Greetings Neighbors,
Perhaps, if you’re like me, you have found the events of this year especially unnerving. Finding peace can be a tall order in the context of all the concerns we face in Vermont in the wake of July’s flooding, in our nation amidst divisive politics, in the world amidst ongoing war in Ukraine and elsewhere, and with widespread detrimental effects of a changing climate. If you correspond with me, you may have noticed that the farewell phrase I often end my communications with is “God’s Peace.” Not long ago, someone engaged me about the intent of this phrase, given the vast numbers of individuals and communities whose predominant experience is a real lack of peace. That person had received my phrase as dismissive, perhaps akin to when someone offers “thoughts and prayers” in the face of suffering with no action to back up those thoughts and prayers.
I truly appreciated this person’s honest feedback because it made it clear I needed to better express my intent, since my choice of farewell phrase was based in a conscious hope to not glibly imply that all is well in the world while so many still struggle. Allow me to share the intent of this phrase for me. Maybe it will resonate for you as well. When the world’s circumstances seem to offer no peace, and as we continue the unfinished fight for justice and peace in a world where many are suffering, the best peace I can offer/wish for another with any sense of integrity is a peace that exists beyond our current human experience of it. It is my sincere hope offered to those whose suffering will not end in this moment that they are still able to experience peace in God (however God is experienced by any of us).
To me, “God’s Peace” is not synonymous with passivity, or a dismissal of another’s pain, but rather a core grounding found in that which connects us and moves us toward wholeness— an assurance that it is still possible for things to change for the good, that there is peace somehow still accessible and present that helps to fortify us when we are drained and have nowhere to put the anger and sorrow of justice not-yet-achieved. My personal convictions lead me to a deep desire for all to be able to experience something more than lip-service justice, and a society that offers care and respect for all of creation.
Before this turns into a sermon, let me just offer my sincere hope that you might still know peace in these tumultuous times. And when peace seems too hard to find in the day, it is my hope that we might all still experience the Peace that offers us ground on which to find our footing as we work and wait for peace to come for each and everyone.
God’s Peace,
Rev. Sara Rossigg
Brandon Congregational Church, UCC
