Daniel requested this book "Everything Must Change" for Christmas but hadn't started reading it yet. So we picked it up together the other morning and have gotten back into our habit of reading aloud together. Its been amazing!
In chapter 2 the author, Brian McLaren, talked about peace. He related a time when he had gone to Barundi, Africa to meet with some Christian leaders. The host picked Brian and his daughter up from the airport and took them to his parent's house where they were staying. On the way, Claude (the host) was instructing Brian and his daughter how to greet his parents, namely his mother. Explaining first that in these parts of Africa (Barundi and its neighbor, Rwanda) genocide has been a common practice since the mid-1950's. Peace has not been known between Tusi and Hutu tribes along with other rebel and government factions. Claude instructed Brian that when you greet his mother you should kiss her on the cheek and then the other cheek all the while whispering "Amahoro". He explained that the word, amahoro, meant peace in his language. "She'll be welcoming you into the peace of our home and you'll be offering your peace to her. After all we've been through amahoro is a very precious word to us." "Exactly how many times should we do this?" Brian asked. "we basically do it again and again until we feel the amahoro flowing between us."
I loved this story. The word peace is rarely used these days unless you read it on a Christmas card, or overhear a parent complain that all they want is some "peace and quiet", or a protest against the war in Iraq, "Peace in the Middle East". Do we really great each other in peace? Do we give someone peace or shalom as the Jewish people do? What happened to the offering of peace on someone...a continual peace...the "flowing between us" kind.
Jesus gave peace...He was a master peace-giver, peace-maker, peace-keeper. John 14, "My peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives..." the peace-that-passes-all-understanding kind.
Peace is needed in the world, in our lives, in our relationships, in our conversations, in our nights, in our days, in our societies, in our communities, in our churches, in our marriages, in our children...in our souls.
Grace and peace to you!
4 comments:
As a parent one of the things I pray for my son and my nieces and nephews is peace. Every night we ask Jesus to give us peace in our hearts. The toddler and preschool years can be frustrating for them as they try to figure out the world around them and how to relate to it all. As a result I've seen a great lack of peace; tantrums, crying, hitting, yelling...quite the opposite of the peaceful babies they used to be. Yet peace is one of the fruits of the spirit that should be manifesting itself in our lives as we grow to be more like Jesus. So as we all work together to be more like Jesus, we keep asking Him to fill us with his peace!! I'm glad you blogged about this. It's an important virtue for us to foster in our own lives and the lives of those we influence.
Highly underrated, I agree. Drama is so explosive that it is tempting to jump right in -- but then we complain about being worn out. Maybe we should be jumping more into the peaceful situations. Good reminder my dear.
So true - something that we hear said, but not seen in action in people's lives. Sounds like a great book!
That was a beautiful illustration. i loved that.
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