Peace--A Rather Slippery Word!

Peace--it is one of those words that is rather slippery!  What do we mean by it?  Obviously, it refers to times when we are not at war.  But peace isn't limited to the cessation of geopolitical, military war.  I think it means far more.  It means not being in conflict with the Holy One, but seeking to live as we are called by God to live.  It means not being in conflict with our neighbors, but seeking to understand, affirm and embrace them.  It means not being in conflict with ourselves, but seeking to know and accept who we really are.  Come to think of it, Jesus offered up the perfect definition of peace when he was asked about the greatest of the commandments.

The first, he said, was to love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul.  The second, he said, was to love your neighbor as yourself.  He draws them both from the Hebrew scriptures, his Bible.  When we are able to do that we are at peace.

Make no mistake, it takes a lot of work to bring about peace--internationally as well as personally.  It takes a lot of willingness to be open to new ways of thinking, new ways of being.  But peace is possible in all its manifestations.  If we are only willing to give it a chance.

This weekend my congregation joins with our sister congregation, Bat Yam--Temple of the Islands, a reform Jewish congregation, in our annual Pulpit Exchange.  That's something of a misnomer, of course.  For we share the same building,t he same sanctuary, the same pulpit.  So it is preachers, not pulpits that are being exchanged.  It is just one piece of the peace we are striving to build.  For we share much more than mere real estate.  In many ways, we share our very lives.

Ass followers of this blog know, we even shared an adventure this past year in Israel.  It was there where we experienced the artwork on the wall between Israel and the Gaza Strip pictured above. It is bears witness to the hope for peace in that troubled part of the world.  It is our hope, as two congregations living together, working together, being together, that we too bear witness to the possibility of peace in many ways, in many places.

If you'd like to be part of the Pulpit exchange, I'll be preaching for Bat Yam this coming Friday, January 31, at 7:30 PM, and my friend and colleague
, Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, will be preaching at our 9:00 and 11:00 AM services this coming Sunday, February 2.

(Photo Credit:  Janice Block)