Ordinary Time 
Pause
“My peace I give you.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Jesus
As Christians, we're called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus as peacemakers. This peace appears to have two pursuits: internal and external. There’s the peace we seek within our own hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. And there’s the peace we seek to enact in the world.
Pause. Inhale. Breathe in the peace of Christ.
Pause. Exhale. Breathe out the peace of Christ.
As you breathe with the scriptures this week, may you learn that you cannot exhale without inhaling, nor can you inhale without exhaling. So too, may you discover the single pursuit of peace.
Listen
When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:17-22
Think
Yesterday’s devotion told the story of Jean Claude, who announced the good news of peace with a simple handshake, a witness that continues to give life and inspire people some 30 years after it happened.
Imagine if we all had such eyes. What would it be like to have the courage to see the person instead of the barrier? To see in someone the possibility for friendship instead of fear?
Paul makes it clear: we are no longer strangers or aliens to each other; we are fellow citizens with God’s people; we belong to God’s household; we are built into the temple of God, where Jesus is our foundation and God’s spirit dwells within us. Hallelujah!
But… if only it were that easy. The amount of violence around the world is evidence of how difficult it is to live the oneness of humankind pictured in Ephesians 2. Or perhaps we see the violence as evidence that we should not to believe that picture.
Do you believe it? Do you need help believing it?
Tim Moore
Pray
God, much in the world makes me doubt the truth of our belonging together as one humanity. Use the words of today’s scripture to give me faith, to rest my trust on the truth of your good promises, and to see in my fellow human being the precious gift of each life. Amen.
Go
Go in the peace of Christ to give the peace of Christ to others.
