Peace Making

'Shalom, Salaam aleikum, Peace be with you!' Hundreds of people in Woking were saying this yesterday.
It was wonderful, in the bright afternoon sunshine, to see a good crowd of Woking people affirming their desire to work for peace between the varied communities in our town. It may not make it onto the national news, but in troubled times, it was encouraging to see such a public demonstration.
At the heart of our different faiths lies the promise of God to offer human beings the gift of His peace. How that peace is achieved is understood differently, both between our faiths and within them. But peace is the theme. Very often, that peace is linked with a search for forgiveness, and a conscience washed clean from all defiling actions.
For followers of Jesus Christ, we can look with thankful amazement to his death for us, as the source of our peace.
St. Paul, writing to the mixed and troubled communities in Ephesus, sees that Jesus' death is the route to shared peace between communities, and with God himself. 'Christ reconciled both Jews non-Jews to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us' (Ephesians 2.16-18)
Our world is still very troubled, and needs peace makers and peace sharers to make a difference. We too can continue to bring this costly good news to those around us. This makes our lives both significant and essential, every day.
Best wishes,
Richard