2023-02-10 A Meditation on Peace

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Eph 6:11–20 ESV)

The community has its spas and its mediating structures. Community meeting halls, churches, watering holes and public parks. Fighting fire with fire, showing up, the agent of grace works on the home front; the agent of grace lives it up in the arena where she or he is met with a welcome word of encouragement: these are your people; this is your domain; this is a friendly.

A friendly that does try our mettle, the officer of grace pushed to show that internal ability to comprehend, to infiltrate, to make the friendly exchange: we love these our brethren and sistren. We labor to showcase some quickness, some loving heart, the gentle ways we are no longer cynical regarding the manifest dirtiness of what war goes on “out there”. Out there, it is no longer humored; out there, it is no longer give and take; out there, it is no longer recognizing friend within the framework, the uniform, the battle send up.

So the calm words of a dire prediction, a predilection to fight “out there”, need this hour for that motherly gift, that fatherly advice, that motherly advice and fatherly gift, to spell love vis-a-vis love is so much needed. Love is quieted, love is bedrock, love is changing the temperature in the room. These your people, do need your service! These, your people and the quilt of your work on an intellectual, intelligence front, do surpass their crutches and infirmities to send you on your way to the front, to shake your hand and mean it, to point out the fitness of you and your ilk to be that agent of grace, of Christian witness, of a cause no mercenary yawn summarizes, but the urgent integrity, factual belief, of our heart.

For what is there to say of an intelligence officer of Grace that is not cynical? It is to say that first and foremost each of us is a soldier. Each of us, as soldiers, is called upon to do the conversation thing, the infiltrating but benign preparations, the take-over in the Name of God on High, fighting fire with fire, providing a small taste of what boot camp and basic training the soldier has gone through, has upped the ante, has familiarized the self with the backdrop of war, a spirit of urgency but of earned calm, calm in the face of do-or-die decision-making.

For Jesus did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Mt 10:34). If this is a sad saying, we can go sadder: many are silently killed in a false peace, unable to motivate their nearest and dearest with news of a flag on high and a cause, because they are laughed at: this is no wartime! Yet, Jesus our Lord says it is. We are to take up the gospel armor, and be familiar with what lies just beyond the perimeter of neighborhood joints, the frontlines, the sad silent death, the grim reaper we all try to call out and to maintain spirited joy in the face of. Perhaps there is occasion for an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but also for refusing to become like them. We win when we are not dragged down to that cold and calculating level. We try to put up a strong front, to discourage any jocular messing around, but sometimes we must soldier forward as though to the secularists ineffective; we arrive at the Cross, because we had no way other than to deny our message, to boast and force the issue. We needed willing hearts, and in that brief bubble of thought and of love, an enemy translated gestures into death. Many were killed around Jesus’ birth; many more martyrs were made in the histories of Western thought through the centuries since.