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Human life is a fragile and precious thing – the terrible loss of life and the grieving of the bereaved in Manchester bring these truths home all too clearly. But the same events also remind us that peace is likewise fragile and precious. In a matter of moments, the tranquility and good order upon which we absolutely rely as we go about the business of our lives, can be rudely shattered. Peace, then, is a bit like good health – you take it for granted and don’t notice it when you have it, but when it is gone, you notice almost nothing else but its absence. Health and peace are alike in another respect too. We know that truly speaking, health is not merely the absence of illness. We can be on the way to sickness, even while we are feeling quite well. The appearance of health can be misleading. In the same way, genuine peace is not just the absence of discord, violence or war, since all the ingredients of violence and war – anger and resentment at real or supposed grievances - can be building up even while, on the surface, calm prevails. True peace, in other words, is a positive, not just a negative state – a solid and reliable peace is not evidenced by a current lack of conflict, but only by the presence of the sort of social and political life in which we make common cause one with another. Force and power can certainly secure a sort of peace, but it will always be an uneasy one – a lasting concord must have deeper roots in a shared sense that there is a shared commitment to the good of all. There is then, real wisdom in the response which the people of Manchester have shown to the terrible attack of Monday night. The emergency services went about their work of caring for dead and injured with the bravery and commitment which is for them a professional badge of honour - and no less admirable for all that. But ordinary people have shown similar care and commitment in acts of kindness to random strangers. Sometimes it can seem that the command ‘love thy neighbour’ doesn’t reach even as far as those who do actually live next door. But when taxi drivers ferry people home and refuse to take a fare, or when local residents and the Sikh temple open up their doors to offer a refuge, then they have all stretched the word ‘neighbour’ beyond the narrow sense we often give it, to include anyone in need. And in so doing, they have acted in the very best way to secure peace in the long term, since a solid peace flows from the widening of bonds of care and affection across the community. You can check in the Oxford English Dictionary if you doubt it, but in the nineteenth century, the word ‘peacemaker’ was sometimes used to refer to dueling pistols, or to a particular model of a Colt revolver. But when Christ said blessed are the peacemakers, he didn’t intend to bless those who think that peace can be secured from behind the barrel of a gun, but those who know that it is truly achieved by the exercise of the kindness which fosters ties of fellowship and community. Even in the midst of their grief, the people of Manchester have given us all a lesson in peacemaking.