Psalm Meditation 654
First Sunday After Christmas
December 30, 2012

Psalm 85
1 Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. (Selah)
3 You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.
(NRSV)

God speaks peace to those who are faithful, whose hearts turn to God. That raised the question as to which comes first, inner peace or world peace. Today, I am inclined to believe that inner peace has to come first. Once we put away our inclination toward satisfying our own needs and wants before we consider the needs and wants of others we will find an inner peace and contentment that will make a more universal peace possible. This is the kind of peace that God speaks to the hearts of faithful people in countless ways and in a wide variety of places.

There is also the peace that is lack of war; a peace that is usually ordered from the top down. The Pax Romana, The Roman Peace, came about when the Romans had conquered all the people who surrounded them and enforced a lack of war among the folks over whom they ruled. This peace is full of discontent as folks struggle under the restraints forced upon them by the very folks who had taken their freedom.

Inner peace, a sense of contentment and a willingness to share what we have with others, leads us into ever deepening relationships with God and others. External peace, an absence of conflict, is often enforced by top down power structures that lead to conflicts as we struggle to gain or regain our own power and control.

The peace that God offers brings us to a sense of wholeness within ourselves and our communities. It takes effort to achieve and maintain a sense of peace within ourselves. It is an ongoing process of tuning our hearts to God, opening ourselves to the hurts and hopes of others and giving and receiving with gratitude and grace.

December 24, 2012