Parish Bulletin

Reflection

We all long for peace, don’t we? We want to live in a peaceful world – where there is an absence of war and strife. We want to enjoy peaceful relationships – with family and friends. We want to be at peace with ourselves – accepting and loving who we are inside. Peace is something we are pursuing through our whole lives – and the pursuit of peace informs so many of the decisions we make on a day-to-day basis.

But the truth is that some of us here today may feel a long way from having attained peace in our lives. Instead, our lives may seem chaotic, messy, and anything but peaceful. So what on earth are we to make of Paul’s opening comment in this passage we heard read from his letter to the Romans, verse 1? “Having been justified from faith we have peace before God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Paul is quite definite about it, isn’t he?: “We have peace with God”.

But what about when we don’t feel very peaceful: are we failing in the Christian faith? What about when we don’t have peace in our relationships with others? Does that mean that we aren’t really living out the Christian faith? I don’t think is what Paul is saying at all, because he is talking about another type of ‘peace’ here.

By using the word ‘peace’, Paul is talking about an absence of war. He is saying that, at one time, we were at war with God, enemies of God. But now, through the work of Christ on the cross, we are friends with God, no longer at war with him, but at peace with him.

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Anglican Parish of Maddington
BSB: 706-001
Acc No: 30003128