Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. (John 14: 27)
We are surrounded by so much noise at the moment. It is the noise of war and conflict, the noise of competing political views, the noise of debate over right and wrong, and overwhelmingly the noise of human suffering.
Daily we hear of numbers of people killed and injured. These statistics reduce the reality of human suffering to a number. Somehow it is less confronting when each death is recorded in this way. Each one who dies has a name, a family story and dreams and hopes.
Let us remember that each death is tragic. Each is made in God’s image and each is a person for whom Christ gave his life.
In all this noise we as Christian people and communities find our perspective in prayer and quiet. The noise is a reality, so is the presence of God. As we take time to be still, to listen and to pray we build and live out our alternative to the noise.
We are promised by Jesus in John 14:27 that the peace that is given is not the peace of the ‘world’. We are invited to find a spiritual and heart-peace, and to live our lives out of this peace. It is not a peace that reduces us to silence. It is a peace that gives strength and depth to our voices, and what we say. In faith we will find new ways to advocate for peace and justice, ways that point to the goodness and grace of our God of peace.
The promise that Jesus helps us see, the one essential and distinctive element of Christian character, is the gift of ‘the peace of Jesus’ that is given to us.
Rev John Gilmore
NCCA President