The Peace of Shalom

sermon meditation by Carrie Eikler
Luke 6:27-36, John 15:1-17, Leviticus 25:8-17
Heritage Series 5: Peace

As many of you know, we are preparing for our Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in Richmond next week, where the highlight of the gathering will be to celebrate 300 years of our denomination. As I have been thinking of peace, I have wondered what response I would get if I randomly stopped people milling about the booths, sitting down to an insight sessions, or avoiding the business sessions, and asked them: “What does the Church of the Brethren believe about peace?” My hunch is, that no matter whether the person agreed or disagreed with the official church position, the majority of people would say something along the lines of two answers. “We are a historic peace church,” and “We believe all war is sin.”

Both answers would be, inherently, correct. The Church of the Brethren, along with the Mennonite Church, and the Religious Society of Friends (known as the Quakers), are the three historic peace churches. This isn’t to say that other denominations don’t believe in peace, but throughout the existence of these three traditions, what has been at the heart of our theology and our identity is that Jesus Christ came to bring the world a gospel of peace, to bring an alternative to violence, to renew the earth in peace. This has been our understanding from the beginning. So, yes, we are a historic peace church.

The second answer, “all war is sin” is a more modern interpretation of our peace position. In 1934, in the shadow of the war to end all wars, WW1, and at the doorstep of the “good war,” WW2, Brethren found the need to solidify their understanding of peace in relation to world events. From this came the often-quoted Annual Conference statement professing “All war is sin. It is wrong for Christians to support it or engage in it.” From that, the rest of the 20th century shows a shift in the Brethren from an early tendency to merely withdraw from conflict (to abstain from war itself) to becoming increasingly concerned with the responsibility to join others in the effort to prevent war through social action.

Historic peace church. All war is sin. The two common responses. But I have to wonder. Are we satisfied simply being a “historic peace church?” Too often I feel we revel in this comfortable badge of honor, letting it distinguish us from all those other churches. Why don’t we speak of being a living peace church? And does it seem all too often that our focus on peace comes out as simply being anti-war knee-jerk reaction?

Many in our tradition are beginning to wonder…if we are to be more than simply a historic peace church, like some sort of quaint relic of an idealistic community gone by, then perhaps we have to rethink what it is we mean by the word “peace.” What did Jesus mean when he spoke of peace? What did the Hebrew prophets mean?

Many of us are familiar with the word Shalom. Shalom is the Hebrew word that is often translated into peace. It is the word the prophets would have used. It is very similar to the word Jesus used in his spoken language of Aramaic. Shalom is the word for peace, but also means nothing missing, nothing broken, well being, and complete (Strong’s Concordance). Shalom is wholeness. Shalom means we are not at war, not only with our geo-political enemy, but with ourselves, with our loved ones and those less-than-loveable ones. It means we are not enslaved to our weakness or strengths. Shalom means that we are one with our God. Shalom. Peace. Shalom. Wholeness.

I think it is Shalom that will move us into the future as a vibrant, living peace church. Shalom will keep us from reacting against violence, but engaging the causes of violence, especially within ourselves. Shalom will move us beyond chanting “war is not the answer” and urge us to kneel with others in humility and say “with God’s guidance, we must find the answer.”

If we examine scripture with open eyes, and with a broader sense of peace we will see God’s shalom bursting through the pages, the stories, the mandates. Today we will explore three dimensions of God’s shalom: first we will explore how shalom encompasses our relationship with our creator-our Spiritual Wholeness; then we will look at how it challenges our relationships with the other- Interpersonal Peace; and finally we will confront God’s shalom insistence that we embrace economic justice, calling us to equity, and—Proclaiming Jubilee.

So today as we look at peace, we will scrape the surface of shalom through scripture, song, and the insights of others. And to guide our way, we will light the lamp of peace. Let us pray that the depth and breadth of Christ’s shalom will flicker in each one’s heart, spirit, and imagination this day.