Peace Amongst Chaos

Blessed are you...

Photo by Andrew Beatson

It has taken me a while since the 2024 election to build up the will to write here again. The outcome felt like a betrayal of everything Christian. I hoped our supposed brothers and sisters in Christ would see the light and make the right choice. At the time, I was still a naive Christian lay pastor.

When I woke up the morning of the election, a nightmare was still present in my brain. The fear of being held captive by an abuser was still pumping out adrenaline, and it was enough that I had to convince myself it was a dream.

I had tried to get away by faking a seizure of all things, and it got me to the hospital, where I thought I could get help for everyone held captive. But there he was at my bedside, letting me know I could never escape him. That’s when I woke up. The joke’s on him.

But that dream stuck with me the entire day of the election. One of the drawbacks of being a mystic is that you get clues to stuff you’d rather not know ahead of time. It became clear as the night wore on that the abuser had indeed won the election. To say I was sick was an understatement. I hated that I could not wake up from this reality.

This week’s reading from Luke gives me a faint glimmer of hope as the chaos of this current administration sweeps the world, both in the United States and abroad.

Luke 6:17-26

Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets."

"But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

"Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.

"Woe to you who are laughing now,

for you will mourn and weep.

"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."

Jesus stands in the midst of the oppressed, the broken, and the rejected, and he does not tell them to pick themselves up by their bootstraps or to conform to the ways of empire. He does not tell them to hide their sorrow or deny their hunger. Instead, he looks at them and declares them blessed. Not blessed in the way the world defines it—not wealthy, not powerful, not safe—but blessed because the kingdom of God belongs to them. Blessed because their suffering is not unseen. Blessed because what has been stolen will be restored.

It is easy, in these times, to feel forsaken. The rise of white Christian nationalism, emboldened by political victory, seeks to silence, control, and dominate. It seeks to rewrite the gospel in its own image, making power its idol and cruelty its sacrament. It feels like the abuser standing at our bedside, reminding us that escape is impossible. That he holds the keys to our freedom. That he cannot be stopped.

But the joke is on him.

Because Jesus stands beside us, whispering truth over the lies. He declares that no empire will last forever, that every oppressor will fall, and that the lowly will be lifted. He does not promise ease, but he does promise peace. Not the peace of silence, not the peace of submission, but the peace that surpasses understanding—the peace that strengthens the heart and gives courage to the weary.

The song lyrics remind us: "There's a peace far beyond all understanding / May it ever set my heart at ease." This peace is not the absence of struggle, but the presence of God in the midst of it. It is the assurance that no amount of political power, no system of oppression, and no voice of hate can override the promises of Christ.

And what anxiety fails to remember is that peace is a promise He keeps.

So to the weary, the broken, the outcast, the ones who feel forsaken by the very people who should have stood beside them: hold on. The kingdom of God is yours. Your hunger will be satisfied. Your tears will turn to laughter. Your rejection is not the final word.

Jesus stands beside you. And the joke is on them. Amen.

Peace

You will stay true
Even in the chaos
Your Word remains truth
Even when my mind wreaks havoc
I will be still for I’ve known all along
My Jehovah Shalom