This is the season when we hear and use the word peace most frequently. Prayers, songs and drama echo the angelic chorus Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased (Luke 2 vs 14). When the God fearing Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and gave thanks to God, he felt a sense of ultimate fulfillment and prayed that the Lord might let him now depart in peace.
Peace, Shalom in Hebrew, is a greeting and a goodbye. Jesus and his disciples would greet each other with peace. Peace is also a gift to the world and a blessing on individual families and nations, we remember at this time the coming of the Prince of Peace.
But realistically peace has eluded us. Many of us are in the hustle and jostle of traffic, shopping, festivities and are giving little thought of what the time of peace and goodwill is all about. When we reflect on the world situation we realise there are still wars and rumours of wars, threats and oppression. The letters of the New Testament were not written in peaceful times. The early believers were victims of the powerful and wealthy the religious and political elite. Yet we find the writers offering their congregations blessings from the "God of Peace." Paul says God is "the source of all Peace" (Rom 16 vs 20). He tells his readers that God will give glory, honour and peace to all who do what is good, and reminds them that through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5 vs 1).
Paul's prayer to the church at Thessalonica is that "God who gives us peace make you holy in every way (1Thess 5 vs 23). But he admonishes them to "be at peace among yourselves." In his farewell address to the disciples Jesus promises them peace as his gift. "It is my own peace that I give you" (John 14 vs 27). Also he invites them to be united to him "so you will have peace" (John 16 vs 33). In the most desperate circumstances there can be inner peace. When Mother Theresa was at the Loreto School in India she saw the horrible results of religious violence and hatred on the streets of Calcutta.
It was in 1946 on a day afterwards called, The Day of The Great Killing, when she risked her life by going out on the street to beg for food for her 300 students. The soldiers stopped her, warned her, but gave her supplies. She trusted in providence in spite of the obvious absence of peace around. She possessed an inner peace that empowered her to take that risk for others. St Paul's prayer and benediction can be ours in situations of uncertainty and anxiety. "May the Lord Himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way" (2Thess Chap 3 vs 16).