Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Lord, the Prince of Peace.
Today is the second Sunday in Advent – the Sunday of Peace. This message is going to be somewhat brief because in our in-person church we are having a discussion based on the reading in our daily meditation booklet and then moving into this message on Peace and what it means.
“Peace” is a word that we tend to think of as meaning “an absence of conflict” and not much more. It’s what is left over when we remove conflict. Take away war, arguing, conflict of any kind and we’re left with peace. That is by far its most common meaning in both scripture and everyday usage.
That’s good, surely. It’s not wrong – but it is incomplete -- because here, once again, we find ourselves up against our old biblical bugaboo of translation.
“Peace” is an English word and the bible was most certainly not written in English. The two words from scripture that we generally translate into Peace are the Greek “Eirene” and the Hebrew “Shalom.” Of these two Shalom is the most important for our purposes here because when the Greek Eirene is used in a scriptural setting it is most often used to express the same complicated meanings as shalom rather than some of the more subtle nuances that could be found in the Greek original.
As I said at the beginning here, translating shalom as peace is not wrong, but it is woefully incomplete because the Hebrew shalom has many deeper meanings that do not ordinarily appear in our English Peace.
In the words of Reinaldo Siqueira, a prominent professor of Hebrew Scriptures, Shalom signifies wholeness and goodness and total satisfaction in life. This, he believes, is that abundant life that Jesus promised! It’s the establishment of a lasting, righteous, goodness.
It's being in a right relationship with all that shares this world with us – one’s fellow humans, the natural world, and even – and perhaps especially, being in a right relationship with oneself, because it is certainly possible to get that one wrong. It’s a relationship of harmony and wholeness, which is the opposite of the state of strife and war.
The absence of conflict and anger is a negative state. We value it because a negative force is removed from our lives, leaving us with peace.
The possession of the Shalom which Jesus promises is a positive value, not based in what is removed but in what is given, what we keep. The addition of this shalom is what allows us to live – not only without fear, but it enables us to enjoy that deep shalom which is love and goodness and peace. It is the wholeness, the completeness that is God’s gift to us and the gift we give each other.
With the coming birth of the Prince of Peace let us embrace this wholeness with the deep joy that comes with giving our whole selves over to the Shalom of the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
“Peace” is a word that we tend to think of as meaning “an absence of conflict” and not much more. It’s what is left over when we remove conflict. Take away war, arguing, conflict of any kind and we’re left with peace. That is by far its most common meaning in both scripture and everyday usage.
That’s good, surely. It’s not wrong – but it is incomplete -- because here, once again, we find ourselves up against our old biblical bugaboo of translation.
“Peace” is an English word and the bible was most certainly not written in English. The two words from scripture that we generally translate into Peace are the Greek “Eirene” and the Hebrew “Shalom.” Of these two Shalom is the most important for our purposes here because when the Greek Eirene is used in a scriptural setting it is most often used to express the same complicated meanings as shalom rather than some of the more subtle nuances that could be found in the Greek original.
As I said at the beginning here, translating shalom as peace is not wrong, but it is woefully incomplete because the Hebrew shalom has many deeper meanings that do not ordinarily appear in our English Peace.
In the words of Reinaldo Siqueira, a prominent professor of Hebrew Scriptures, Shalom signifies wholeness and goodness and total satisfaction in life. This, he believes, is that abundant life that Jesus promised! It’s the establishment of a lasting, righteous, goodness.
It's being in a right relationship with all that shares this world with us – one’s fellow humans, the natural world, and even – and perhaps especially, being in a right relationship with oneself, because it is certainly possible to get that one wrong. It’s a relationship of harmony and wholeness, which is the opposite of the state of strife and war.
The absence of conflict and anger is a negative state. We value it because a negative force is removed from our lives, leaving us with peace.
The possession of the Shalom which Jesus promises is a positive value, not based in what is removed but in what is given, what we keep. The addition of this shalom is what allows us to live – not only without fear, but it enables us to enjoy that deep shalom which is love and goodness and peace. It is the wholeness, the completeness that is God’s gift to us and the gift we give each other.
With the coming birth of the Prince of Peace let us embrace this wholeness with the deep joy that comes with giving our whole selves over to the Shalom of the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
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