Peace is at the heart of the Christian story, that
story we rehearse week by week when we come together, so that we are better able
to live it when we are sent out again to our homes and neighbourhoods,
workplaces, and thousand apparently random encounters before we gather again. At
the heart of the Eucharist, having come together to hear and respond to Jesus
revealed in the written Word, and about to meet him in the Bread of Life and
the Cup of Salvation and carry his presence out into the world, we share The
Peace, that recognition that it is Christ, the Prince of Peace, who has
reconciled us to God and one another, in whom we are reconciled within
ourselves. We look around, at the ragtag band who have come to the same place
at the same time, to the same Person as us, and we lay down our weapons. ‘The
Peace of the Lord be always with you.’ ‘And also with you.’ Truth be told, this
is the second hardest thing we will do today; the hardest thing will be to not
take them up again. Peace is the central revelation of Christ in the middle of
his family, not (just) as sacrament of Story, not (just) as sacrament of Symbol,
but as Prince of Peace. Peace is the central moment, and the Completion, when,
at the end, we are sent out to ‘Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.’ ‘In
the name of Christ. Amen.’
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