Peace… The Journey…

There were so many places in Ireland where you could literally feel the peace and serenity washing over you. These thin places did so much to sooth my soul and brought me even closer to God. Between the centuries of prayer that I could quite literally feel in those places and the breathtaking scenery, how could I not help but feel the presence of God in those places? The above picture is from a trek my wife and I took in the Doolin area. We went off the beaten path and found a lovely holy spring. This was taken on the footpath going to that well.

Peace… Shalom… Serenity… Comfort… These words can evoke a myriad of feelings. Perhaps they take you back to a time or a place where life was pleasant and good. Perhaps they remind you in the midst of hardship and pain that you will find your way back to such a place once more. Or perhaps they are a challenge to you  as you make adjustments in your life while pursuing that closer walk with God. For me, the journey of peace and my understanding of peace has been a gradual evolution. On that journey I have seen and experienced glimpses of that peace. Those holy and sacred moments in Ireland, on the Emerald Coast of Florida’s beaches, the lakes and rivers of Minnesota, and places in England/Scotland/Wales have all touched me deeply and profoundly.

What is peace? Is it the absence of conflict or war? Or is it something much deeper than that. My own understanding of peace has been influenced by my time in the military (including time in the war zone) as well as by experiences before I put on the uniform. It has also been profoundly influenced by the time since I took off the uniform in 2011.

In 1985, I raised my right hand (on April 15th to be precise), and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. My first tour of duty as a reservist was at Carswell Air Force Base outside of Fort Worth, Texas. The 7th Bomb Wing was the main unit on the base and they flew B-52 bombers and KC-135 Stratotankers as a part of Strategic Air Command’s Nuclear Response and Defense force. Each day I would watch fully loaded (nuclear) bombers take off from the base to fly their classified missions around the globe. The motto of Strategic Air Command was at the bottom of the letterhead that we used in the chapel and I found them oddly ironic and yet appropriate. “Peace is our Profession” was the motto at the time. After spending the summer talking with active and retired members of the bomber community I came to see that the majority of the pilots and crew really did want peace. Why? Because if the balloon went up and the bombers had to fly to their targets with their payload of death and destruction, it meant that an equal payload was headed towards the US and nobody would survive. Additionally, any time the politicians decide that our nation needs to go to war, it wasn’t the politicians who died in the air, on the ground, or on/under the sea. It was the men and women in uniform who would die. Frankly as I mulled over this motto and this understanding of peace, I always had a certain sense of unease within my heart. However, my first responsibility was to somehow offer the peace of God to warriors and their families as they walked this strange tightrope between life and death.

Fast forward a few years and a new Motto for the Air Force Chaplain Service was revealed. They used the phrase from Psalm 34:14, “Seek Peace and Pursue It” as their theme. In our ecumenical and interfaith environment, the theme was meant to give us a focus for our ministry during turbulent times. How does one seek peace and pursue it in an environment where you are constantly training for war? That was the challenge for all people of faith (and people with no faith) as they walked the tightrope between life and death. For this young chaplain it was a balancing act as I sought to balance working for the Prince of Peace within the military arm of the nation. A chaplain had to balance the cross {or tablets (Jewish) or prayer wheel (Buddhist) or crescent moon (Muslim)} and the rank they wore. We swore an oath when we were commissioned and yet we couldn’t be commissioned without the blessing of the faith group. It was a role that I never became completely comfortable with and I suppose that was a good thing.

After twenty-six years in uniform, I came to see personally and as a professional counselor the cost of war. I saw the toll it took on our warriors after repeated deployments to downrange (the war zone). I saw the toll it took on the families who were left to hold the fort down and then have to deal with the reintegration of the returning warrior who sometimes suffered from PTSD and other scars from the war. I saw it in the eyes and the souls of the warriors as they pondered the effects of war on innocent civilians in the combat zone and even on the families of the enemy who had been killed by our side. One Marine aviator shared with me the tremendous burden of guilt and shame he carried as a result of the lives he had taken in Vietnam. I also felt it personally as I counseled them and shared with them the burdens of that life. One thing it taught me was the incredible value of peace, specifically, the peace of Christ. It was that peace found through being still in the presence of God. It was the peace found in breakthroughs as I cared for wounded warriors and their families. It was the peace I came to find once more in my own life following a very dark period towards the end of my career. The peace of Christ had to sink deep into the darkest regions of my heart. That peace had to sink in and transform this broken Padre and make him whole once more.

When Jesus suddenly appeared in the upper room, his first words to the traumatized disciples was “Peace be with you.” He dropped into the middle of their nightmare and brought peace. Oh sure, he probably scared the wits out of them when he appeared, but he came with peace in his heart. That peace would give them a way to walk through the dark valley of discipleship that was ahead of them. And they would share that same peace as they carried out the ministry the Lord had commissioned them to do.

Dear reader, as we continue the journey of faith from Easter to Pentecost (actually as we walk this journey every day regardless of the season), my prayer for you and for me is that the same peace which Christ offered his disciples will be in our own hearts and lives. Peace is more than a profession. Peace is more than something to be pursued. Peace is something to be embraced! Allow the peace of Christ to embrace your heart and transform your life.