[Propertalk] Peace Be With You - A reflection for this Sunday

[Allison Dean]

Greetings!
Was informed this morning that all the radio broadcasting equipment has
been removed from ourr chapel in anticipation of a move to new chapel
premises in the next few weeks.  However it has meant that I have had to
pull together a Morning Prayer service for Sunday including hymns,
reflection, and intercessions to be recorded at 7:am tomorrow morning for
broadcast on Sunday morning.  So here is something I have hurriedly and
prayerfully put together for a reflection and hope it works.
Comments/suggestions for improvement would be welcomed!

Allison

Allison Cline-Dean,
Lead Chaplain, East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex (covering six other sites)

It’s been a difficult week.  Easter Sunday we heard of the bombing in Sri
Lanka, the peace, joy, and hope of the resurrected Christ being celebrated
in Sri Lankan churches destroyed in a matter of seconds by suicide bombers.
And we wonder where is the peace of Christ, the *ruach,  *the Spirit of
God, touching the lives of so many people both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere
in the world.  As I pondered the news this week and the readings for today,
I was drawn to Jesus’ “Peace be with you” which he said several times to
the disciples and those in the Upper Room that first Easter Sunday.  Is
this the *ruach *what he was breathing into the disciples and trying give
to Thomas that first Easter day?  Is this “*ruach*”, “peace” what our newly
risen Christ is trying breath into our hearts, minds, and spirits in a
world filled with fear and uncertainty?

As humans we have struggled since that time to make our way in the world,
to develop relationships, to find God and peace, to understand what faith
is and to develop a relationship with Christ which is deep and personal; a
relationship which will sustain us in difficult as well as good times.  Working
as a chaplain I have experienced the heartbreak of parents having to remove
life support from a baby and the questioning that goes into the decision to
do this.  I have also sat at a bedside where the person is terrified of
death.  Sometimes it is because the theology they have been raised with is
one of judgment and punishment; other times it is because they feel they
have not said or done enough prayers, rosaries, novenas, what have you; at
other times it is because they have no faith or do not believe that there
is anything after death.  The person literally clutches my hand in a
desperate attempt to avoid death even as they draw their last breath.  I
have also sat at the bedside of a dying resident holding their hand,
praying with them that these final moments in their life journey will be
ones of grace, peace, joy, hope, that they are at peace both within
themselves and in their faith as we have talked prior to their death about
the God that is a part of their core being.  These end-of-life scenes speak
to me about relationships with God, faith in Christ and about God's Spirit
dwelling within us from birth to death, from beginning to ending.  They
speak to me about God’s calling to us and our relationship with Christ just
as Christ called to Mary Magadelene in the Garden, as he spoke to the
disciples in the upper room that long ago Easter Day, and as he spoke  to
Thomas.  In all of this both the disciples, the women who provided for
Christ and we ourselves are invited to experience the indwelling of
Christ’s spirit in our hearts, our lives, and our minds.

The readings today are point us towards God, the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end; towards Christ the new Adam who rolls away the stone
from the tomb, giving a new beginning as he stands in the garden speaking
with Mary.  Our psalm today is one of praise and appropriately placed as
the ending of the Book of Psalms.  Psalms 1 and 150 are, in the words of
one of my seminary professors, the book-ends of the Book of Psalms.  The
first psalm speaks of spending time meditating on the Law of the Lord and
how those who do so, will be refreshed.  The ending, Psalm 150, tells us
how to rejoice with God in spite of everything that has happened throughout
the book.  In the last verse the phrase, “let everything that has breath
praise the Lord”we see again the word *ruach,* Spirit of God, taking us
back to the room where the disciples were hiding when Jesus appeared.

The Alpha and the Omega comes to us in the Spirit of God being blown within
us; within our hearts, within our minds, within our spirits, within our
lives.  Imagine the hub-bub in the room when Jesus entered saying “Peace be
with you” and then saying it again, breathing upon all those present and
all present feeling that peace and the Holy Spirit.  Imagine how Thomas
felt when Christ stood there and said “Peace be with you”.  Imagine how you
feel as you experience Christ breathing God's spirit, God’s peace, on you!

We can all think of times when we have been afraid, have locked our hearts
and minds because we have been hurt badly, our trust, and possibly, our
love betrayed.  Christ, our Alpha and Omega, is able to break through the
locks and fears, as he did in that room with the disciples, stand in front
of us, breathing his Spirit and peace into our hearts and minds, and
invites us to touch him.  Christ, the Lord of love, rolls away the stone
and gives us the opportunity to be resurrected from our old life of fear
and to live a new life where we can love and trust again and move forward
into the future.  Jesus invites us to begin a new relationship with him; to
be transformed by God’s spirit and peace blowing within our souls, our
minds, and our spirits and to respond with awe, joy, contemplation and new
life.  Just as Thomas was transformed so we too will be transformed.  In
that new beginning, we will live a new life in Christ as we are
transfigured and transformed by God so that others see our heart-print of
forgiveness'  when we go out into the world to serve the Lord and others
with Christ’s strength, grace, and peace.
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