
Let Peace Begin with Me

“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”
As the world greets us with new violence, new tragedy every day, this is the song that keeps popping into my mind. It sounds trite, doesn’t it? A sweet, simple melody for sweet, simple words.
But those words aren’t simple. They’re profound. Because those words don’t shove the goal—peace, lack of violence, the cessation of hate—onto anyone else. They don’t call for the destruction of enemies or the silencing of opposition. Those words put the burden exactly where they should.
On ME.
What does it mean to pursue peace in this way? What does it mean, when our children are being gunned down in schools, when politicians and activists are assassinated, when hatred is the order of the day? What does it mean when right-wing and left-wing have become so full of animosity toward each other that each side fully believes the other is beyond redemption? What does it mean to ask for peace in a world where people only want to win?
I’ll start with what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean shouting down your opponent. It doesn’t mean blaming the other side for each tragedy. It doesn’t mean condemning their hate speech but promoting your own.
Peace—true peace—means seeing both sides of every tragedy. True peace means grieving not just when the person on YOUR side is hurt, but when the person on THEIR side is too. And here’s the real kicker—true peace means crying out not just for the victims but for those who have been so hurt that they feel the need to respond in the way that will do the most harm in return.
The pursuit of true peace means asking not “What’s wrong with people?” and instead “What’s wrong with me?”
Many years ago, after a tragic school shooting, we were at Bible study and talking about the events of the day, and I remember my own first thought. It was something selfish and distressed, along the lines of, “I’m so glad I homeschool, so we don’t have to fear this.” But then Gary, a retired UMC pastor, shook my world. He sat down, pure sorrow lining his face, and looked like he was about to cry. “I just keep asking myself,” he said, “what I could have done and didn’t. I’ve just been on my knees asking God all day, ‘When did You ask me to pray, and I didn’t listen?’ What could I have done for this poor soul that thought this was the answer to his pain?”
This, my friends. This is the response of a true Christian heart. Our first and best and most peace-seeking response should be about where WE have failed. Where WE have sought our own selfish things instead of selfless sacrifice. Our lament should not be about what has been done to us, but about what we have failed to do for our neighbors, that they have decided calling themselves our enemies is preferable to being our friends.
Because the Church was not formed to be a seat of power. Jesus took over neither the temple nor the throne. He spoke harsh words not to sinners but to the people who should have been loving them and were failing in that. To the poor, the downtrodden, the depressed, the outcast, the adulterer, the thief, the tax collector…to them, He said, “Today I eat at your house.” To them, He said, “Where are you accusers? Now go and sin no more.”
First He saved. Then He inspired. And He said, “Take neither sword nor money pouch.” The one exception, when He told His disciples to bring a sword? When they dared to use it to defend Him, He chided them and healed the wound given.
Jesus does not need us to defend Him. Jesus does not need us to lash out at those who hate Him. Jesus will, in fact, offer miraculous healing to those we hurt in His name.
The answer to violence in America, friends, is not to snuff it out with more of the same. It’s not to pick up our sword—it’s to pick up our cross. The answer is not to silence the opposition, the answer is to LOVE THEM. Love them as Christ loved them. And how is that?
Not by shouting how wrong they are. But by showing them how deep is the love of God. Not by threatening to show Jerusalem what true power looks like—but by weeping over it.
Grieve for the Charlie Kirks. Grive for the Melissa Hortmans. Grieve for the students at school and the worshipers at Mass. But we cannot stop there, not if we want to truly be like Him.
We must grieve for the shooters who think there’s no other way. Grieve for the accused drug dealers drowned at sea. Grieve for the vitriol-spewing neighbor you’ll never see eye to eye with.
Peace does not come by tribalism. Peace comes by laying down the need to win and instead baring our hearts before God and man and being willing to cry out like the prophets of old, “Forgive us, Lord! Forgive us for abandoning You! Forgive us for our unfaithfulness!”
Forgive us, Lord. Not THEM, but me. Forgive me for not praying when I should. For not loving when I should. Forgive me for seeking my own vision so much that I forget those who oppose it are your beloved children too. Forgive me for only grieving my own losses, when in Your eyes there is no distinction. For forgetting that when the angel stood before Joshua, he declared a truth we’ve chosen to ignore. That You take no side by Your own.
Forgive us, Lord. And then show us the true Way of peace.
