Saturday, April 13, 2018

Luke 24:36

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' 

Where else?

If there was no other reason to believe that Jesus is divine, if there was no other reason for me to love him as I do, it is the word of peace he speaks to the friends who ran away from him in his darkest hour.

Peace, he says. Peace to the broken places in your heart. Peace to the anxieties about your life. Peace to your guilt and shame. Peace.

Let all other voices be silenced. Turn from everything that distracts you from the voice of the one who went all the way down into death and returned again to immortal life. Listen to the voice who tells you that the One who made you, the Creator who fashioned you, wants this for you, peace.

You are not condemned. You are not rejected. The things you fear may hurt you, but they will never take you from the love God has for you. Not now. Not ever. Peace.

Where else can you hear that word? And where other than the church, can you walk about with open hands, arms and hearts and greet other human beings, as mortal and fallible as you, with that greeting: Peace.

We may belong to clubs and sports teams, fraternities and sororities, neighborhood and community groups, wonderful organizations. But there is nowhere else human hearts greet you with this word for which we each crave.

Pr. David L. Miller

 

Monday, April 9, 2018

John 20:19-21

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’

One word

What do you need to hear? What words will resonate in your heart and set you free?

Jesus risen returns from death to speak lightness of being into our souls. He has one word for his frightened friends, “Peace.”

“Peace,” he says to the very people who abandoned, denied and let him down at his moment of greatest need. Shame and fear fill them.

But his word has extraordinary power, the power of life over death.  

With a single word, peace flows like a fountain from the heart of God, through Jesus and into them. They are lifted beyond themselves to hope and love, to joy and expectation.

Hear that word spoken to you, “Peace.” Repeat it to yourself.

The river of resurrection that flows from Jesus’ heart will roll through you. Shame will lift. Guilt will flee. Fear will fly.

A current of Love will carry you into freedom. And every moment will be transformed, filled with possibility for knowing and speaking the Love who has one word for you, “Peace.”

Pr. David L. Miller