“The God of peace is never glorified by human violence.” – Thomas Merton.
If we are looking for a moniker for the living Divine, the “God of Peace” (Yahweh-Shalom) is a real humdinger. It occurs many times in the Bible, and in Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic writing more broadly.
There have always been people who find this conception of God completely compelling. We can find these champions of authentic spirituality walking with peace activists in every time and place. They are the mostly unsung heroes of the world who insist that you cannot do God and do violence.
Unsurprisingly, because it’s usually power-hungry old men—who send other people’s sons into the killing fields—many of these peace activists historically have been women. And you don’t have to look too far to see that they have been at the forefront of peace movements around the world, putting everything on the line for peace, justice, and love.
Of course, there are male exemplars, like Martin Luther King Jr. Or the—mercifully still with us—priest and non-violence activist John Dear. His forays for the peace banner cause have landed him in jail frequently, not to mention all-manner of other sacrifices.
Clearly, not all peace activists are motivated by spirituality. There are many secular activists doing the peace thing around the world to great effect with absolute integrity. The thing about those who are driven by their spiritual convictions is that many of them have come to the same conclusion. The driver of their peace activism is the well-grounded belief that they are walking in lockstep with the God of peace.
We cannot do God and do violence.
When we get onto the God of peace walk, all those unhelpful, pesky, doctrinal differences, also usually the domain of power-hungry men, fall by the wayside. When that happens, and it does, what it reveals is a straight path to the heart. For it is in the heart that peace, like love and justice, must first take root, and then flow outward into the world. And it is in the heart above all where the God of peace dwells.
Yep, that’s right, the feast of the God of peace lays deep within each one of us, and there are plenty of party pies and cake for everyone. The dress for the party is woven in three colours in the finest heaven-sent silk the world will ever know, peace, justice for the poor, and love. These three are inseparable and build and thrive on each other. They are the very cloth of the God of peace.
When we wade through the all-and-sundry of the Abrahamic faiths, comrades, these are the core principles that are revealed. Love, justice, and peace, on these we may hang our hat forever. God’s name is Peace (Yahweh Shalom). Or God is Peace. From this, everything flows! We cannot do God and do violence. It’s time to put on our peace party dress, comrades, and shake it up in the dance that lasts with the God of peace.
– Cormac Stagg, author of The Quest for a Humble Heart