Let There Be Peace

The Father has made peace through blood shed on a cross. That peace consists of reconciliation, which reverses alienation (Colossians 1:19-20). Peace between people makes peace possible between nations and with other kinds of hostilities. Peace between people also creates the circumstance for peace within us. Feeling accepted and forgiven removes the inner conflict between what we aspire to be and what we achieve in living.

Taking communion brings back the memories of what it took to lay the foundation for peace, real peace, inner peace, universal peace, eternal peace. Willingly giving one’s body and shedding one’s blood are appalling displays of how much peace means to people and to God. These tokens of body and blood are tokens of peace. They draw us back into the ancient event that in this observance we resurrect into the life of each of us who participate in it now.