Publishers of Peace

735/10,000 Publishers of Peace “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.” Nahum 1 v 15 Journalists are trained to identify what is news and what does not make news in these words, “ When a dog bites a man, it is not news. But when a man bites a dog, it is news.” The focus naturally of modern media and news is the sensational, the violent, the unnatural or generally, what ever is negative. As believers, we are called to be publishers of good news. Every story in our lives will have a happy ending. The shepherds who tended their sheep on the hilly pastures of Jerusalem were the first to be publishers of good news: The angelic herald announced the purpose of the Christ child as “ Glory to God and peace on Earth and goodwill among all mankind.” Our lives should be marked by the vertical dimension of bringing praise and glory to God and the horizontal dimension of bringing peace and goodwill among men. If both these dimensions are fulfilled, then we are leading testimonial lives or lives that have a message that goes beyond mundane concerns of life. Our feet are the humblest and lowest parts of our bodies but the Lord declares even the feet of those who are His messengers to be beautiful. He will keep an eye on every step we take and keep even our toes from dashing against a stone. The bigger the problem we confront, the greater the revelation of God’s power in that situation. The greater will be the impact of our testimonies. The Lord declares in His Word that even the mighty mountains, metaphors for the challenges we find insurmountable in everyday life, will be crushed under our feet once we are empowered with His message. We are expected to be problem solvers and not those who exacerbate tension and conflict. We are peace makers who try to reconcile all who come in contact with us with the Lord God. The Lord once affirmed that “ you are my newspaper.” People who read the news that we publish will be filled with hope and joy in contrast with the modern newspapers of which even a glance would induce pessimism and depression. The unrepentant and those who persist in their wickedness will be cut off sooner or later. As for us, we should honour the Lord with praise and worship, with participation in the Lord’s table and in keeping the promises we have made to Him. The choice between the divine and the mundane is the dilemma facing every human being. The divine has its full and final manifestation in the gospel. When we deliberately, consciously, willingly and cheerfully chose the divine over the mundane, we lead fulfilled lives from the perspective of God as well as from our own. Even the places where our feet trod on becomes blessed. The presence of God accompanies us everywhere as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Unlike the short-lived news we read in the newspapers, the message of peace and goodwill we carry from God to all mankind will never outlive its utility or its universal relevance. It will speak to people in the context of the mountains they confront in their lives. We will speak to them as people who have already surmounted the mountains of life and death. It will influence both the messenger and the audience. It is spoken as well as non verbal. It is communicated with gentleness and love. I once wrote these lines, “ Gospel, go spell it out, In the way you live, Don’t talk of hell, No need to yell.” Prateep V Philip