One of the hallmarks of my experience in Christianity is my response to the ‘Peace be with you’ ‘How you doing’ moment. In the Catholic mass, there’s a portion where you turn to your neighbor(s) and say ‘Peace be with you’. In many Protestant services (such as ours at Northside Christian), we have a ‘Greet your neighbor’ portion of the service.
Until very recently, these moments scared the hell out of me.
I’m a sinner, and I stem from the great “I’m not okay, you’re okay” tradition. It’s hard to look someone in the eye and shake their hand when you’re thinking they have holy insight into the blackness of your soul.
Of course, that’s all bunk. We’re all sinners, and saying ‘hi’ or ‘peace be with you’ is just our way of reassuring our fellow man that he does indeed belong in the church, and we’re happy he’s here.