Passing the Peace ambush
On Sunday, June 25, 2033 I attended worship services at the Tokyo Union Church on Omotesando dori in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. I do that sometimes. It’s a very well-known 150-year-old English-language ecumenical Protestant church, dating from a time soon after Christianity was legalized in Meiji Era Japan.
I enjoy services there, but there’s one thing that really bugs me. I walk out of the sanctuary during the “Passing of the Peace.” It is a feature of many churches in Canada today as well, including my home church in Guelph, Ontario that did not exist (or was not practiced) when I was growing up. When I attend services in Guelph on holiday, I do the same thing I do here. I walk out and temporarily vacate the sanctuary until those people are finished with their foolishness.
I’m a bad Christian and a bad human being. I’m the sort of guy who, if I move in next door to you, the malevolent miasma of my own existence will spontaneously cause your grass to die.
The “Passing of the Peace” comes early in a worship service as a feature of the general welcome of the congregation. Passing the Peace is a tradition rooted in Scripture that embodies Christians’ imagined identity as peacemakers. It is a significant gesture in worship that seeks to train hearts, hands, and tongues in the ways of peace. The idea is that through Christ we are at peace with God, and we are also to be at peace with one another. The sign of this reconciliation is to pass the Peace of Christ to one another. The leader says, “The peace of the Lord be with you.” And the congregation responds, “And also with you.” And then they turn to their neighbors and repeat it to them. When we pass the peace in worship, we don’t reach out only to those we know or feel comfortable with. We pass the peace to anyone seated near us. People shake hands all around, and there is often an accompanying introduction to manifest the fellowship - like, the minister instructing us to greet our neighbors.
I dislike this for five reasons:
1) It’s an ambush;
2) I don’t like (and I disagree with) anyone “reaching out” to me. That makes you sound like a zombie trying to claw my face off and eat me. I mean, if you want to talk to me, then just talk to me. Don’t “reach out” to me. And another thing: don’t talk to me.
3) I’m not 6-years-old, and this is some kind of Mickey Mouse kindergarten shit;
4) Who I am - my name and my identity - is private. I prefer not to reveal or expose myself to new people until we at least have a relationship. This unsolicited talking to me by strangers is not good fellowship so much as offensive violence. And, the command from the pulpit that we do so is unacceptable. And,
5) Who I am is unimportant. Totally and completely unimportant. I am the least important person in Japan, and I prefer to cultivate a corresponding anonymity hidden in the back of the sanctuary, with absolutely no attention brought to me, known only to God. I’m a Christian, but I’m a bad Christian and a bad human being. I’m the sort of guy who, if I move in next door to you, the malevolent miasma of my own existence will spontaneously cause your grass to die. This is how it’s been since 1982.