell was built in the grove. Last year, we converted the bandshell into a place for prayer open to the community. Recently, I was sitting on one of the gliders in the prayer grove, asking the Lord for clarity on the mission he has for our church. The Holy Spirit whispered this thought: "What do you see?"

I looked up. I could hear a bird rustling in the shrubs just behind me. More birds were twittering in the treetops. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves - most still on the branches, others drifting along the grass. Autumn sun filtered through the trees. No cars, no farm equipment in the fields - just rows of corn nearly ready for harvest. The church steeple, topped by its cross, pointed into the cloudless blue sky. I pushed the glider gently.

"I see peace," I said.

The Spirit replied: Offer them peace.

We live in a rushed and stressed world - schedules maxed out, multitasking, running from one appointment to another commitment, from jobs to doctors to kids' sports practices. We're worried about keeping jobs and affording health insurance and being able to live in retirement.

We grab breakfast on the way out the door while hustling the kids to the bus stop. We get lunch in the drive-through and eat on the road. While we're driving, we keep glancing down to check texts and email on the smartphone. If we're lucky, we eat dinner together. If not, we graze while shuttling the kids to soccer practice or gymnastics. The rest of the evening, we have the laptop balanced on our knees, working through the TV's background noise. We go to bed late and drag ourselves out of bed early. And then we start all over again.

What do we need? Peace. God's peace.

In the Hebrew Bible, the word translated "peace" is shalom. This is not only the absence of conflict, but the healing and transforming presence of God. Shalom means wholeness, health, harmony and right relationship with God and neighbor. In the New Testament's Philippians 4:7, Paul describes this as the "peace of God, which transcends all understanding."

It's this holistic peace that the Spirit says the church should offer to the world. The kind of peace that only comes when broken, hurting people have been reconciled to the God of infinite love and compassion. And that reconciliation happens through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Offer them peace. I wondered why the message I heard wasn't: Offer them salvation. Perhaps that's because the two gifts are intertwined. We can't have God's peace until we have the assurance that our sins are forgiven, that God has unilaterally signed a peace treaty with our inner rebel, that we have been moved from death to life through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Having been reconciled to God, we can live in everlasting shalom.

As Jesus said to his disciples (John 14:27), "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Peace, shalom, was Christ's gift to his disciples as he prepared for the close of his earthly ministry, and it is his gift to the church and the world today.

But before a church can offer shalom, it needs to model shalom.

Followers of Jesus need peace in our own hearts and relationships of shalom with each other. That's not always a given. We've all heard stories about, or experienced, church conflict. Battles in the church often are even uglier than the ones outside the church.

We just finished a series of messages at our church on "acceptable sins," the sins of the heart and attitude that don't seem to be as bad as the more obvious sins - sexual immorality, violence, murder. But God doesn't grade on the curve, so judgmentalism, condemnation, gossip, complaining, pride and anger are just as serious as the obvious sins.

Often, it's these sins of the heart that disturb shalom and create division in the church. And that harms our testimony about Jesus. Who's going to believe that Jesus is the Prince of Peace when his people are at each other's throats?

We had guests at church last Sunday, a couple who come to visit when they are in the area. The wife noted before the service that she senses an amazing peace when she walks onto the church grounds.

That's shalom.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Helen Colwell Adams is a staff writer. She is also pastor of Stehman Memorial United Methodist Church in Manor Township. Contact her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com.

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