1st June 2025 

The Promise of Peace

In this season of Ascension, we continue to reflect on Jesus' promise to the disciples of a coming gift from his Father - the gift of the Holy Spirit. One of the images used in the Bible to depict the presence of the Holy Spirit is that of a dove - for example, the dove that settled upon Jesus at his baptism. In secular symbolism, the dove is often used to represent peace, and this dates back to the early Christian church, who used the image on their tombs. Initially representing the peace of the soul, by the third century, the dove was being used in images of conflict, to represent the peace that only God could bring.

Two thousand years later, peace remains an elusive concept. Around 40 countries in the world are openly at war, with many others threatened by political instability and terrorist insurgency. Here in the UK, statistics point to an "epidemic of anxiety" as young and older people grapple with a cost of living crisis, poor economic prospects, the aftermath of a global pandemic, the negative consequences of social media, the climate emergency... Both absence of conflict and peace of the soul seem hard to attain.

And yet, as Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure, he says these words: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27). When the Holy Spirit descends upon the church at Pentecost, the reign of God breaks into the world in dramatic fashion. The reign of God is described throughout scripture as a reign of justice and of peace. Where God reigns, "the wolf will lie down with the lamb" and "they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain" (Isaiah 11).

Currently, God's reign has broken in but is not fully realised. We are living in the overlap between the old world, governed by conflict, sin and death, and the new world, governed by God's justice and peace. And so, the peace that Jesus promises is a gritty peace. The early church were not immune from conflict - there were persecutions, disagreements, shipwrecks, beatings... But the peace of God, the Shalom which means salvation, well-being, wholeness, completeness. It is, as Paul writes (from prison) to the Philippians, a "peace that passes understanding"). 

Whatever the anxieties and conflicts that await us this week, may we know God's peace that passes understanding.