Passing the Peace

In almost every United Church of Canada, which includes churches in Bermuda, by the way, at some point in the service, there will be a moment where someone says, “Peace be with you,” and those who’ve attended at least a few times before, will respond, “And also with you.”  Some churches have the right-side pew sitters stand and say it to the left-side pew sitters and vice versa.  Some bow with hands folded like they are ending a yoga class, a practice that became popular after Covid.  Some wave.  Some shake hands, like at a Rotary or Toastmaster’s Club.  Some say it in sign language, where the word peace is made with two actions, “turning” and “stillness”.  Some churches only do it at communion, some do it every Sunday to start the service, some do it at the end of every service, some vary their practice from week to week.  Of course, it’s not just the United Church, many denominations do this as part of their worship.  And it comes from the first Resurrection appearance as described by John.  Jesus pops up like a magical Dr coming out of a police box in the middle of a living room, astonishing everyone.  Except Thomas of course, who proceeded to sulk and grumble because he was left out and thought they had gone off their collective rockers!

One of our former moderators, Richard Bott, described the scene with Thomas like this: “I have to wonder how long he politely smiled at the other disciples, nodding his head, thinking, “Yeah. Right. Grief. Does strange things to a body, eh?” How long did he listen to the disciples tell the story of what they experienced, over and over – “What were you doing when he appeared?” “Oh, I was playing dice with Peter – had won him taking over dish washing duty for a week!” “Yeah, I was just staring out the window, bored silly, when I heard the commotion.” “Didn’t he look great?” “For having been crucified, he looked amazing!” and on and on… until [Thomas] finally had to say, “Ok. Stop it! I don’t know what you’re up to, but until I can see him… no – until I can touch the wounds the spikes made in his wrists and put my hand on the side where they speared him, I just can’t believe you!”  Then he gets his wish.

“Turn to Stillness, all you stressed disciples,” Jesus commanded Thomas and the others.  Not an easy thing to do then, and still not easy to do given everything that is happening in the world today.  There’s a new war in the Middle East and an old one in Ukraine.  There’s angry rhetoric between separatists and non-separatists.  Cuba is in crisis. The price at the pumps and in the grocery stores doesn’t help. The odd weather we’ve been having where some places have three or more feet of snow while other places are worried about flooding and going from -20 to plus 10 in a matter of days, does not help.

It’s too much, and many people may think that peace is something we get when we block out the world, turn off the phone and hide under the bed covers, or maybe blast off into outer space.  That was not the peace the disciples got.  They were, except for Thomas, hiding from the world behind a locked door, afraid that the roman soldiers would be coming for them at any time.  Thomas was out and about, showing his face in public.  Was it bravery?  Was it despair, a desire to martyr himself because without Jesus, he felt there was no reason to live and hang what the Romans might do to him?  We’ll never know.  We do know that he was the one who wanted proof, who doubted the words of his community, who struggled to understand what Easter was about, and had the courage to name it out loud.  He wasn’t afraid to call out the elephant in the room. 

But he also didn’t have peace in his heart.  He had anger and defensiveness, and he knew he was right.  When people get entrenched in certainty that they are right, and the rest of the world is wrong, they can get locked into unhealthy attitudes and power struggles that also do not lead to peace.  Peace like that is what led to the crucifixion in the first place.  The Romans defined peace as something they were entitled to inflict on others through violence, what they called “Pax Romana” or state-sanctioned ability to prevent a lot of the freedoms we take for granted today, the right to freedom of speech, the right to protest what we see as unjust laws, the right to basic human needs including education and clean water.  Peace through authoritarianism was not what Jesus believed in, and saying so in public is one of the reasons why the religious and political leaders executed him.

“Peace be with you” is a gift that money can’t buy.  It’s a prayer that disrupts our moods, and our certainties.  It’s a call to remember our Christian commitment to compassion and justice. It’s a reminder that we are disciples inspired by Jesus, crucified and risen.  Let us turn to stillness now.  Take a deep breath.  [breathe] Take another, down to your belly button. [breathe] Then one more. Now let us pray, repeating after me:

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change

Grant us the courage to change the things we can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Grant us the serenity to accept the people we cannot change

The courage to change the people we can

And the wisdom to know the only person we can change is ourselves.

And let us remember to turn to stillness and pray that we give everyone we meet the gift of turning to stillness too.  Amen

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