Blessings: The Things that Make for Peace
Advent 2
Dear Ones,
As I sit in my chilly office to write, it’s Tuesday, the 10th day in the Christian season of Advent.
Creche … candlelight … frost. Early morning peace, just a little below 0.
Those of you who were in church on Sunday may well have lit the candle of Peace, which is a common focus on the second Sunday of Advent. It makes sense, of course: the call to seek peace ~ to BE peace ~ is all over the place in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures (and also throughout the Quran as I understand it, though I confess that I am far less conversant with the scriptures of our Muslim siblings).
I’m guessing both of these calls to peace are familiar to many, for instance:
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
and
Micah 4:3
He shall judge between many peoples
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more
Of course, it’s often far easier to speak of peace than it is to commit to peace, and among the Hebrew prophetic writings, there’s at least one warning against those who hide behind the language of peace while allowing for or even committing atrocities:
Jeremiah 6: 14
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
But what, really, are the things that make for the kind of peace that abides? Yes, peace implies an absence of war, but I am drawn to an even broader understanding of the word. Peace, as in both the Hebrew-language notion of Shalom and the Arabic Salaam is that sense of well-being, or of wholeness which includes but is not limited to the absence of war or violence.
Tristan and I went to the lovely Sing Nowell! concert the other night, and one of the highlights for me was the song “We Wish You Travelers Well,” written by Laurel Swift. Laurel, who lives locally but hails from Sheffield, England, explained that she had written it some years ago during an uptick of anti-immigrant policies and ugliness in the UK. She said that, in light of everything that weary immigrants and refugees were besieged with on a day to day basis, she wanted to help make it known that some Brits were in fact on the side of openness and welcome. Here’s the chorus of Laurel’s sweet song:
Our voices ring up and down the street,
and we all sing … we all sing:
“Welcome all, welcome all; come join our festive cheer!”
For we wish you travelers well, we wish you travelers well,
and a safe passage home, wherever home is now, this winter night.
And the simplicity of the song started to work on my spirit from the very moment of singing it. “We wish you travelers well.” It’s as simple as that.
As simple as that, and as challenging: as a contemplative, I stand with Father Greg Boyle and so many of the mystics before him of many faith traditions, who insist on the inherent, unshakable goodness of all of creation, and of all people ~ which may sound foolishly soft the first time you hear it. I’m here to tell you, though: this is a rigorous position to take given the state of our world, in which so very many people who have power use it for their own gain and to the detriment of others. If I were to act on pure emotion, I can think of many people I would struggle to wish well, frankly. I can even give you some examples off the top of my head: people and powers who order deadly strikes on noncombatants, and those who appease those leaders … people who authorize and carry out the terrorizing of neighborhoods in our country and elsewhere … people who mock the vulnerable … people who endanger children, and those who enable that behavior … all of these are people that I don’t even really want to wish well.
On the other hand, it seems wise to note that if those people were truly well … if they were living with deep Shalom, with healed wholeness and wellness … they could not carry out the very acts that make me want to wish them ill. Does that make sense? Well people don’t order commit second strikes. Well people don’t tear families apart. Well people don’t seek outrageous wealth at the expense of vulnerable populations. Well people aren’t motivated by hidden (or not so hidden) racism, misogyny, transphobia, or any other hatreds. That kind of behavior would be impossible for a person who has the deep peace of true wellness going on within their spirits.
And so at my best, I wish even those travelers well. I wish them the kind of deep wellness that will mean that they can only treat others with dignity and compassion.
What would it be like to wish one another well, without exception? Could it be that that will be the quiet way in which peace is born?
Beloved being, throughout this week of Advent Peace, I wish you well.
May you live without fear, in the absence of violence and harm.
May you dwell in beauty, may you float on kindness, may you exude compassion.
May wellness ~ Shalom, Salaam, Peace ~ fill your vessel to overflowing, so that it floods the world, overwhelming all hatreds and hurts.
Amen.
In the spirit of Advent peace,