Our psalmist for today recognizes that “the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.” What a blessing for us, for our families, for our churches, for our communities, for our nation, for our world, to receive as this new year begins! The apostle Paul points out that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.4:7) Looking more carefully at that passage, we can begin to see there’s more to the blessing of God’s peace than we may notice at first glance.

First off, there’s the phrase “which surpases all understanding.” Like all of God’s works in our lives, we can’t begin to understand God’s peace. We don’t know how it comes, why it comes, when it may come, what it will feel like when it comes. It remains a mysterious grace, but we know it will be a blessing far beyond what we could begin to ask for or imagine. Even when we pray for peace, we tend to think merely of the asence of conflict in whatever situation concerns us. But the blessing of God’s peace can come even in the midst of conflict.

The phrase that tells us that God’s peace “will guard [our] hearts and minds” provides the clue that, to bless us with peace, God acts within us, rather than externally in the world about us. As we come to know the enfolding, upholding, steadfast love of God in our lives; as we come to trust God in all things both great and small; as we come to accept God’s transforming hand at work in us bringing us ever closer to the imago dei we were created to be, we begin to recognize the blessing of peace when it wells up from deep within—no matter the circumstances without. Experiencing the blessing of peace, we are called to pass it on—and as we do, the world is changed, one person, one circumstance, one day at a time.