Living Peace – Easter 2026

 

Palm Sunday – 29th March 2026:

Readings: Psalm 85:8-13 Isaiah 57:19b-21 Luke 4:16-21

‘Shalom comes only to the inclusive, embracing community that excludes none.

The consequence of justice and righteousness is shalom, an enduring Sabbath of joy and well-being. But the alternative is injustice and oppression, which lead inevitably to turmoil and anxiety, with no chance of well-being.

Jesus’ ministry to the excluded was … the establishment of community between those who were excluded and those who had excluded them. His acts of healing the sick, forgiving the guilty, raising the dead, and feeding the hungry are all actions of reestablishing God’s will for shalom in a world gone chaotic by callous self-seeking.’1

Walter Bruggemann

 

Monday – 30th March 2026:

Readings: Jeremiah 6: 13-14, 16 Romans 14:13-19 Matthew 5: 43-48

‘If men really wanted peace, they would sincerely ask God for it and He would give it to them. But why should He give the world a peace which it does not really desire? The peace the world pretends to desire is really no peace at all.

Many .. have asked God for what they thought was ‘peace’ and wondered why their prayer was not answered. They could not understand that it actually was answered. God left them with what they desired, for their idea of peace was only another form of war.

So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all. And instead of hating the people you think are warmongers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed — but hate these things in yourself, not in another.’2

Thomas Merton

 

1 Bruggemann, Walter, Peace – Understanding Biblical Themes, Chalice Press, 2001.

2 Merton, Thomas, Passion for Peace, Crossroad Publishing, 2006.

 

Tuesday – 31st March 2026:

Readings: Psalm 82:3–4 Deuteronomy 15:7-11 Luke 18:18-23

‘Shalom in a special way is the task and burden of the well-off and powerful. They are the ones held accountable for shalom. The prophets persistently criticized and polemicized against those well-off and powerful ones who legitimized their selfish prosperity and deceived themselves into thinking it was permanent. The prophetic vision of shalom stands against all private arrangements, all “separate peaces,” all ghettos that pretend the others are not there.’3

Walter Bruggemann

 

Wednesday – 1st April 2026:

Readings: Psalm 29: 7-8, 11 1 Corinthians 1: 24-25 John 15: 18-20

‘Not to have shalom on terms we want is tough to take. But Jesus knew the things that make for shalom. He calls us friends and shares with us the makings of shalom, and that’s fine for the beloved community. But the world will work hard to eliminate the very message about shalom that is our ministry. So from the beginning it has been clear: A church that cares about shalom can expect to be in conflict with a world still hoping that another way is possible.’4

Walter Bruggemann

 

3 Bruggemann, Peace, 2001.

4 Ibid.

 

Maundy Thursday – 2nd April 2026

Readings: Psalm 116:1-2 12-19 Isaiah 42: 1-4 John 13:1-17, 31b-35

‘Think what you do when you wash the feet of another:

• You kneel before them.
• You place yourself at their disposal.
• You come to them without defense, vulnerable, risking all, letting your life be lived in the land of another.

We are very slow to learn what we know. Kneeling before another in vulnerability empowers him or her. In bringing one’s self to the posture of a servant, one bestows on the other mastery. Jesus came to the frightened failures who had abandoned their dreams (perhaps as we have) or to anxious successes who had nightmares about protecting their dreams (maybe as we have), and he knelt before them. His kneeling said this: “You are master. I make you master by being your servant. I value you. I take you seriously. I empower you.” The secret of the cross is revealed to us at that table in the middle of the night: Being vulnerable empowers the other one.’5

Walter Bruggemann

 

Good Friday – 3rd April 2026:

Readings Psalm 31:1-5 Isaiah 2:1-5 Matthew 26:47-56

‘That is not simply a vision of a political arrangement nor a disarmament program, but the emergence of a new world, a new situation in which people are able to trust and to communicate enough so that they no longer need to be armed – able to trust and communicate enough not to be armed.

There is dying that goes with unity. There is pain that goes with giving up swords and spears and living with pruning hooks and plows. There is pain and death and vulnerability that come with living in the world defenseless, but in that way comes unity.’6

Walter Bruggemann

 

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

 

Holy Saturday – 4th April 2026:

Readings: Psalm 89: 8-18 Isaiah 9:6-7 Matthew 5:9

‘If Christians hope that God will grant peace to the world, it is because they also trust that human beings, God’s creatures, are not basically evil: that there is in humanity a potentiality for peace and order which can be realized provided the right conditions are there. Christians will do their part in creating these conditions by preferring love and trust to hate and suspiciousness. The hope of the Christian must be, like the hope of a child, pure and full of trust.’7

John Dear

 

Easter Sunday – 5th April 2026:

Readings: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Colossians 3:1-4,11-14 John 16:16-33

‘Shalom is not only an incredible gift; it is a most demanding mission. But the world that will hate us as we seek its well-being is the same world that the Christ has already conquered. So we proceed with the confidence that the ruler of this entangling world has no power over us.’8

Walter Bruggemann

 

7 Dear, John, Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action, PRH Christian Publishing, 2004

8 Bruggeman, Peace, 2001.