Seeking Peace - Notes and Conversations along the Way - Plough

Forewordby Madeleine L’EngleShalom. Peace. A peace that is not passive, but active.A peace that is not just the cessation of violence, but isthrough and beyond violence. Real peace.In an era that has been notable for its lack of peace,it is good to have Johann Christoph Arnold’s fine book,Seeking Peace. He quotes his grandfather’s definition ofpeace: “the inner peace of the soul with God; the fulfillmentof nonviolence, through peaceful relationships withothers; and the establishment of a just and peaceful socialorder.” As I listen to the news each morning, we seem tobe slipping further and further away from this threefoldpeace. We need this book which guides us to Shalom.A decade or so ago one evening during Lent, atManhattan’s Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Ilistened to the Reverend Canon Edward West talk aboutthe peace we seek, and use the rather unexpected metaphorof a subway.Most of us in the audience that night rode the subway,to the Cathedral, to and from work. He pointed out tous that if we looked at the people riding in the same carwith us, most of them would look as though nobody lovedthem. And that, alas, was largely true. Then he told us thatif we would concentrate inconspicuously on one person,affrming silently that this person was a beloved child ofGod, and, no matter what the circumstances, could lie inGod’s peace, we might see a difference. Peace is not alwayssomething you “do;” it is a gift you can give.The next time I rode the subway I glanced at a woman inthe corner, hunched over, hands clenched, an expression ofresigned endurance on her face. So, without looking at her,xi