Despite the title of this hymn, which is usually used as a benediction or blessing at the end of something, I am not quitting a mere two weeks into this little project.  For some reason, as I was thinking about what I wanted to ponder this week, this lovely Ralph Vaughan Williams tune kept popping into my mind.  I have arranged it once before, but it spoke to me in a completely different way this time, so I hope I’ll be forgiven for this repeat hymn.  Actually, it strikes me that one of the great beauties of these songs is their ability to say different things at different times to different people.  There’s some special wisdom there.

September 21 is the UN International Day of Peace.   A day where the world celebrates the ideals of peace.  Well, I’m not sure any of us actually celebrate or if most of us even know this day exists, but it does.  I think about it every year at this time.  A small reminder that we value peace but we live in a world where it doesn’t exist in many places, on many levels.  It is both big and small, and its absence impacts greatly.

It seems we are quite comfortable with wishing for peace.  World peace.  Peace of mind.  It is good and we want it.  But I look around and see so much that is working hard against this thing we want so desperately.  Consuming the news these days provides blatant examples of how far away from the ideal we have strayed.  Our inability to reconcile this general desire for peace with our self focus, greed, wastefulness, distrust and disrespect is obvious.  Peace is simply not our priority.  For those of us with great privilege, this can be fairly easy to disregard. For those without, it is not.

So, where does this hymn fit into all of this?  It struck me as I read through the words, that, once again, there are within them such clear instructions of how we take on the great responsibility of being peace makers.  Because peace is made, it doesn’t just turn up.  It requires effort and sacrifice and kindness and joy and strength.  It is a creative act in the truest sense of the word. We must be the creators of this dream.

God be with you till we meet again;
Loving counsels guide, uphold you,
May the Shepherd’s care enfold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
Unseen wings, protecting, hide you,
Daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
When life’s perils thick confound you,
Put unfailing arms around you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
Keep love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threat’ning wave before you;
God be with you till we meet again.

These words may seem like they are all about what will be done for us, but I kind of think they are encouraging us by showing us what is needed.  Encouraging us to be the earthly actors that can guide, uphold, care, protect, provide, love, face death and put unfailing arms around those we meet.  What a challenge.  Imagine if that was our world’s priority?  We’ve all seen or heard about examples of people who lived their lives with this perspective, the Mother Theresa and Ghandi types.  We are always impressed.  But what if it was also our own personal philosophy?  I suppose it sounds simple and a bit naïve, but I can’t help wondering if it would make a huge difference.  Maybe not to the whole world, but to ourselves.  Creating peace in our immediate spaces would be a powerful act of defiance.  We live in a culture that is currently thriving on negativity, on insults, on denigration, on comments that are often hard to read and hear.  The act of peace-making defies this trend.  It requires us to stand up to disturbingly common injustice, addictive negativity and simple rudeness with the tools of kindness, compassion and strength. Walking on this path paved with fearless love and a belief in what is good – in the face of all that we find disgraceful and painful, in the face of those who seek different rewards – takes us to where peace can be found.  It is a difficult path, but it is filled with beauty.

When I read the words “God be with you till we meet again,” I find myself unable to look upon the recipient of the words with anything other than warmth.  In amongst all the instructions for behaviour in this text, that is what sticks out for me.  If I sing that line to your face, I am wishing care upon you – be it from God or whatever other source is meaningful.  It is very difficult to wish care upon someone and remain filled with hatred or disdain.  And that really has nothing to do with whatever has been done, and everything to do with what I am willing to send out into this world; with who I choose to be.  I choose to be kind.  The recipients of my kindness may choose differently, and that may make me angry and may require action, but I still choose to be kind.  Because peace is found in living life at its most generous, and I hope the horrors of this world do not deter us from trying to plant its seeds.

God be with you till we meet again.