The peace of Christ is simply more interesting than what the culture wars have to offer.
The body of Christ has been entrusted with a profound mystery: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26-27). We have been deputized as heralds of the good news of reconciliation—with God and with one another (Col. 1:22). Indeed, we are commissioned to both show and tell the world that all things hold together in Christ (Col. 1:17).
We can thus understand anew why, in his prayer during the Passion, Jesus prayed for the church’s unity: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). According to our Lord, the church’s witness is linked to our unity. It is by our oneness that the world will know that God sent his Son for the world. In sum, the body of Christ has something to offer the world: that peace which only Christ can give (John 14:27). And in a world of increased fragmentation and isolation, this vision of peace and unity will have a special attraction precisely because of its peculiarity. We can hope and pray that a generation will see that the peace of Christ is precisely what the world is longing for—a longing that will never be satisfied by the diminishing enchantments and distracting entertainments of a consumerist culture. The peace of Christ is simply more interesting than what the culture wars have to offer.
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