A Theology of Peace
/Our dream, that we imagine and desire, is the consummation of peace in a world integrated by love. The scriptures tell a story that begins with God placing two people in a garden and instructing them to multiply, to steward creation, and to cultivate the land. At the end of the story, the very end, these two have multiplied into a throng of humanity, and all of creation—which began in a garden—is cultivated into a heavenly kingdom marked by peace. It is a world in full bloom.
This peace of God is mediated through a messiah, promised to the world in an ancient poem:
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
And he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
In the Christian tradition, this Prince of Peace is Jesus. Jesus proclaims good news—freedom for those in bondage, healing for the sick, release for the oppressed, the favor of God on everyone and everything—and reveals God’s lovingkindness to the world. He then breaks and bleeds and offers himself to all. Awakening to divine love and realizing our belonging in Christ's body, we are transformed and animated to share in the sacred work of cultivating the peace of God. Sacred Story. Common Table. Divine Love. These embody our soul. That is to say, at Pearl, we are shaped by a sacred story, sharing at a common table, and awakening to Divine Love.
Peace is God’s dream for the world. This peace is more than personal or interpersonal, God’s peace is cosmic. Scripture is replete with this concept.
The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, which means “to complete” or “to make sound.” As a verb, it is used to describe the completion of buildings, and the restoration of broken things, as well as the repayment of debt. As a noun, shalom is personal, referring to a state of being, as in contentment or tranquility about the past, present, and future, including peace in death. But peace is also interpersonal, between friends, nations, even God. Peace is quintessentially about the absence of war, the destruction of weapons, and the reconciliation of enemies, and the prophets foretell this peace as an ethical standard and characteristic of the age that the messiah promises to usher in.
These concepts of peace continue in the New Testament with the word eirene. This word is personal, referring to a personal state of being, but it too refers to relationship with others and with God. Again, peace is contrasted with war and interpersonal violence, and the proclamation of peace becomes the elevated vision of the messianic age inaugurated by Jesus, which culminates in the end of all violence and suffering. Another word used to express God’s dream for the world is union, which expresses our intimate relationship to all things: God, humankind, and creation. In John’s Apocalypse, the final book in the Bible, we see God’s cosmic peace—humans at peace with themselves, each other, and God; creation at peace, and humans at peace with creation. The realization of this union awakens us to divinely love all things, and it animates our participation in cultivating God’s shalom here on earth.