2 Kings 9:17–37 (NIV)
When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?”
“How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
As we journey through this Season of Peace, we reflect not only on peace as a promise but also as a calling born from the midst of conflict and driven by courage. Today, we are reminded of the legacy of the Presbyterians who have come before us, who not only demanded peace but acted on it, whose faithful lives point us toward justice, courage and reconciliation. Today, we reflect on the life of Lois Stair, a visionary of racial and gender justice, who in 1971 became the first woman elected Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. Her leadership and devotion modeled what it means to be a steward of justice.
Peace is not always clean-cut and comfortable. In today’s Scripture, Jehu was commanded to confront the corruption caused by King Joram’s rule. The king asked if Jehu came in peace — a question typically asked of any traveler, prophet or messenger — but the king had let evil run rampant, and Jehu could no longer stand by complacently. His defiant response and actions, although violent, underscore a biblical truth: Real peace is not passive. It is not a veil of silence that disguises inequality and injustice. Peace demands we confront the injustices that disrupt it. Peace demands truth. Peace demands holy discontentment.
Stair bravely navigated the tension between peace and confrontation at a time when the Church navigated challenges of justice during a period of uncertainty and political change.
She once proclaimed,
“If we are to be peacemakers as Christ calls us to do, we must see hope in facing conflict, in letting our differences show, in being honest about hurts that haunt us in the world … about prisons that are inhumane, about racism that is ruling our world.”
Like Jehu, she knew that peace could not be obtained through complacency or ignorance but rather earned through honest struggle and transformation. As Moderator, Stair challenged congregations to move beyond their comfort zones, confront the systemic inequalities that divide our communities, and reimagine the Church as a place that embraces diversity and embodies God’s call for justice.
Prayer:
God of peace and purpose,
You call on us to confront the injustice that hurts the world, as you called on Jehu.
You call on us to lead with love and truth, as you called on Lois Stair.
Lord, I pray you give us the courage to seek justice in a world that expects us to be complicit.
Help us look to you to carry out your vision of love, justice and peace on Earth, and help us believe that peace is possible, even now. Amen.
Originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, Grace Kromke (she/they) is a rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying Women’s & Gender Studies and Public Policy. Grace has served as a young adult delegate for PC(USA) at the United Nations’ 69th Commission on the Status of Women and the U.N. High Level Political Forum. As a Peacemaking Fellow in the Office of Public Witness, Grace is engaging in ministry, advocacy and public witness while working on issues such as gun violence prevention, gender justice and gender-based violence, and anti-war and peace.
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