Blessed are the peacemakers, they’re called children of God

Peacemaking is a much-confused term.  Some people think it’s peacekeeping or keeping the peace at all costs.  I think the term “peacemaker” best describes the person who is committed to a THIRD way of living.  This is not a centrist way of living, but an entirely different way.

Think of it this way.  You don’t have to go very far in this life to be drawn into any manner of controversy, argument, or division—just visit social media, or partake in any form of news media.  There’s always an angle spun, and it’s the human propensity to make for a judgement.

Fr. Richard Rohr, a contemplative Catholic priest, calls this dualistic thinking—the thinking that judges everything right versus wrong, good versus evil, positive versus negative.  And this is our human way.  The first stage of the practice of contemplation is becoming aware of how quickly we form judgements in our thinking.

These judgements are not helpful, because they’re informed by many biases that almost all the time we’re hardly even aware of—unconscious biases.

Peacemaking is a commitment to a third and better way.  Peacemaking holds open the tensions that exist between two views and helps us stay away from being polarised one way or the other.  Peacemaking protects us from making decisions that seem wise at the time but end up being ill-considered. Peacemaking also protects us from deciding things that hijack our emotions.

Peacemaking, in terms of living at peace with others, is about considering information and deciding in the best interests of everyone.  And particularly on divisive issues, asks “Do I need to form a view in this situation?”

The thing is, every single day of our lives there’s an issue or issues that threaten to separate close friends and divide us as communities because we think it’s required of us to have a set and firm view.

Think of the Novak Djokovic controversy at present or the mandatory vaccination debate.

We may have strong views one way or the other on these and other issues.  Peacemaking takes us into the wisdom of asking, “Could there be a counterpoint here?”

The truth is, it’s those who really are peacemakers, those who are not owned by one faction or another, that are truly the children of God.  These are the ones who hold out for what God thinks, and God is truly never for one faction or another.

For God’s ways are higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts are inscrutable (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Peacemakers hold the sanctity of the human beings higher than the issues.  In fact, the issues are inconsequential.  For peacemakers, it’s so much more important how we treat each other than who’s apparently right and who’s supposedly wrong.

So if you find yourself thinking “I don’t want to have a view on this,” or “I’m not sure my viewpoint will be helpful in this debate,” perhaps you’re a peacemaker.  There is evidence that God is in you in your seeking to unify people and not divide them.

Peacemakers are safe people because they believe beyond prejudgement the very best of every person—now that’s a challenge, isn’t it!  They believe in the potential of people to change, and they believe people do change when they’re treated right, justly, and fairly.

Peacemakers believe in reconciliation, in justice as God sees it (not as we think it is), and they believe that kindness, gentleness, grace, patience—the fruit of the Spirit, and speaking the truth in love—are the way to live.  And peacemakers hold themselves personally accountable, first and foremost, to live out of these commitments.  To this end, the peacemaker is first and foremost getting the log out of their own eye in conflicts.  They believe that their own accountability is integral to building a bridge where there’s tension.