We all yearn for peace but it’s so hard to achieve

PEACE was the subject of some of the recent letters in the Henley Standard following Remembrance Sunday, in particular because the subject was thoughtfully approached by Henley Mayor Tom Buckley at the service.

We all want peace. We yearn for peace in so many areas of the world where conflict seems to have raged for so long, including, of course, the holy lands themselves.

But then we add our concerns over Sudan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Yemen and more, in particular, we remember that for nearly three years now, churches have also been praying for peace in Ukraine.

But it can’t be peace at any price. Capitulation and appeasement allow bullies to flourish and to keep the benefit of their aggression. This is partly how humans fall into war, “Peace in our time” being the most infamous example of false hope, a headline announced less than a year before the Second World War began.

Peace seems so hard to achieve. The sad fact is that there has never been a time in recorded history where all the world’s nations were at peace.

But, in this season of Advent, as we approach our most popular festival of Christmas, we will be reminded again that Jesus is the “Prince of peace”. Does our history of human conflict prove that this title of Jesus is a sham? Jesus never brought peace!

Jesus prophesied that war would continue much in the same way as he prophesied poverty would never be eliminated.

To date, both have proved to be sadly accurate prophecies. But the peace that the Christ-child does offer is an internal peace. It is a ceasefire between us and our creator.

Jesus was the ultimate peacemaker, taking on himself the sins of the world so each one of us can be reconciled to our Father in Heaven. Jesus bridges the division between humankind and God, he reconciles us.

Once we are reconciled, we can promote peace in all senses to the world. We can invite others to find the same internal peace but we can also encourage others to find external peace.

We can be peacemakers, brokering compromises between warring factions, whether they are family rifts, political extremists or actual nations at war.

Of course we go on praying for peace and we go on working hard at solving conflicts. We do not despair of peace and certainly if there were no peacemakers there would be even more conflict than we have now.

We can work on smaller scales, too, between people including within families. The joy of reconciliation will always be the reward of persuading parties to give up the fight.

If we have Jesus as our Prince of peace, we can know our own place in the world. We can know that we are God’s precious child and we can have a special joy this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of the prince of peace.

Rev Andy Storch

Rector, Hambleden Valley group of churches