Like many teens of the 70’s I liked and listened regularly to a band called “Boston.”  Catchy tunes, great rhythms and some amazing guitar riffs just kept us coming back for more.  Because I am studying “peace” this week, as in “The Prince of Peace,” I can’t help but think about a Boston tune titled “Peace of Mind.”  Whenever I am in a restaurant and the song plays I am mentally gone from conversation for a few minutes.  The song recognizes the futility of corporate ladder-climbing and the emptiness of those who say they have life when they do not.  That is good.  The song writer essentially says that people are free to live in the rat race if they want to but all he wants is “Peace of Mind.”  Interestingly, Christian author Francis Schaeffer had written a few years earlier that Americans chiefly pursue “personal peace and affluence” but they are willing to live without the affluence if they can have the personal peace.  If one’s life is filled with strife and contention and their work is a constant assault on their mental wellbeing, money and/or position fails to bring enough satisfaction to offset the struggle.   Sadly, Boston never addressed the way to have peace of mind even though it is obviously longed for by many people.  One is left thinking that peace of mind may be too elusive to really have.  This is not a new subject.  Before Schaeffer and Boston there were plenty of philosophers and artists working through these issues.  As we will point out on Sunday (Lord willing), the Jewish and Christian concept of peace entails a lot more than “peace of mind.”  The Old Testament term “Shalom” and the New Testament term “Eirene” both refer to a state of being rather than a state of mind.  For there to be real peace, we need more than peace of mind.  There is a peace of mind that is like the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the sand.  Real peace requires getting ultimate things settled.  It requires hope about the important questions that have to do with origin, meaning, purpose and future.  Real peace requires more than a “whatever” attitude.  We need some answers.  We need some substance.  We need Someone who deals with reality.  We need more than platitudes.  We need a Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the PRINCE OF PEACE!