Peace

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is arguably the most prominent city not only in the Middle East but also in the world. Its position is not because of its economic prosperity, massive manufacturing prowess or military might. Its prestige comes from its role in three world religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Since the 1967 War Israel has held disputed control of the city. At the urging of the surrounding Arab countries the United Nations has denounced the occupation of Jerusalem by Israel. This despite Israel moving its central government from Tel Aviv.

The nations of the world have refused to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. For the past 50 years they have maintained their embassies in Tel Aviv. This week our President decide to announce an end to this political dissonance. He first recognized Jerusalem as the capital city and then announced that all diplomatic offices would be moved to the city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it an “important step toward peace.” But One Palestinian, Hanan Ashrawi, declared that the peace process is finished.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/7/plo_leader_hanan_ashrawi_trumps_jerusalem

https://news.sky.com/story/palestinians-say-trumps-embassy-move-would-destroy-peace-process-11158596

Elusiveness of Peace

Peace in this world is an elusive process. One action, one incidental law can jeopardize years of negotiation. To a result oriented, make it happen man like our President, the process appears to be going no where. I do not say this as criticism but as description. Our President sees the world through one set of lens and he is very consistent. I use the current turmoil in the Middle East over our President’s decision to recognize Jerusalem to illustrate how elusive peace is for the secular world.

People seek peace talks between rebel groups in Africa and their government but the cease fire is often broken before the ink draws on the document. People seek peace by reaching for a more important job but with it comes longer hours in the office and headaches and ulcers. Couples seek peace through marriage counseling. They hope to end their strife and conflict but unless each person is willing to reduce their demands, stop insisting on their own way and affirm the other person’s ideas, they have little chance of reconciliation.

Saint Augustine had it right when he said, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you"

(Confessions, Book I, Chapter 1).

We cannot grasp the feeling of peace with our hands. We cannot insist on peace through a power of grab. True peace will escape us until our restless hearts begin to rest in God. Serenity cannot be granted by a diploma, a promotion, or a luxury sedan. It comes to us as a gift from God, and it includes forgiveness of sin and the restoration of our relationship with the Lord.

Our society is engaged in a feverish search for a feeling that is fleeting and unobtainable in through this material world. We hear of wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes, hurricanes and wild fires. We are in a frantic search for peace.

Our society is engaged in a feverish search for a feeling that is fleeting and unobtainable in through this material world. We hear of wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes, hurricanes and wild fires. We are in a frantic search for peace.

A tale is told of a band of inexperienced mountain climbers. Without guides, they struck recklessly into the wilderness. Suddenly a rocky ledge gave way beneath their feet and they were tumbled headlong into a dismal pit. In the darkness of the pit, they recovered from their shock, only to find themselves set upon by a swarm of angry snakes. Every crevice became alive with fanged, hissing things. For each snake the desperate men slew, ten more seemed to lash out in its place. Strangely enough, one man seemed to stand aside from the fight. When the indignant voices of his struggling companions reproached him for not fighting, he called back: If we remain here, we shall be dead before the snakes. I am searching for a way of escape from the pit for all of us.

Our world seems not unlike a pit of snakes. We did not sink into the pit in 1939, or even in 1933. We had descended into it generations ago, and the snakes have sent their venom into the bloodstream of humanity, gradually paralyzing us, numbing nerve after nerve, dulling our minds, darkening our vision. Good and evil, which were once as real as day and night, have become a blurred mist. In our everyday life we worshipped force, despised compassion, and obeyed no law but our unappeasable appetite. The vision of the sacred has all but died in the soul of man. And when greed, envy and the reckless will to power, the serpents that were cherished in the bosom of our civilization, came to maturity, they broke out of their dens to fall upon the helpless nations....

--Abraham Joseph Heschel, "The Meaning of This War," in Susannah Heschel, ed., Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996). The essay was written decades earlier. The war of which he is speaking is World War II.

The greatest task of our time is to take the souls of men out of the pit.

--Abraham Joseph Heschel, "The Meaning of This War," in Susannah Heschel, ed., Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996). The essay was written decades earlier. The war of which he is speaking is World War II.

We will never find our own way out of the pit. We are destined to battle the snakes until our Lord returns and brings in his Kingdom in its fulness and completeness. While the psalmist had visions of the the glorious state of David’s reign, his words “Restore us O God.” grasp longing on each of our hearts. We desire to have a fresh renewed relationship with God restored. Once in which we feel his peaceful presence.

The Psalm

“

The psalmist only gives us a hint as to the circumstances for composing the poetry. The selection of the word restore suggests that the nation of Israel once enjoyed a time of God’s blessing and peace. The favor of God was lost due to systemic sin that infected the soul of the nation. God responded by punishing the nation through military defeats, a slump in the economic fortunes of the country or the destruction of their crops by drought or pestilence.

We may assume from the first two line that God has lifted his hand of punishment from the people. The psalmist observes that economic prosperity is returning to the nation and interprets it as a sign of God’s forgiveness.

Peace Today

God continues to restore his people today and when he does they have an overwhelming desire to share the peace that he offers. After someone told artist, Franck de Las Mercedes, that his boxes were truly a work of art, his creative mind began to ask himself, “What could he make of this unexpected gift of an idea?” "We expect something of value to come in a box," like a shirt or a book, he says. "But what if the box were 'empty' of everything except a message? A message that has no price, such as 'Peace,' 'Love,' or 'Hope'?"

That was the seed that the Nicaraguan-born, New Jersey-based artist needed to start mailing empty boxes to people and a message on the outside: Fragile. Handle with Care. Contains Peace. He hoped these labels would encourage conversations about such intangibles as peace or freedom. De Las Mercedes knows that some in the art world might dismiss the Priority Boxes as "corny." "Artists want to keep their edge," he says, "But the project has opened doors in my own work. What started as an experiment has become a mission."

“Message in a box: Franck de Las Mercedes's peace packages,” https://myhero.com/Franck_de_las_Mercedes, Page created on 7/28/2014 4:54:38 PM, Last edited 1/4/2017 9:55:48

God has sent us the gift of peace not in an empty box but in a baby. Jesus was born of Mary to bring his lasting, all sufficient peace by proclaiming the Kingdom of God. We live in the uncomfortable interim between the already, the birth of God’s Son, and the not-yet, the coming of God’s Kingdom. During this state of being the secular world will never find peace but through our faith in Christ we may discover our peace with God.

Page created on 7/28/2014 4:54:38 PM

Last edited 1/4/2017 9:55:48