By Angel F. Lee Chaplain, Atrium Health, Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
My ultimate desire for my life is peace. I used to understand peace as the absence of conflict and people pleasing. As a Black woman in America, I have learned that there is no peace without conflict. I continue to see people who look like me being killed and treated unjustly. I constantly face microaggressions and oppression in the spaces that I occupy. Choosing not to address injustice fills my being with hopelessness, as it feels that there is no end to injustice. My former understanding of peace is what the dominant culture wants me to believe so that the status quo will remain. Yet, it was leading me to a slow death, and I felt it in my spirit.
What has saved my life is an understanding of holy peace. Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Understanding Jesus as a radical prophet who taught and exhibited God’s love for all creation, contrary to the dominant culture, helped me to understand holy peace.
I get to walk in the footsteps of Jesus in my work as a chaplain educator. I teach clergy to connect with divine wisdom and to care with love and compassion. I advocate for those who are experiencing injustice within the hospital and the community. I love my students and patients with the love of God. True peace comes by acknowledging and combating “the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) with the love and power of God.
My classroom is a brave space for clergy to identify such forces and process how to address them with divine love. What brings me the most joy is witnessing the transformation in my students’ pastoral care, preaching and leadership due to my radical love and teachings. To know that God uses me to advance peace IS saving my life right now.
Writing also saves my life; for I hear the voice of God when I write. I wrote the poem below several years ago. This piece was healing then and continues to heal me when my spirit is affected by the evil and hate in this world. May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding rest in your heart.
PRAY, PRACTICE, PONDER
Read the poem below slowly, meditatively, as a form of prayer.
Woman of Confidence
I look in the mirror and see a woman of worth.
She is so blessed that her cup constantly overflows with riches.
So, she gives her time, wisdom, care and materials so that others can know their worth.
I look in the mirror and see a woman of love.
She is so blessed that she is surrounded by caring communities.
So, she smiles and basks in the glory of her natural and spiritual family.
I look in the mirror and see a woman of strength.
She is so blessed that God sends angels to protect her on all sides.
So, she walks confidently everywhere she goes, knowing that she is God’s anointed.
I look in the mirror and see me.
“THY KINGDOM COME” ! The “Judgment Day” = is the “Kingdom.”.
Job 3:13 …” For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept: then had I been at rest,Job 3:14 ..”With kings and counsellors of the earth, who build desolate places for themselves,Job 3:15 ..” Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver;Job 3:16 ..”Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants that have not seen the light
.Job 3:17 ..” There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the wearied are at rest.Job 3:18 ..”The prisoners together are at ease; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.Job 3:19 …The small and great are there, and the bondman freed from his master.” [ A Description of death and Hades “i.e. the grave..] See John 5:28-29 .”THY KINGDOM COME” ! The “Judgment Day” = is the “Kingdom.”
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the sentence of death passed upon the entire human race. Genesis 2:7 “and man became a living soul/being.”> (Ezekiel 18:4 the word of God states: “the soul that
sinneth it shall die.”)
> Adam and Eve were told by God where they would go; Genesis 3:19 “till thou return unto the ground;for out of it thou wast taken”…unto dust thou shalt return “…
[Job 3:13-18 ” 13″ For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; 15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: 16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.”…]
HOW? > John 3:16 “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.”>>> 1 Cor. 15:22-23 “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”>>>
*Furthermore in 1 Tim. 2:4-6 it is explained; ”Who will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, in due time.”[ A perfect human life for another perfect human life (a corresponding price])>>>
The first life defective and it’s posterity; the “last Adam, a quickening spirit.”
The risen Lord Jesus who was “holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.” “The Word” or “Logos” who was made flesh, and in love and obedience to God his Father “poured out his soul unto death.”>>> Isaiah 53:12 Jesus stated in John 6:51 “and the bread I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” The ransom-price, the right to life, to be applied in due time.
1 John 2:2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the whole world.”
The offer of justification to life as in Romans 5:18 “so by the righteousness of one, upon all men unto justification of life.” on the terms of Romans 10:10 “…believeth unto righteousness.” “…confession unto salvation.” >>>If there is a first resurrection, then there is more than one implied also. 1 Cor. 15:38 “…a body as it hath pleased Him.”
1 Cor. 15:40 “the glory of the celestial is one, the
glory of the terrestrial is another.”
Romans 5:19 “For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners, so by the many be made righteous.”
WHEN? Acts 24:15.. Resurrection of the(“Just and Unjust”)! In Hebrews 11:3 the statement is made that “the worlds (ages) were framed by the word of God.” All
human history is shaped by the justice, love, wisdom and power of God; in permitting evil for
mans education, and the gift of his son for our redemption!
* Acts 17:31 “he hath appointed a day, he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained”.. Daniel 12:2 “Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake ” ..(The “unconscious aspect >
of death)..>>>( 2 Peter 3:8 “one day with the Lord as a thousand years.”)..
The “Judgment Day” = is the “Kingdom.”
* Jesus stated in John 5:28-29 “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice” “they that have done good, unto a resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto a resurrection of judgment.” i.e.(original meaning in early Greek MSS) >>>NOTE: the location of the dead is clearly stated to be the SAME , before their disposition upon resurrection! JESUS also includes in this resurrection: >>>
*Matt. 12:41-42 “the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment.” ,
*Matt. 10:15 “more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah.” (Literally)!
*Matt. 19:28 “the 12 tribes of Israel.” >>>Jeremiah 31:16 “from the land of the enemy.”..These all having died in total or relative ignorance, and inherited weakness, prior to the millennial day of judgment!
Jesus stated again in John 12: 47-48 “if any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not-the
word I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” A resurrection by judgments during the “times of restitution” >>>Acts 3:21.
* When the true “way of holiness”( Isaiah 35:8 ) will be prepared for mankind! (Isaiah 11:9 )“shall not hurt or destroy.” >>>(Isaiah 26:9 )“when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness.” With Satan bound a 1,000 years! >>>1 Cor. 15:23 “every man in his own order.”
THE CALL OF OUR PRESENT AGE! John 6:44,65 Acts 15:14-18 “God did at the first visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” A spiritual church for his Son; the Christ.
(the Spirit and the Bride)
Rev. 22:17. Jesus said: “Deny self and follow me”>>> Matt. 16:24 “ sanctify them through thy truth” John 17:17 “ be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” Rev 2:10. The completion of this “first resurrection” ends this age! >>>THEN-Rev. 21:2 “new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven” Acts 7:48 “God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” >>>Then the “millennial” reign of Christ actually begins! Psalm 102:18 “the people which SHALL BE CREATED”! ..You will be there !
THE NATIONS WILL BE HEALED ! YOU WILL BE THERE !
(Isaiah 33:24..)
Isa 65:22…
” they shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
“But truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Numbers 14:21
God shall wipe away all tears from off all faces.
Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17
All wars shall cease.
Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3
All evil shall be suppressed.
Psalm 37:10; Revelation 20:2,3
God’s judgments shall teach righteousness to all.
Isaiah 26:9; 28:17
Nothing shall ever hurt nor destroy.
Isaiah 11:9
Truth shall triumph in the earth.
Psalm 85:11
God shall write His Law in the hearts of men.
Jeremiah 31:33
All shall know Him from the least to the greatest.
Jeremiah 31:34
Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God.
Habakuk 2:14
God shall pour out His spirit upon all flesh.
Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17
All iniquity shall be remembered no more.
Isaiah 55:7
All shall rejoice as sorrow and sighing flee away.
Isaiah 35:10
There shall be no more death, sorrow or pain.
Revelation 21:4,5
There shall be no more sickness.
Isaiah 33:24
The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isaiah 35:5
The earth shall yield her increase.
Psalm 67:6
The desert shall blossom as the rose.
Isaiah 35:1
The ransomed of the Lord shall return from death.
Isaiah 35:10
One shall not build and another inhabit, nor plant and another take, nor shall any labor in vain.
Isaiah 65:22,23
Every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree.
Micah 4:4
God shall multiply the fruitage of the earth.
Psalm 67:6; 85:12
There shall be showers of blessing.
Ezekiel 34:26
The earth shall become like a Garden of Eden.
Isaiah 51:3