If then you have been raised up with Christ,
keep seeking the things above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth.
For you have died
and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
But now, put all these things aside:
anger, wrath malice, slander,
and abusive speech from your mouth.
As those who have been chosen of God,
holy and beloved,
put on a heart of compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness,
and patience, bearing with one another,
and forgiving each other --
Beyond all these things
put on love,
which is the perfect bond of unity.
Let the PEACE of Christ
rule in your hearts,
to which also you were called
in one body;
and be thankful.
(selected verses from Colossians 3)
For He Himself is our peace,
who made both opposing groups into one,
and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
thus establishing PEACE,
reconciling them both in one body to God
through the cross.
He came and preached peace
to you who were far away,
and peace to those
who were near.
(from Ephesians 2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had never thought of peace as a calling before. Jesus died on the cross to make a truce, not only between God and humans, but also between various groups of humans that had previously been in conflict with each other: Jews and Gentiles, masters and slaves, men and women, one nation and another. He sacrificed His body, and then called out to us: "Be at peace with each other! My death will transform you into people who love instead of people who hate!"
Do you hear Jesus calling us to peace right now, when the world is screaming war? I don't want to listen to the angry mobs that insist I hate someone. It is so, so much harder to love.
We are the body of Jesus, a strange and wonderful, miraculous unity of people who used to hate each other. We are bound together with the glue of love. Peace is our calling.
5 comments:
Peace and unity. Are they connected?
I really admire the sentiment expressed in your post. You are right - peace should be the goal. And sadly for the last 4 years peace was the default choice in the form of no real consequences for the words and actions in our leadership.
At some point, however, consequences must be a choice otherwise we will loose our lovely democracy to the whims of those with violence and self interest only at their hearts. If you don’t stand up at some point for what is right - you end up with the ugly assault we witnessed this week on our Capital that ended in the deaths of 5 people. Both sides of this current divide must want peace and compromise to make it work, and we didn't have that with the current leadership in the White House.
Actions and words have consequences in a civilized society, and finally - both sides of this divide between the political parties are beginning to see that. This assault on our Capital cannot go unanswered.
So true. If you have a few minutes, you should watch Ryan’s sermon from this morning. He spoke much of the same. Our church is on Facebook, and at some point it will be on YouTube. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Claire
Wonderful passages for any time. Thank you, Mary Kathryn.
Yes, peace is our calling! What a wonderful reminder. I felt comforted by those words. So sorry to hear of all the awfulness going on in your country.
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