The Gift of Peace

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27) 

     Frederick Buechner reminds us that "in Hebrew peace, shalom, means fullness, having everything you need to be wholly and happily yourself.”

    My fullness and happiness I leave with you, my fullness and happiness I give to you, not as the world gives...Jesus says this even as he knows what he is about to go through. Jesus says this knowing that the disciples have only had a short time to get that what the world has to offer is only temporary and can leave one wanting more.  But the peace of Jesus is long lasting and stronger than all that the world has to offer.

     Christ was born in a time of chaos; we can imagine that night; one with shepherds and angels, tired parents, a crowded inn, a cranky innkeeper and a barn full of animals making room for a much unexpected birth. 

     And speaking of birth, there is no reason to think that Mary delivered quietly.  Christ surely arrived a midst the groaning and pushing and eventual squalling that accompanies most births and yet in spite of the journey, fullness and happiness was surely felt that night.

     This was not only a collective peace, like the image we see on a Christmas card, this was personal.  This is a mother's peace, a father's peace, the peace of a king and a shepherd.

  This was and is personal, the world tries to offer us peace by distracting us with temporary solutions that appeal to our desire for quick fixes; something that can be bought or imitated.  The gift of peace Christ offers will be unique for each of us, we will  may have to journey through some chaos to recognize it and it may require a certain amount of courage and humility to accept it, but once we do....we will know it was so worth the ride.

   If each one of us found ourselves full and happy with whom we are there would be no need to create this fullness or happiness at the expense of another.