For he himself (Jesus) is our peace, who has made the two groups (Jews and Gentiles) one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.. . . He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. (Ephesians 2:14)

From the moment that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angels sang to shepherds of peace. It was peace that he brought to earth, peace that would change the whole world. Today it is peace that prompts and fills countless Christmas carols, and peace that today we still covet, and sometimes blessedly experience.

In the eighteenth century the poet William Wordsworth wrote a poem entitled “The World is Too Much with us”, recognizing that there is a dimension and a reality that establishes peace in human beings, that is opposite to the “world.” Wordsworth lived before there were even simple telephones, but he knew the need for peace.

When Paul wrote that “he, himself is our peace”, he was introducing the Holy Spirit, given to the disciples by Jesus after his resurrection, to people who could recognize the Spirit in Jesus’ words and deeds. The coming of the Christ child was the beginning of a peace that could come only from the God of peace Himself. God knew that “the world” could not find it’s own peace, and He also knew that He alone could provide that peace. Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, predicted the peace that would come into the world with first the birth if his son John, and then the birth of God’s son,Jesus: “And you, my child, will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:76&79) Nothing is more peaceful to see than the face of a sleeping infant., and the shepherds and wise men went without hesitation to find the baby sent by their God.

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount he lifted the veil on the heart of God’s blessings: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) Every one needs peace in his or her life, and in Jesus, God has freely given us the way to find it.

Love in Him,

Prue

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives . Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:29)

If there were ever a time when one might be afraid, it would be the night that Jesus was arrested, and his disciples fled the scene. Peter’s fear caused him to deny three times that he even knew Jesus. The “high” of being a disciple and even a friend of the healer and holy man loved by crowds of people, had disappeared, and the disciples were confronted by the world of authoritarian religious leaders and of Rome, the very “world” that Jesus had said was not for him.

There is a fifteenth century proverb of unknown origin concerning two women in the same house, implying that human relationships can be inherently hostile and even warlike; and that such hostility is inevitable. This is the condition of the “world.”

Jesus’ words about peace were given to men who could barely receive them at the time, but would ultimately spread Jesus’ words and demonstrate Jesus’ truth . They received from Jesus the Holy Spirit which enabled them to live the reality of his peace.

St. Paul was full of the Spirit of Jesus when Paul wrote to the Philippians: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

The “Peace that passes understanding” is a call to a reality that is not of our own making. It comes from another Person, and requires a separation and a surrender from our own motives to embrace a better way. Jesus’ resurrection opened not only his grave, but our graves, as well. It exposed a hope that had not been accessible before that event, and opened the very channel for a peace that passes understanding. Jesus conveyed to his disciples before his death :I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world! (John 16:33)

Jesus, and later, Paul, were both expressing the path opened by Jesus, by which human beings could experience and embrace peace in the midst of turmoil and even chaos. The peace that passes understanding comes from God’s Holy Spirit, and became available to us when Jesus overcame the world.

Love in Him,

Prue

It seems as if the main sign of our times is the introduction of AI into virtually every avenue of communication in the world. Nevertheless, the Bible has an even stronger message than that: The wisdom of the world will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish ( Isaiah 29:14) St. Paul wrote on this subject as well: We do, however, speak a message, but not of the wisdom of the age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written, : What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived– the things God has prepared for those who love him– (1 Corinthians 2:6-9)

The “sign” of the present times is not a sign of upheaval, corruption, fear, disbelief, or violence The “sign” clearly comes from God, whose character is love. The “sign” is the cross of Christ, the all good soul who gave himself away so that other human beings could believe in an all loving God. Christ is the sign of every time, the sign of God’s power and purpose on earth.

To this day people search ancient writings including the Bible, for a “sign”of “end times,” and produce many theories about time and place for the end of the earth as we know it, but the prophets and saints of God have said that the “sign” has been given in Jesus, of whom no human mind ever conceived; and when he appeared was misunderstood, for he brought the Spirit of God into the lives of poor and rich alike, of weak and strong as well.

In his Spiritual Diary St. Pope John Paul II wrote, “The only key with which . . . humankind should open the “signs of the times:” The Crucified and risen Christ: the foolishness of God—stronger than human wisdom, the weakness of God—stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 9:16)There has been only one true sign, an eternal sign. It is the sign of Jesus and him crucified and raised from death. He is the “sign” that ties the old to the new, and time to eternity. The mystery of Jesus endures through centuries of civilization. He is the true sign of the times from his resurrection to the present, and to all the future, the sign of all times.

Love in Him,

Prue

When our granddaughter was three years old I went for a walk with her near the apartment building where she lived with her parents. In the parking lot there was a covered section of the walkway which had a distinct echo when we spoke while passing through. We stopped to hear the echo and, I thought, to try different sounds, but Savannah wanted to hurry through. The echo actually scared her and she wanted to get away from it into ordinary air. Afterward I asked her if she would like to try out some funny words in the echo place. “No!” she said. “I don’t want to go back there at all!” “Why? I asked, and she answered, “I’m not going back! If you take me to the zoo and I get to see an echo, then I’ll go back and talk to it.” Savannah’s fear came from not being able to see anyone or any thing that had been speaking when the echo returned her voice or mine. She needed something solid and visible in order to feel safe in the tunnel.

God knew this about the Israelites, as well. For forty years he presented His visible presence to them in the cloud by day and the fire by night. It was a time of bonding which would form the people into a nation capable of worshiping an invisible God. The history of salvation continued to progress and regress until the promised one, Jesus, came in human flesh, and returned from death to give the very Spirit of God to those who sought Him, and even to those who did not seek Him: “I was found by those who did not seek me, to a nation that did not call on my name.” (Isaiah 65:1)

Once when I was a child I walked out of church with my family to get into the car to go home, and I remember thinking that there was something in the church that was different from anything I experienced at home. I thought that somehow there were two realities. It was a fleeting sensation, but it seemed to be true.

Savannah knew that she was scared, though it took me a few minutes to understand; I had never been afraid of an echo. Her solution was the same as the Israelites’ She needed tangible contact to accept our voices being returned to us, in spite of my somewhat lame explanation of “echos”. We never went to the zoo to find an echo, though her mother took her there often. God knew that she needed Him.

Love in Him,

Prue

At a pivotal moment in Jesus’ ministry, he made remarks that silenced his interrogators and From that day no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:46) “That day “ Jesus revealed his own identity to believers and unbelievers alike, when he quoted Psalm 110. David, the Psalmist had written: The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” ( Psalm 110: 1) Jesus asked, “If then David calls him ‘Lord’, how can he be His son?” (Matthew 22:45)

The Psalm that Jesus claimed is mysterious as you read it, but in its lines it is possible to see the son of God:

The Lord sends forth from Zion, your mighty scepter!

Rule in the midst of your foes!

Your people will offer themselves freely on the day you

lead your host upon the holy mountain.

From the womb of the morning , like dew your youths

will come to you.

The Lord has sworn, and will not change His mind;

“ You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord is at your right hand….. (Psalm 110:2-4)

People have been puzzled by this psalm ever since it was first known; but Jesus recognized himself in its words and chose it to inform his questioners of his real identity.

In reading it at first, I couldn’t see why he chose it, until in reading in the New Testament account of Jesus gathering his disciples, it occurred to me that when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus emerged from the water as if from the “womb of the morning”, and the very next day was joined by young men who came to him to be disciples. Philip, Andrew, Peter, and Nathaniel joined Jesus in that early day of Jesus’ ministry . Later the others would willingly follow the one they believed to have come from God.

The author of the book of Hebrews perceived the link between Melchizedek and Jesus, and wrote, What we have just said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest. . . on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. (Hebrews 7:14) Jesus knew that Psalm 110 was about himself, even though it was written hundreds of years before his birth. The Psalm was written with the Spirit of God, specifically focused on a “new Melchizedek,” and the impact he would have upon the world.

Love in Him,

Prue

I once had the privilege of entertaining an art professor who was visiting our church and would be displaying a “Head of Christ” made of clay. He would create the sculpture while testifying to his faith. In our congregation was a friend of the professor who had retired as a music professor from the same college. I invited both them and our pastor to dinner at our house.

In the course of the meal the artist said, “Frank, do you remember that blue wall by the walkway into the cafeteria?” To which Frank, the musician, answered, , “I’m sorry, Jim, I never told you this, but I’m not able to see colors. I’m entirely colorblind.” Jim just stared at him, and Frank’s wife said,”It’s true! I buy all his clothes so he doesn’t have to worry about being mismatched.” The table conversation veered into exclamations and questions. Jim seemed entirely confounded , and almost unable to accept Frank’s confession. Eventually our pastor changed the subject and the dinner progressed. It looked as if the artist in Jim felt somehow betrayed by his friend. Frank and Jim had taught on the same campus, and their families had been friends, but Frank had never confided his secret to his artist friend.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet speaks God’s words of disappointment to the Hebrew people: All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations, people who continually provoke me” (Isaiah 65:2) What God sought in His people was a loving and trusting relationship that would bring joy to both Him and His people. He had already demonstrated his protection in getting them out of Egypt and into a richly fertile land. He had walked with them for forty years, showing Himself in the pillar of fire and of cloud.. He had given them laws with which to build a virtuous nation, and hidden nothing they could need of His own character from them.: Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The Ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

Jim and Frank did not remain in touch, as Frank was retired and Jim still teaching and traveling. God, however, never lost touch with His people. Though they turned away, God sent His son, who will one day reconcile the Hebrew people because, Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! (Romans 9:5)

Love in Him,

Prue

Believe, in order to understand, because unless you believe, you will not understand. (St. Augustine, sermon 212)

Not everyone comes to believe in Jesus the way that Saul, later, Paul, did when a great light blinded him, and Jesus’ voice spoke to him in introduction. Afterward, Paul had three days of blindness and the visit of Ananias to acquaint him with the Spirit that would come to live in him, and to understand the calling he had received. Paul’s understanding grew from that event and continued to grow until his death about 67AD. First Jesus gave him undeniable truth to believe, followed by understanding that grew throughout his life, an understanding that he shared with the world of both believers and unbelievers.

Some years after his conversion, Paul wrote a letter to his friend Timothy: “I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” (2Timothy 1:12) Even while in prison Paul believed, and trusted the One in whom he believed. Paul’s wisdom in his letters to the Romans and the Corinthians, among others, has enlightened Christians and non Christians alike: The Spirit helps us In our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” ( Romans 8:26) To the Corinthians, Paul wrote: For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1Corinthians 1:25)

In all of Paul’s writing, “belief” comes before understanding. Belief comes through the Holy Spirit, embodied in Jesus, so that we can believe, and, like Paul, grow in understanding of our God. Paul also wrote to the Romans, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:10)God created us to love Him as He loved us. When mankind went astray, God did not despair. He made it possible for us to believe, and in believing, to come to understand God’s will and ways and to receive the Holy Spirit.

From the time of the apostles until the present age, people all over the world have discovered that belief leads to understanding, an understanding that leads us to our Holy God and the salvation that He offers. We even have a guidebook in which St. Paul helps us find our way.

Love in Him,

Prue

When Jesus walked on the water, approaching the boat full of terrified disciples , he saw their fear and said, “Take heart! It is I!” before he entered the boat himself. ( Mark 6:50,RSV) If they knew it was he, they would not be afraid, simply because they had known and loved Jesus enough to abandon their livelihoods to follow Jesus for his connection to their God.

Much later the Apostle John, who had been in the boat, would write, Perfect love drives out fear. (1 John 4:18) The apostle Peter experienced that love to such an extent that in the midst of the terror of the storm, as well as the appearance of Jesus on the water, Peter responded, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” ( Matthew 14:28) It wasn’t Peter’s love that failed him, for Jesus’ words, ”You of little faith, why did you doubt?” make clear that Peter was afraid of the storm. (Matthew 14:31)

This story appears in all four of the Gospels . It is a window into the intersection between the natural and supernatural of God’s creation. Peter’s actions bridge the gap because of his love for Jesus, and fail because of his fear of the storm. Ultimately Peter would die for his faith and love of Jesus. This incident reveals the necessary love in Peter to become the great apostle that he did.

Love is the beginning, middle, and end of Jesus’ life on earth. From the moment that Mary said to Gabriel, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word,” (Luke 1: 38) and nine months later she held the infant Jesus in her arms, faith and love were united, and the world has never been the same. “What greater mercy, than for the creator to be created, the master to serve the redeemer to be sold, the one who exalts to be humbled, the one who raises up to be slain. (St. Augustine, sermon 207). The Psalmist wrote: He does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions, from us. (Psalm 103:11-12)

The fear of God is different from all other fears. It shines with the light of His love. It echoes with the words of Christ: Take heart! It is I!

Love in Him,

Prue

When I was young enough to enjoy swinging on the swings in a city park near our house, I was doing just that with my brother and two sisters when we noticed another family of children swinging, too. My siblings and I had each a roll of “Life Savers,” and we offered some to the other children. “No thanks,” they said. “We don’t eat candy.” “At all!?” asked my older sister. “That’s right,” the other boy answered. Our father is a dentist, and he says that candy is bad for your teeth, so we never eat it!”

I was thunderstruck that these children had apparently never even tasted candy of any kind. For the first time in my life I felt a mixture of pity and incredulity. Candy was one of life’s sustaining joys to me.

For several years when I was growing up, a remarkable event occurred every Christmas Eve. Just before bed time the doorbell would ring, and a man who was a cousin of my father, would hand my mother a five pound box of chocolate candy, and say, “Merry Christmas!” and turn around and disappear into his car and drive away. My mother always invited him in, but he declined. We were allowed to eat one piece of candy before we went to bed. It was a much anticipated ritual and we all loved it.

When we met the dentist’s children in the park, I was shaken to the core to think that my love for candy might possibly have a down side. It opened a window into a different world. The other children seemed to think nothing of missing out on one of life’s truly delightful treats, and I couldn’t even imagine life without candy. It was a kind of reset in my sense of values, or at least the beginning of a reset.

Jesus said, “If any man comes to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and children and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life as well, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:16) It is one of the strongest statements Jesus made about our human relationships and loves. It’s strength is startling and even upsetting, but Jesus thought it necessary to emphasize the size of change and the depth of commitment that was not only possible, but necessary in our relationship to our Father God. In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus made possible just such a level of devotion to his God and our God. Since then, the saints have displayed the reality of such a relationship. Saint Peter wrote, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1Peter 1: 23)

God knows how hard it is, and, better yet, how worth it.

Love in Him,

Prue

Frances H. Bernett wrote the endearing and enduring story The Secret Garden in 1911. In it a young orphan girl is sent from India to the home of her uncle in England for him to accept custody. He is the child’s only known relative, as her parents had both died of cholera. Mary Lennox, the ten year old girl, discovers in her uncle’s house a boy,Colin, her cousin, who is bedridden and believed to be a hopeless cripple by his father and the staff at his home.

Mary has discovered a secret walled and locked garden that had been abandoned on the grounds, and with the help of a local boy, Dickon, who befriends animals, and Ben, the gardener, Mary finds the key to the garden, and begins to work to return it to its original beauty. She shares this information with Colin, and they arrange for him to visit the garden. This puts into play the transformation of both spoiled children and the garden itself, as Colin joins Mary and Ben and Dickon in their project. They have many adventures before Colin’s father returns from his many absences, ,and instead of a bedridden boy, he finds his son running to meet him. The book was originally published as a children’s book, but has gained popularity with all ages.

Jesus said, “When you pray, go into your secret place, close the door and pray to your father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6) Secrecy in our relationship with our Father God is essential to the one-on-one relationship that God seeks with us. In the novel, the abandoned garden was nevertheless forbidden, and so secrecy was necessary. Jesus’ words to go alone to the secret place are meant for us to open ourselves to the One who is able to respond to us in truth.

Jesus also said, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) In all his teachings Jesus led his listeners to his Father. He spoke words that would lay a path at the feet of his followers. To find a place to be alone and pray, and to pray with fellow believers, are priceless positions for Christians.

Secrecy was necessary to the children, but the fellowship of each other was also essential. None of them could have completed the garden alone, and Colin would not have been able to walk without the others.

Jesus made sure that we understood our need to be alone and undisturbed for prayer; and he knew the strength and power of communal prayer, for he promised, “I am in the midst of them!

Love in Him,

Prue