Peace On Earth

I love to study the history of Christian worship. It is fascinating to discover the many ways that people in different times and places have learned to direct their hopes, hearts, and lives to God in worship. About seven years ago my family and I moved to Washington D.C. so I could study the history of Christian worship with some of the leading scholars and historians. It was a fantastic experience.

I learned that there were certain key centers of worship in the Church which played a huge role in forming the ways that people worship on Sundays to this day. One of these centers was the city of Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, whose worship became the basis of the liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

One of the curious things about worship in Constantinople is that is wasn’t contained within the church building. Every Sunday morning there was a procession that would go around the city, through different neighborhoods, and the people would join in. As they moved around there was one prayer that was said over and over: Kyrie eleison.

You can still hear this prayer recited in many churches today. It’s often translated “Lord, have mercy.” This is a fine translation, but it misses a key dimension of what the word “eleison” really means. In Greek, the word does mean mercy, but what mercy meant was a total restoration. To pray Kyrie eleison was to ask God to come into your community and to set every area of life in order. This prayer asked God to restore relationships, repair economies, break poverty and rectify disparity.

It’s very similar to the Hebrew word shalom, which is often translated “peace.” When we talk about the concept of “peace on earth” at Christmas, we aren’t simply wishing for a cessation of violence. We are longing for a world transformed.

In Constantinople, when the people
heard Kyrie eleison they joined the procession of worship to the great church, Hagia Sophia, to be reminded of what God had done, was doing and promised to do through Jesus. They wanted to participate in it! They also brought food and other gifts to participate in making that eleison real in the lives of those in need. Deacons would receive these gifts and would use them to care for those in need in the community.

Sometimes I wish there were Kyrie eleison processions in my city. I think that would be a great reminder for me that the Gospel is big enough to impact every part of my life and everything that I do. What I do have is the fourth week of Advent! I hope we will take this week of peace and the final few days before Christmas to remember we are a people of shalom, peace and eleison, mercy.

Let’s pray that God can help us to see how big the Gospel really is!

Questions for Today

What is one way you would like to see the world transformed by God’s peace?
Who do you see in the world working to bring about God’s Shalom/eleison /peace in that area?
Are there any small ways you can help to contribute to making that transformation a reality??