Practicing Peace
It is a joy to share some of what I was gifted on my annual spiritual retreat this year with you.
The theme was "Practicing Peace" and was somewhat of an encore to last years "Threatened with resurrection" retreat also lead by Archdeacon Lucy Morris. To experience a reflection on 2023 retreat you can revisit this sermon video: I am not afraid of death
This year, Rev'd Lucy teamed up with Rev'd Dr Margaret Wesley, Priest in Charge at Ashgrove parish, spiritual director and wonderful liturgist. Rev'd Margaret's shared leadership of this retreat meant that we had the perfect balance of reflective and litgurgical, poetic and playful, creative and collaborative.
This retreat was far from "peaceful", at least in the term most people think of when using it - i.e. being restful, harmonious and tranquil. It was, however, peace-filled.
Peace as a word has a somewhat soft connotation in the English language, which perhaps does not fully serve to describe the true peace of God's kingdom, which we are called to cultivate on earth through our alternative living as Christians, but it is a start.
We give one another a greeting of peace every weekend at our weekly worship -
We are the body of Christ, God's Spirit is with us.
The peace of the Lord be always with you, and also with you.
Liturgically it is very important, this Peace giving and sharing - it draws us together, reminds us of our unity in Christ's body and encourages us to be reconciled before God.
I usually use "Peace be with you" as a sign off for my emails - wanting to extend that same peace we celebrate together throughout the week.
But what does it mean to you, dear reader?
As you reflect, here are some of the offerings from retreat:
Peace involves sacrifice, truth telling and non-violence of a kind that naturally leads to suffering when the truth is opposed by power.
It is not the absence of conflict, but the antidote to it - thwarting it at every turn with love.
Peace is in and of itself - the presence of Christ, resurrecting every moment - enabling us to unite in love, compassion and mutual authentic relationship over and over again.
Peace is not what the world sells us - it's absence is far more profitable for the rich, powerful and oppressive forces which seduce us from the hard work that embodying peace calls us to.
We cannot be 'at peace' (resting), while others are suffering, and therefore we must enter the disturbed state of togetherness to strive towards renewed living. This might mean learning to thrive side by side with our enemies, those who are hurting, those who are being hurt and our hurting parts in and of ourselves.
These were the threads of wisdom that we wove into our 4 days together at the Santa Teresa Spirituality Centre (named for our own Holy Hermit Therese of Lisieux) during this Season of Creation.
It was a collective experience - with each of us on our own inward journey, running paralell alongside one another and often finding companionship in the silence which blanketed our movements towards and around one another.
We were invited to rage against the injustices of our time, name the hurts of our past and look toward the future that God is tugging us, calling us, nudging and supporting us toward...
A future where we practice peace, not just yearn for it!
And that means coming ever closer, deeper and realer with Christ - allowing Jesus to be interwoven with our days, nights and dreams.
Seeking and striving for wholeness for ourselves, the people, animals and creation around us - and making sacrifices of our success, knowing that God meets us in this work, because the creator is already at the heart of this reconciling movement.
It is confronting to acknowledge our lack of peace, externally and internally.
I had a good look at my own tendancies to flee from conflict and attempt to pacify any who rage around me - which often leads to more conflict. Many of us are wired this way on the spectrum, and yet can experience vast amounts of personal anger, frustration and even rage at the way we and others around us are treated.
I can't quite wrap my head around this reality. That I can be such a contradiction just by being myself. And that this contradiction is loved by God intimately, with no hidden parts which God does not behold.
I was met anew by the beauty of Jesus' ministry and reconcilliation, which is offered to everyone who comes to God and opens themselves up for transformation... that we are able to be fully ourselves, paradoxically and unreasonably human. Both afraid of conflict and drawn into it by the emotions that fill our lives.
God knows, and loves us, just as we are...
And just waits for us to come to love that about ourselves too, so that we can stop pretending to be alright, attempting to have it all together, striving for perfection and instead surrender to the aid that comes with the Holy Spirit's presence.
And God knows that we cannot live peace without help - that's why Jesus of Nazareth came to model what living peace means.
In the retreat space we sat with difficult bible passages. Obadiah and the Psalms which celebrate Israel's triumph over other nations and God's righteous anger on their behalf.
Very hard - but very necessary.
Becuase it is the story of the people of God. We have always been complicated beings. We have always had a tendancy to violence, revenge and domination.
And that's how God made sense to us as well, so we made out that God is just as violent, just as vengeful and just as dominating as we are... - but that's not true!
I have enjoyed thinking about the Imago Dei theory in reverse - not just that we are made in the image of God, but that God is often made in our image - based on our experiences, perspectives and limited understandings. The many facets of humanity, all trying to love, yet all inclined to fear, lead us to try and limit God to be more like us.
But the story of God incarnate is the one that really speaks God's true identity and the Kingdom peace to us.
Jesus preached non-violence in a way which got him killed. He was so effective in living peace that he died becuase the world cannot accept the truth and remain in control.
Jesus healed the ear of the officer who was wounded by Peter at his arrest, and worked tirelessly to communicate that violence is not the answer to his disciples. The disciples who right up until the passion and even after the resurrection, still didn't get it. No surprise then that we are still struggling 2000years later if those who saw it first hand couldn't comprehend it.
And that is where Christ meets us - in our struggle to do better, be better at living in God's way.
God's way, which is so full of love, that a member of the Holy Trinity came to be with us, knowing that we would likely harm and even kill the incarnation of our creator. Christ came anyway - that's how big the Love is.
Jesus said "Peace be with you, my peace I leave you, do not be afraid." and promised to be with us to the end of the age. Then the promise of the Prince of Peace is to return and make it all come about in its fullness. This is our hope. And this is what we lean into.
Gathering the threads
At the close of our retreat time together there was an opportunity for sharing of ourselves, our journey's and our hopes.
We then return to the places we call home - the communities God has entrusted us to.
To you my dear ones, I come refreshed and hopeful for a better way for all of us to encounter Peace, whenever we turn to Christ, and then to practice it together.
A poem was born at retreat as well, cultivated in fellowship and midwifed by Rev'd Margaret, which I offer to end this reflection:
Peace
It grows in hard places,
Planted by prevailing love
So plentiful that it persists and spreads
Even if…
Even when…
Even though…
It is the silence of humility
And the humility of silence.
It is remembering who we are
And whose we are
And when we are
And where we are going.
It is the outstretched arms of Jesus
The footsteps of Jesus
On the winding, narrow way of Jesus.
It is the blood of Jesus
And the resurrection of Jesus
Connecting us with all creation
Including this flower
That may be trampled
Plucked, discarded,
Yet freely gives its pollen to the bee
And its beauty to a soldier with a gun.
It is not delivered by a bomb
Or a threat
Or a demand,
But only by the grace
Of belonging and delight,
Where truth is told without fear
And wounds are bound without revenge.
It is laughter and tears,
Curiosity and compassion.
It is the vast generosity of space
In which we all might dance
Even when it is dark.Southern Queensland Clergy Retreat, September 2024
And a blessing from Rev'd Margaret
The blessing of peace disturbed be upon you
As you challenge oppression and injustice.
The blessings of peace with God nourish your souls
And fill your bodies with joy.
The blessing of reconciliation and kindness
Fill your communities with peace,
And the blessing of peace finally established in all the world
Fill your hearts with hope. Amen