PASS THE "PEAS:" The truth about peace and chaos. (Voiceover coming soon)
Updated: Sep 12, 2019
During Pastor Delores's Sept. 8th sermon, one term kept coming up that stuck with me. It wasn't because it was unique or because it was a memorable word.
Delores LITERALLY said the word like 487 times!
Okay, I'm exaggerating, but I promise it's not by that much. Either way, if you were there, you would understand how powerful this word was to the sermon.
WHAT WORD WAS IT?
That word... was PEACE!
Peace... a word represented by your two most active fingers for communication; one of which is - ironically - your most offensive.
Anyway, most people know the song that goes "Pass the peas like we used to say" by the J.B.'s.
The reason I thought of that song during this sermon is that Delores kept saying, "Pass the PEACE!" No offense to the Pastor (bless her heart), but sometimes, her "c" sound was a little passive. So, it literally sounded to my ears like she was saying "pass the peas, pass the peas! You have to pass the peas if you wanna go to heaven."
She had me nervous about throwing away those beans last night. I mean, what a massive waste of a ticket home when I die. Now I have to do it the real way: serving God and His people, loving and accepting Him, repenting for sins; you know, the basics, right?
But, I digress.
Pastor Delores obviously had a point in saying this phrase over and over again. So it got me thinking about something.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO JESUS AND DISCIPLESHIP?
The dictionary says having peace means you are free of disturbance or feeling tranquility in a negotiable position. I paraphrased a little, but you get the point.
Basically, peace is a state of mind that allows you to accept the good and the bad as it is. Peace doesn't always mean "good," and that's where the misconception comes.
Another way of looking at it is the inverse. Wanting revenge and dwelling in things that can make you feel wrath or evil thoughts is the opposite of peace. In my opinion, that is chaos, which...can generally be assumed to be a bad thing.
As humans OR CHRISTIANS, we are not encouraged to embrace peaceful options in otherwise chaotic scenarios.
WHY DO WE AVOID PEACE?
Is it because it's easy to be chaotic? What about humans causes us to feed on anger and hateful thoughts?
Pastor Delores gave the perfect answer to this question. She said that it is "control." With control comes pride, so the lack of control would cause that pride to affect our thoughts negatively.
Control is the sneaky destroyer of peace. Control turns your peace into chaos. At least... you and I may believe that after learning that control can potentially be a grave enemy to our order.
HERE'S THE SECRET RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEACE AND CHAOS.
Before I tell you the secret, you must understand something about these two things. Of the two ideas, CHAOS is the one that will always be. Suffering is inevitable. Hatred will FOREVER attempt to find a place in your heart.
In most cases, chaos is more a physical, realist concept than peace. Peace remains a state of mind; an idealist concept. You feel peace not because there is peace, but...because you feel peace. However, there is nothing peaceful about a tree falling through your kitchen. I'm sure we can agree that's as chaotic as a Sunday afternoon home can get.
So now that you understand peace and chaos, I can tell you the secret relationship between them.
The secret is that peace and chaos AREN'T EVEN TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! Peace is the acceptance of the garbage.
Or...at least...one cannot exist without the other.
Light is generally accepted as "good," and shadows or darkness are mostly used to describe "bad." However, you know that without light, there are no shadows and vice-versa. With that, we can better define "peace" as defined by man AND Jesus.
Peace is the acceptance of the garbage. Don't be confused with that statement, though. No one is telling you to lie there and just take it. Nobody is saying you need to be complacent with horrible things in life. If you can help it, THEN HELP IT!
But...when you can't help it, accept it. Pray and move forward. Know it, and have peace.
HOW CAN WE USE OUR NEW KNOWLEDGE OF PEACE?
To my understanding, Jesus wants you to use peace in the presence of chaos instead of abandoning the idea of peace when chaos befalls you. It's in peace that we realize our serenity and opt into more "Jesus-like" options.
When you show the peace inside you, it exposes the evil in them. It reveals who the sons and daughters of God are. Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."
I don't know about you, but for me, the whole point of following all these rules is to represent myself as a child of God. If that's what Jesus is doing, it's a no-brainer: DO IT!
BE A PEACEMAKER; PASS THE PEAS!
Speaking of that, here's a fun fact: the song "Pass the Peas" by the J.B.'s from the 70's was sampled for a Hip Hop 90's song called "Overweight Lover's in the House" by Heavy D.
So as long as I can remember, I'm going to call Pastor Delores "Heavy D." Or "Pastor Peas." Either way, I'm sure she'll love it (lol).
NEXT STEPS?
In the future, I will be talking with some church members and people outside of the church who seem like they are good at maintaining peace in their minds against their chaotic lives.
While we wait for that, tell me: Are you good at maintaining your peace when chaos knocks on your front AND back doors?
If so, how do you do it? Help me and other Cogopos understand the method to your madness so that we too can embrace our peace.