Beatitudes: Happy are people who make peace because they will be called God’s children.

Happy are people who make peace
because they will be called God’s children. 

Matthew 5:9

Jerimiah 6:14

They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
    when there is no peace.

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!

We cry for peace!
But there is no peace, unless
Peace is found within.
HAIKU

At such a time as this in our country and in the world, we may well wonder, Whatever happened to peace?  It seems the forces arrayed against having peaceable societies are so overwhelming that hope is all but gone.  We lament with Jerimiah from the Hebrew scriptures that serious wounds in society are dismissed, and “peace” is declared as if saying so makes it so.  Where are the peacemakers?  Where do I find peace?  Is there even peace within me as I react to what is going on around me?

What is peace, after all?

This topic can be addressed at so many levels that it is beyond the scope of a single book, let alone a short blog such as this.  What is often translated as “peace” from the Hebrew scriptures is from the word “shalom,” which has a broad and deep meaning.  It is not simply the absence of conflict and war, but refers to the well-being of a society, in which people live together in harmony, with compassion, taking care of those in need -- the “orphans, widows, and foreigners.”  The constitution of the U.S. expresses the same sense in its preamble: “… to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessing s of liberty….”  This is shalom or peace at the national level.

In additional to the societal level, we may distinguish other arenas of peace – the environmental, the interpersonal, and the intrapersonal peace that lies within.

Given the breadth of the topic, I will only dip my toe in at the doorway of inner peace, in the conviction that peace in the world is possible only when there is a critical mass of people who are bearers of deep peace within.

Inner Peace

Personally, I am having some trouble with inner peace nowadays given the turmoil at the national level.  Is it possible to be at peace inwardly when so much is awry in the nation?  When with just one or two degrees of separation I am connected to ones who have been thrown out of jobs, deprived of lawful benefits, kidnapped, “disappeared” and deported without due process?  Is it possible to be at peace within when there is no peace without?

The answer to this depends, I think, on what we understand to be “inner peace.”  St. Julian of Norwich (14th century English mystic) is often quoted as writing “All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well.”  Yet this conviction came to her at a time when the black plague was raging in Europe, people were dying in droves, and fear stalked the land. 

Julian must be referring to something that runs deeper.  I liken it to the deep waters of the ocean which flow at a steady constant pace even when the surface waters may be raging in a typhoon.  Inwardly, it is a sense we may feel of being deeply grounded, having solid spiritual, psychological and relational footing beneath us.  It is a sense of centeredness, not being blown off point by the winds and currents swirling around.  Inner peace is at the same time an openness to what has never been before, to the new, the surprising.  And, importantly, it is a deep hopefulness that exists at a cellular level despite what is going on around.

At the heart of this peace is the experience of being loved, the felt conviction that at the center of the universe love is the driving force that creates and animates all.  This force is called by many names; for me “God” is the word I use for this Unnamable One.  Inner peace, then, is generated within us to the extent we are in touch with this loving source.  Ultimately it is a gift we receive, not something we can generate within us by our own efforts.  Nevertheless, we can cultivate the conditions for recognizing and receiving this gift through our spiritual practices.  These practices are those things we do to sharpen our attention, expand awareness, release defensive barriers, and wait with patience and trust.  Examples include journaling, prayer practices such as lectio divina and centering prayer, yoga or other meditative body practices, study of sacred writings, and connecting with others in sacred communities.

Is Cultivating Inner Peace Just Escapism?

The inner and the outer are inextricably related.  Yes, there can be an escapism to an inner world that blinds us to what is going on around us.  I would not call this prayer, or the resulting inner experience one of peace.  “Numbness” might be the appropriate word.  But when we truly connect with Love, it expands us, connects us, and drives us out into the world of action.  Trust and peaceableness give us courage to act.  And the love that undergirds us gives us the wisdom to discern what those actions might be.  We come to rest in the conviction that being faithful to Love is in the long run (and that long run may run beyond the span of our individual lives) what brings peace in the outer world as well.

The starting place for being a peace maker, then, is to be at peace within.  A strange peace, perhaps, not the “peace” the world gives.  But a peace that can live inside and beyond the tensions and conflicts – even the violence and wars – that rage in the world at large.

How, then, is a peace maker a “child of God”?

As we have considered the Beatitudes in this series of blogs there may perhaps be seen a thread of a journey into the realm (“kingdom”) of God.  With peace-making we finally arrive at the place of being fully within and in tune with this realm.  We have become more and more fully in alignment with the nature of this divine realm.  The Hebrew scriptures assert that we have been created “in the image and likeness” of God.  Becoming peace makers is growing into this “likeness” more and more fully.  So, when we become “like” God in this way, we are deemed to be sons and daughters – children – of God.  We act from and in accordance with the nature of God’s realm, which is a realm built upon and of love. 

A Personal Story

As I said at the beginning, I am finding it hard in these current times to find inner peace.  What is happening in the nation and world around me disturbs me, stirs up anger, cultivates a judgementalism within me that I experience but do not like.  Peace, peace, but there is no peace, within or without.  Still, what I know is that I must continue to be aware and practice in such ways as to cultivate inner peace so that my outer actions may be consistent with the peaceable kingdom, may be guided by the power that is Love.  This is really hard to do at times, yet knowing it is the only true way of responding, I seek to recognize my reactivity and move to loving response-ability.

Pause and Reflect

o   Think of someone whom you would deem to be an exemplar of a “peace maker.”  What are the core qualities such a person exhibits in their life?

o   In what ways do you experience inner peace, and how do you cultivate it?

o   When you are truly at peace within yourself, how are your outer actions shaped by this stance?

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