As many of you know I have our church library in our living room which is pretty handy for sermon prep. Last week while preparing for the message on Advent Peace, I found myself thumbing through “Beyond Homelessness” –  a book about “reconciling Christian faith in a culture of displacement.”* I found a chapter on the topic of peace – specifically, embodying the biblical vision of shalom (i.e. “wholeness” in the context of scripture). The message was long enough already so I didn’t have a chance to share some of my gleanings from this chapter but I thought perhaps it worthwhile to share in this space while many of us, hopefully, are still ruminating on the theme of peace.

On Sunday I shared briefly how not only are we recipients of the promise of “peace on earth” but that we are to be conduits of peace on earth as well. That is, we’re agents of peace. That this is an implicit part of the vocation that Jesus followers embrace in the wake of Advent and the arrival of Peace into this world. As we receive Peace, so we are to reveal and live peace. The beauty of this is that, as we act as conduits of peace – we end up with more of God’s peace in our own lives. The more we give the more we get kind of thing.

So on that note, there are 4 virtues, the authors of this book posit, that stand above all other virtues in terms of the necessary traits for bringing about wholeness, or shalom, to a weary world familiar only with the way of peace offered by Caesar.

The first virtue is peaceableness. The authors define peaceableness as

“the settled disposition to bring about concord among those in conflict. It is the rare and valuable skill of the consummate mediator who listens carefully to all sides, respects genuine differences, and manages to forge understanding and even agreement among warring factions…”

In other words, being a conduit of peace in the way of Jesus requires us to become people who can stand in the messiness and awkwardness of conflict while shelving our own biases and genuinely listening to one another in pursuit of mutual understanding. This isn’t to ignore conviction or opinion – but it’s in order to pursue a greater goal of peace. As both individuals and as a community, we should then ask: are we known for this? Do people in conflict naturally think to come to us to help resolve or mediate challenges and disagreements? Being peaceable is being a magnet of peace. When people desire peace in their circumstances, do they readily think of us?

The second required virtue is justice. Justice is understood as “Liberation from oppression, care for the vulnerable, fairness for all.” We can be sure that the peace of God will always be absent whenever fundamental rights are ignored or basic needs go unmet. And this goes for ALL stripes of humans – regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminal record or any other myriad of factors that distinguish and separate us into categories we deem as deserved and undeserved. Martin Luther King Jr., an agent of shalom in his own right, famously said,  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and so being a people of peace means pursuing justice for all.

The third virtue of peace is compassion. The authors write, “Compassion is what happens when love meets suffering, when love meets the broken.” Compassion (literally “with passion”) begins by rejecting its opposite – apathy (literally “without passion”). If the havoc on earth has been either ignored or even unseen by us, how can we possibly show compassion? But of course this is not enough; to practice the virtue of compassion is to lean in to the turmoil, resisting the desire to numb ourselves, and respond with passion. Again, as individuals and as a community, the question we’re led to is, “in the face of life’s disruption, what is our knee-jerk response? Do we lean in or shy away or, perhaps worse, become indifferent?

And finally, perhaps most crucial of all, to bring shalom to the world requires the virtue of wisdom. The authors write, “We can never realize the homecoming of shalom in the day-to-day messiness of our lives without wisdom.” This is not intelligence, nor smarts, nor gained knowledge nor skill – though all of these things matter. Rather, wisdom,

“is the inclination to make sound and discerning practical judgments, informed by the biblical story and the accumulated experience of the Christian community and aimed at what is truly good.”

Without wisdom’s guidance, applying the first three virtues of peace can risk becoming unreliable and even self-serving. Its opposite is foolishness and the authors suggest, “The fool follows paths of self-interest, destruction, and violence because she knows nothing of justice or compassion.” Wisdom anchors all of the virtues of shalom.

Peaceableness, justice, compassion and wisdom; four virtues that can bring about shalom in our world. It’s important to note that as beautiful as each is on its own, peace requires all four to work together. That is, we experience and bring about peace through being peaceable individuals seeking justice and compassion with wisdom as our guide. I encourage all of us to grow in these 4 virtues such that the parts of this world we have influence over might bring shalom this Advent season and beyond.

* Feel free to check out this book from the library (click here and I’ll bring it to you on Sunday!)