PASSING THE PEACE

One of the goals of our ministry is to teach the importance and skill of “passing the peace.” We want our residents to not only receive peace but be able to give it.

In liturgical churches, there is an ancient tradition called passing the peace where the priest exclaims in a loud voice, “The peace of the Lord be always with you!” and the people respond, “And also with you!” Parishioners then start shaking each other’s hands, hugging one another, and saying “Peace be with you. And also, with you.” Originally (and in some cultures still today), members exchanged a “kiss of peace.” In lower (less ritualized and formally structured) churches, this practice has taken shape into the “meet and greet” time that typically follows the song service.

At the heart of this practice—however it is conducted—are the Christian values of reconciliation, unity, and forgiveness. It is a time when congregants extend goodwill to one another, mirroring God’s love and kindness. Jesus himself, the Prince of Peace, greeted his disciples with the words “Peace be with you” (Lk. 24:36; Jn. 20:19, 26) as did St. Paul in the opening of many of his letters to various congregations (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2). Passing the peace embodies a Christ-follower’s central identity—that of a peacemaker (Mt. 5:7; 2 Cor. 5:20)—and trains hearts, hands, feet, and lips in the ways of peace.

The passing of the peace serves as a tangible reminder that we are one body in Christ, intimately related and connected to one another, and called to extend grace. It is practice for enfleshing the pinnacle of all that Jesus commanded, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (Jn. 11:34-35).

We are living in a day when evil is on full display. We might wish for a return to the “good ole days” when school-yard fights and family in-law squabbles seemed to be the extent of our interpersonal troubles, but that time has long passed. Our age is one rife with hostility on every front. Our nation as a whole is bleeding. Political polarization. Heated gender and sexuality tensions. Generational divides. Social and cultural dissension. Church factionalism. From cancel culture to assassination culture. From vindictive rhetoric to outright dismissal of persons. Savagery and brazen hatred are celebrated, even lauded as virtuous. Satan is definitely working overtime.

It is in this very climate that the people of Christ are called to shine as a light in a darkened place through “passing the peace.” Those who have been born again are new creations, given both new appetites and longings for true peace along with new power and resolve to join with God in his peace-making mission. They are transformed into agents of reconciliation and given both the message and ministry of reconciliation (see 2 Cor. 5:16 ff.). At the core, to be a Christian is to be a peacemaker, or one cannot claim the title. It is that simple. To be a Christian is to be committed to the “other’s” safety, security, needs, rights, future, inclusion, . . . reconciliation.

Peace-making starts in the home and at one’s office, school, plant, and neighborhood.

Passing the peace means learning first to get along with our spouse. Modeling kindness and self-control to our children. Deferring to our colleagues. Keeping a tight reign on our tongue with our friends. Paying our bills. Maintaining our yard. Calling our dad. Sending a thank-you card to a teacher. If we cannot get it right on our own beachhead, how can we have any hope of success on a broader scale? Even more, if we cannot get along as the family of God, then we concede to a polarized world, “We are no different than you. Christ is ineffectual to unite us in our differences.”

Of course, all this chatter about peace is more than smiling at and fist-bumping others. It is more than uttering a few pleasantries and well-wishes to the couple living two doors down on your evening walk or decrying the injustices of systemic racism in our country on social media from the comforts of your couch. Passing the peace is hard, costly, personal work. It demands proximity, engagement, time, patience, listening, empathy, humility, truth, forgiveness, courage, commitment, restitution, prayer, and quite likely some confession and repentance of our own. Passing the peace might even cost your life. It did Jesus.

Passing the peace does not equal avoidance and refusing to confront another. It does not mean appeasing or condoning or consensus. Nor is it to be equated with never disagreeing. It is not “peace at any price.” As Christ-followers, we will inevitably have to take unpopular stands and say things that will not coincide with conventional wisdom. Loving as we might be, peace may not be possible with everyone as the Apostle Paul indicated (Rom. 12:18). Jesus himself said that he did not come to bring peace but a sword, that he had come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother so that a person’s enemies would be those of his own household (Mt. 10:34-37). Conflict came with Christ’s coming. That said, we are to never seek conflict but to do all we can legitimately to live at peace with all men.

The apostle also made it clear that it is never in our prerogative to take revenge upon those who reject us and speak evil of us because of our alignment with Christ. That is God’s right alone (Rom. 12:19). One of the chief marks of Christ’s kingdom is non-violence. Christ-followers are called to die for rather than kill their enemies. Allegiance to Christ entails partnering with Jesus in his peace-passing mission by taking up our own cross, denying ourselves of various rights (e.g., the right to be heard and understood, the right to a fair “trial,” the right to being respected, etc.), and following Jesus to those he dearly loves but are estranged from him.

It is okay—in fact, right—to grieve and mourn the world as we experience it. Things are not as they should be or were meant to be. There is much confusion, pain, fear, and violence. But we do not weep and lament as those without hope. God is on the move–healing, redeeming, and bringing all things together under the lordship of his Son Jesus Christ. This is not a time to sulk or retreat. We are situated between Christ’s first and second coming. As such, we live with anticipation of how the story ends. Human history is heading toward a fantastic climax–the promised invasion of God resulting in the renewal of all things. God will take all that is awful and make it wonderfully good. Heaven will kiss earth. We are not stuck on a planet of never-ending evil, trapped in a cycle of despair and bondage. It is this hope which fuels us, keeps us sane, and informs our responses.

So, let us drop our swords, start passing the peace, and die some small deaths every day as we endeavor to become the gospel of peace in a divided world separated from Abba Father.

Maybe the place to begin is by doing the dishes in our own kitchen.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. (St. Francis of Assisi, 1181—1226)