At one point in the service, the priest says, “The peace of the Lord be always with you.” And the people reply, “And also with you.” Then we exchange a sign of peace.
It might seem like a small gesture – a handshake, a nod, a smile, sometimes even a hug – but it has very deep roots.
The New Testament is full of encouragements to greet one another with a sign of peace. St Paul writes to the Romans: “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” He says the same to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians. St Peter does too. For the earliest Christians, peace wasn’t just a nice word – it was a sign that they belonged to one another in Christ.
By the second century, Justin Martyr describes the peace being shared in worship before the bread and wine were presented. Origen and Tertullian called it a “seal” to the prayers of the people, rooted in Jesus’ own command: “If you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother or sister has something against you, first be reconciled to them.” In other words: don’t come to communion carrying division. Share peace, then draw near.
This seriousness about reconciliation shaped the English church for centuries. The Book of Common Prayer set strict guidance: those intending to receive communion were expected to make their names known to the priest in advance. And if a minister believed someone was in open conflict with a neighbour or living in unrepented sin, they were obliged to seek guidance from the bishop before admitting them to the Lord’s Table. The aim wasn’t to exclude for the sake of it, but to protect the holiness of communion – making sure people did not approach while at enmity with others. The Peace, in that sense, was never casual. It was a call to genuine reconciliation.
Across history, the place of the Peace in the service has shifted. In some traditions it comes before the Eucharistic Prayer, in others afterwards, as immediate preparation for communion. In the Church of England it even disappeared for centuries before being restored in the twentieth century. But whenever it appears, its meaning is the same: we share peace with one another because Christ has made peace with us.
So what is happening in this moment of the service? First, we hear scripture: “Christ is our peace. He has reconciled us to God in one body by the cross. We meet in his name and share his peace.” Then the priest declares: “The peace of the Lord be always with you.” We reply: “And also with you.” It is an exchange of blessing, not only between priest and people, but person to person.
And then we turn to those around us. The gesture may be simple, but its meaning is profound. We say: I forgive you. I stand with you. We are one in Christ. Even if we don’t know each other’s names, even if we’ve had a hard week, even if tensions remain, the Peace declares that the reconciliation of Christ is greater than what divides us.
The Peace is not just a polite moment or a social greeting. It is part of worship. It is both gift and challenge: a gift, because Christ gives us his peace; a challenge, because we are called to carry that peace out into the world.
So when you next share the Peace, let it remind you of this: we come to communion not as individuals, but as a reconciled people. The Peace proclaims the kingdom of God, where swords are beaten into ploughshares and Christ’s peace reigns forever.