Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. – Matthew 5:9
Advent Wreath – Light the first two candles, the candles of hope and peace.
Who are the peacemakers in your life? We might have a simple answer to that, and know with whom we are most at peace. However, to really understand how to answer the question we might need to know what makes someone a peacemaker.
We might think of a peacemaker as someone who has a calm demeanor, who never seems rattled, and helps us find calm in every situation. We might think of a peacemaker as one who is an activist, working for the rights of the marginalized and the outcast. We might think of a peacemaker of the negotiator who brings compromise in all situation.
A peacemaker might do all of these things, however it is what brings them peace that allows them to find peace and bring peace to these situations. John Wesley believed that peace was active, and one should work at it at all times. Thomas Merton, a catholic monk worked and taught an active peace in his life as well. Merton, like Wesley both saw active peace as something that stemmed from the inner peace of knowing God.
They both taught the importance of knowing God intimately, of finding time and space to be still, and allow the voice of God to move you. They both knew that in order to be a peacemaker, sometimes a situation would have to move to and through chaos first before there can be peace.
This might sound odd to us, but there is a great truth that when we are struggling with sin, regret internally, or externally working in activism we find times when the struggle is real and might cause us internal or external turmoil. Yet, in either case, when the peace of Christ moves in and through us, we find that peace anew, and that peace begins to spread.
The peacemakers, says Jesus, are blessed, they are children of God. This is because the peacemaker understands that God is a God of peace, and his will is for us all to know His peace.
May we all learn to be peacemakers within, with those around us, and in this world that all might know the everlasting peace of Christ.
Grace & Peace,
Sam