{"id":1510,"date":"2018-05-22T21:23:47","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T21:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/?p=1510"},"modified":"2018-05-30T13:47:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T17:47:48","slug":"peace-in-the-midst-of-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/2018\/05\/22\/peace-in-the-midst-of-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace in the midst of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Matthew 5:38-48<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><strong>Vs. 45\u00a0so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the reasons why during our Holy Communion service the priest says \u201cPeace be with you all.\u201d is because peace is one of the most sought after things in the world. \u00a0As individuals and as communities we have so much material wealth but we lack peace. \u00a0The salvation that Jesus\u00a0Christ offers includes peace (John\u00a0<span data-term=\"goog_587984468\">14:27<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. \u00a0Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.) \u00a0This is the peace that enabled David to write in Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff \u2013 they comfort me.<br \/>\nThe Jewish word for peace is Shalom. \u00a0This \u201cpeace\u201d applies to individuals and to communities. \u00a0When people have &#8216;Shalom&#8217; they are at peace with other individuals and as a community \u201cthere is a strong desire to cooperate with and to understand other nations. \u00a0Shalom implies a striving for unity and harmony, in spite of major differences among peoples (The Language of Judaism by Simon Glustrom.)<br \/>\nThe peace that only God provides surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7.) \u00a0It enables us to be calm and peaceful even when we are facing trials and tribulations. \u00a0Those who truly have God\u2019s peace can turn the other cheek when struck. \u00a0They will not retaliate or pray for their \u201cenemies\u201d to be punished. \u00a0\u00a0They can love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. \u00a0God\u2019s peace enables us to love just like Jesus loves because we have a trust in God that will not be shaken.<br \/>\nIt also enables us to share with those around us. \u00a0We no longer consider ourselves first, but we consider the needs of others before our own. \u00a0Remember that many of Christ\u2019s followers at that time were very poor and did not have much. \u00a0To give a coat or cloak (especially if they only had one) meant providing for others even if the disciple would not have anything.<br \/>\nThose that truly trust in the Lord will receive the love and peace that only God can provide. \u00a0They will forgive and love others because God loves and forgives them. \u00a0They have God\u2019s peace in the midst of violence because they are the children of God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>PRAYER<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Lord, grant us Your peace and make us instruments of Your peace. \u00a0Enable us to forgive, share, and love all those around us. \u00a0In Jesus name we pray. \u00a0Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>THOUGHT FOR THE DAY<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God no matter what the conflict. &#8211; Unknown<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Rev. Shibi Abraham, Youth Chaplain, North East Region<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><em>Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 5:38-48 Vs. 45\u00a0so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/matthew-5-45-3-e1527301802651.jpg?fit=100%2C75&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}