As this issue prepares to go to print, the remains of 215 children were revealed on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. There are no words for this tragedy. There are no words when we know Jesus called us to be people of peace, and yet the Church operated residential schools across Canada. And these events are so recent they cannot be dismissed as distant history. The Kamloops school was run by the Catholic Church until 1969.
How do we talk about peace in the face of such atrocities? How do we hope when injustice and violence plague not just our culture, but also the Church?
If we look in Scripture to those who went before us, we can see an invitation to lament and confess our sin. We see a command to turn away from evil and learn a new way of living. These responses leave room for a combination of anger, grief, repentance, joy, and hope.
We too can cry out to God to free us from the curse of sin. We too can pour out our anger and sorrow to Him over wrongdoing. We too can give Him our praise. We too can cling to the seeds of restoration and transformation we are seeing in our lives and communities. And we can look to our future destiny—the promise of perfect justice and peace the Lord has promised us one day (John 6:38-40).
In this issue, our writers expose some of the multi-faceted layers of peace in our tension-filled, unjust world. J.M. Bergman shares what she’s learning about cultivating stillness. Alyssa Esparaz writes about the ways Compassion centres across the world are contributing to peace in violent situations.
In this issue’s feature interview, Andrea Nwabuike talks about how Christians can see themselves as storytellers and the importance of creating stories we can participate in.
In the Flipside, Cindy Palin describes the cleansing release of the imprecatory psalms and the unexpected relief of giving her anger to God. Andrew Russell reminds us that “peace isn’t quiet.” True peace grows stronger and brighter amid pain and chaos.
It’s difficult to find genuine joy in the Lord’s promises for eternity when the snapshot of reality right in front of us feels hopeless and hard. I pray the words in this issue encourage you as you fight for peace in your lives and communities.
As you read, keep in mind the words of Revelation 1:8: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” This is the God we trust in. And His kingdom will have no end.
