Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14:27)
The Walk for Peace went by my neighborhood yesterday. As I posted on social media, I was happy to “meet” them. Peace is a good thing and a shared desire. I respect their witness even if I’m of a different faith.
As I wrote someone, there are some parallels in Christian monasticism and spirituality with Buddhism. Mindfulness and being present, hospitality, graciousness, peace are concepts among them. Thomas Merton, a Benedictine Monk, ended up exploring that dynamic later in his life.
Sadly, I’ve seen some dogmatic, conservative Christians calling them names in posts, damming them to hell, or insulting Christian congregations that housed or fed them. Yet, any calls for peace are a good place to start a conversation or cooperation. Plus, they seem to forget that hospitality to the stranger is a core Christian value regardless of who the strangers are.
And although Jesus was taking about people ministering in his name who were not disciples, I suspect God can use the monk’s efforts. Jesus said, those that aren’t against us are for us. It is helpful to meet our neighbors and strangers with hospitality and grace as Jesus taught, especially those trying to meet us with grace and kindness themselves; desiring and offering peace.
A Methodist pastor suggested to me that if their efforts ignite interest or efforts of our Christian desire for justice and peace, he is glad. I concur. It has always deepened my faith to interact with the beliefs of others including their very different or oppositional views, questions, or doubts. If the teachings of Christ are true, we need not be afraid or angry about their walk. I can’t imagine Jesus meeting them without kindness. And Luther used to argue that those who would find Christ must first find the Church. We should meet them in his name without poising, pressure, or worse, abuse.
As the Venerable Monks walked through Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg, they walked through and added to history. Spotsylvania knows the pangs of war. As captured in the novel, Roots, too many, including Kunta Kinte, were held or died as slaves here. Known as the crossroads of the Civil War, several battles raged there with horrific human cost. The county did not return to its pre-Civil War population until the mid-1960s, about 100 years.
As they walked under Route 95, they crossed under one of the busiest highways and the longest north-south road in the US connecting Maine to Florida toward the City of Fredericksburg. It’s also known for the Civil War, but it’s also steeped in Revolutionary War history. It was the first stop of the famous Freedom Rides of the 1960s as well.
Less commonly recognized among its sites is a small monument made of stone which honors the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, a foundational document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and others in Fredericksburg (1777). Inspiration for the later Bill of Rights’ call for religious freedom, it declared no person should suffer for their religious beliefs. The Walk for Peace passed very close (about one block away) to the location where Jefferson and others conferred on the matter in our Old Town. Unfortunately, the building no longer stands.
Crossing the bridge into Stafford County, they gazed upon Chatham Manor site of a slave revolt in 1805 and where President Lincoln later observed a Union military dress review as people fought to end slavery in their time. They were walking approximately a mile from George Washington’s Boyhood home.
The Fredericksburg region is known for much, particularly its history including the ravages of war, slavery, and human hatred. How splendid the community had the opportunity to gather and pause together around the Venerable Monks’ Walk for Peace to contemplate a shared hope that crosses races, faiths, and nationalities.
We may never know complete peace in this life, but we can catch glimpses of it in our lives today. It can be through public moments like this or concrete, relational moments few others notice. Still, peace breaks in, because that is God’s will. And if a believer, our recognized source of all peace, a peace beyond understanding, invites us to take note and believe. For all things are possible through him.
© 2025 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author. Scripture passages are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated
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