'Reconciling and making peace'
from Given for you, a fresh look at communion, Eleanor Kreider, page 97

"'A people of peace'. That's how early Christians saw themselves. From earliest times a major theme of the Eucharist was the miracle of unity among believers of divergent classes, languages and cultures. Christ who is our peace has made unit by breaking down the dividing wall of hostility. Christ makes a new humanity possible, bringing people into reconciliation within himself and with each other. This is the greatest affirmation of Ephesians 2:11-21.

"Reconciliation is at the heart of the gospel. When gospel and peace are pulled apart, terrible things can happen, as we have seen in countries where Christians have preached a personalised salvation and have not emphasised that the gospel has everything to do with how to live out national or clan identity.

"New Testament Christians expressed the miracle and the delight of their Spirit-inspired unity in a unique gesture - the holy kiss, also called the kiss of love (1 Peter 5:14).

"It isn't clear whether this kiss was a part of an 'order of service' with well-developed theological understandings. But it does seem significant that the theme of peace is closely associated with the kiss in three of the five mentions in the New Testament letters. Churches were intensely concerned for fostering reconciled relationships. Love and unity were primary foundations for their life together.

In early Christian written liturgies, the kiss appears just after the readings and prayers, at the bread-and-cup ceremony. The explanation for this position was Jesus' admonition to leave one's gift at the altar, if relationships are bad, and make things right before resuming worship (Matthew 5:23-24). This kiss was called 'the kiss of peace' or simply 'the peace' and functioned in several ways. It was a hinge in the service between the prayers and the Eucharist proper. It was an expression of unity and love among the people. And it was provided an opportunity, on the spot, to make things right.

"Eventually the peace became stylized and clericalized. In some places its essential meaning was abused. In medieval England the peace was passed in a thoroughly hierarchical sequence, from the priest through the nobility, gentry, and eventually to the common folk. The poorest woman was the last to receive.

"The good news is that the ancient kiss of peace has reappeared in 20th-century Eucharistic worship. Why not! The peace greeting is one of the genuinely 'primitive' elements of Christian worship. Just because it's early doesn't mean it's good or necessary. But the kiss (greeting) of peace is important because it reminds us and dramatizes for us a central truth about the Christian faith, about Jesus' work of shalom, peace - Jesus is the Lord of peace - we are to be his people of peace."