He is Our Peace

Ephesians 2:11-22

Last Sunday’s lectionary text in Ephesians was about Christ being our “peace.” We look for peace in our lives, but almost everywhere we turn what see and hear are fights! It’s embedded in our language.

Lawyers who will “fight for you”

Bands playing “fight” songs

“Fighting” cancer … inflation … city hall … hunger … drugs …

The nightly news is full of stories about fighting among nations, violence and death. Even Christians fight among themselves. Fights about who is in vs. who is out, about what boxes must be checked to be considered a “Christian.” Fights about how we must behave or what we must believe.

In this past Sunday’s lectionary text, we find the apostle Paul speaking of similar fights among believers during his time. Paul makes the case that both Jew and Gentile have full access to God and salvation, because the wall separating them was broken down through Jesus making us all full members of the Family of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus is our peace, and this bigger cosmological/universal way of relationship with God in Christ supersedes all our differences.

Can we simply be Christians together without all of the fighting? Could a simpler definition of Christianity bring peace among Christians? Alexander Campbell, one of the founders of the Disciples of Christ in the 19th century, thought so. He defined Christianity in this way. A Christian is “everyone who believes in his or her heart that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, repents of his/her sins, and obeys him in all things according to his or her measure of the knowledge of God’s will.” The hardest part is believing that, acknowledging that and living that way, living in the family of God who makes peace for all the world.

Rev. Kevin K. Adams

9/29/2024