RIP

Guess the word from the letters below.

(Picture 1 is taken from my Facebook profile, 2 from this link quoting Shaun of the Dean and Leon, and 3 and 4 from clip art on MS Office 2007; Game design adapted from a game by Heyzap games). Answer: me sleeping peacefully, Japanese peace lilly, piece of a puzzle, rest in peace.

In Islamic culture a common greeting is 'Assalamu alaikum' or 'peace be upon you'; in Judaism, 'shalom', also meaning 'peace', is used like we say hello; yet in Western culture peace rarely enters our vocabulary. In my old church we carried on a tradition called 'the peace'; it's a time where the vicar says 'the peace of the Lord be always with you', and we responded 'and also with you', then went around the church nervously shaking hands with anyone that makes eye contact with you saying 'peace be with you'. I want to say that this ritual was good practice, even if it was a bit awkward for me, and that we have something to learn from the greetings of our Jewish and Islamic brothers and sisters. It would seem that peace is a word used only at funerals - 'Rest In Peace', and I don't think I can wait until I am dead to experience peace. 

In the gospel of John, Jesus talks to His disciples about peace. He speaks about peace mostly during the conversations he has with them at the last supper, and then after His resurrection. To emphasise the situation, Jesus knew He was going to die at the last supper. This was a chat with the twelve people who'd been following Him for three years on the night before he would be executed in the most horrific way - not the most peaceful of times. After He rose from the dead He knew the disciples would be persecuted (Jn 16:33) (killed in fact for following Him - again not peaceful ), and He usually wishes them peace just after He'd reappeared to them as a greeting (Jn 20:19, 20:21, 20:26)  (AGAIN, peace is not the usual response to seeing a friend again who died on a bloody cross). 

In particular in John 14 Jesus could have spoken about many things the night before He temporarily left His disciples - things we wonder about today, but instead He mentioned peace in this chapter. Jesus has just told His disciples that He is going to die, and go to heaven, but He will send the Holy Spirit to be with them forever. Rooted into this context is verse 27

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid".

The peace that Jesus talks about is a peace that does not depend on circumstances, You don't need to be in a luxurious five star hotel in Barbados to be at peace, but Jesus is leaving His peace on a people who are about to be bereaved and scattered. Peace is something that is accessible at any point in the knowledge that God is with us. The world teaches us that there is something we need to do to be at peace, but Jesus gives us His peace. It strikes me that I do not need to be dead to RIP, and I do not need to be at Rest to be In Peace. If we could not find peace, and were destined to be stressed and overwhelm, then Jesus wouldn't've bothered telling His disciples (and us) that He would give them peace. We can access His peace, which goes beyond the things that might trouble our hearts and cause us to fear.

keep calm and carry on

I finish by quoting the words of Paul to the Philippian church (Philippians 4:4-7), which he wrote as he was imprisoned for the faith, and uncertain on his sentence:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God guide

peace be with you
xSx

Update:

Since starting this blog I became a Counsellor. You can read more on blog on subjects like Therapy at:

 www.simonslistening.co.uk