April 7, 2016

Peace be with You

Jason Minnix writes about passing the peace, and how we can engage in this new rhythm on Sundays

Passing the Peace is an ancient practice of the church, carried throughout time, of transmitting the essence of God through a simple touch a few small words.

“Peace be with you,” “and also with you.”

In our times filled with adults who sound like children fighting over the sand box and toys in it, we think it might be meaningful to carry the markings of God’s beautiful peace and refresh one another with that sweet peace as we go. The church has done this throughout the ages. It is just a small way of reconnecting each week and saying “you are my people, there’s always room for one more, and oh by the way, it’s all going to be ok somehow. Here have a little bit of peace today.” It is saying to another “you are also a part of this huge wonderful mystery that none of us understand.”

We will start to try this out during liturgy as we move into coffee and mingling each week. And you’re invited to play around with it during the week as our paths cross and we often need reminders of who we are and how to lift our gaze when we are overcome with the cares of the moment. Really if you think about it, we could do worse than carrying pockets of peace and trailing crumbs of hope as we go . . .

[Photo by Lauren Max @ Flickr]

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