"My Peace I Give You"

Binhi sang Pagtuo

May 24, 2010

Dear Centralians and Friends,

Greetings from the campus!

This week is very busy for Central Philippine University. On May 26-28, 2010, the campus will be filled with pastors, church members, guests and friends that will be attending the 2nd Biennial Assembly and 75th Diamond Celebration of the Convention of Philippines Baptist Churches. The theme for this assembly is taken from the words of Jesus in John 14:27, “My Peace I Give You.” Let us pray for this gathering.

Peace is very elusive. This is maybe the reason why we continue to discuss it. Jesus spoke about peace many times. Let me give you five points using the first letters of the word PEACE.

P – Pray for peace. During the birth of Jesus, the angels sang a beautiful prayer: “Peace on earth and goodwill among people.” Let us continue to pray this kind of prayer, and hope that someday we may experience continues peace and goodwill.

E – Educate the people about peace. Jesus taught his disciples that when they enter a house they should always say, “Peace to this house.” There is a Filipino tradition when building a house – a comb (husay) is put in every post of the house when building the foundation. This comb (husay) symbolizes the desire of the occupants of the house to have peace: “May ara sang kahusayan ang pangabuhi sa sulod sang balay kag wala nagagumon ang pangabuhi.” Let us hope that this tradition will be passed on to the next generation. I just experienced it the other day when my mother-in-love requested the carpenters building our bahay kubo to put the husay in all the posts.

A – Advocate peace. Jesus advocated peace by challenging the violent practices of the Jews. One of these is the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But Jesus said, “I tell you, when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.” This calls for a radical change on our behavior. Let us not turn a blind eye on this command of Jesus.

C – Coordinate with other groups and organizations working for peace. Jesus was once told by his disciples that they stopped someone who was driving out demons in his name. Jesus scolded John and said, “Do not stop him…for whoever is not against us is for us.” This should be a lesson to us to be open for partnerships with other groups. God is working also through them.

E – Endeavor the culture of peace. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” It is a continuing struggle for me if I should allow my children to watch the famous cartoon show, “Tom and Jerry.” Although hilarious, we can find a lot of violence in the show. Some of them are sometimes practiced by my children. My wife and I are doing our best to counter this culture, and instill to our children the culture of peace. To my fellow parents, let us start teaching the culture of peace while our children are still young.

Peace be with you!

Sincerely,

Pastor Francis Neil G. Jalando-on

Assistant Chaplain