*The
Season of Creation originated in the
Anglican Church of South Africa and was formalized in 2008. It is designed for
us to explore our faith from a Creation perspective. We use Biblical and other
readings, chosen locally, that pertain to the specific theme of each of the 7 weeks
of the Season. Alternate readings used are posted with asterisk.
Week V's Theme is:
Our World at Peace
Click here for more information about: Season of Creation ~ In The Beginning
The
World at Peace. Of course! Who doesn't
want that? Yet the concept is exponentially large and is well beyond the scope
of my abilities to achieve alone. It then remains a mere wish, too big to be a
goal, and reduced to a conversational platitude. Or, is it? When you think of world peace how do you define it? Is it
merely the end of all war on the planet or are there other considerations? A
few formal definitions describe it as the absence of war, a cessation of
hostilities, and/or tranquility. In an ironic construct, whole armies are deployed
ostensibly to achieve peace by ending war ~ where am I in that? No army is ever truly deployed to make peace but rather for
power and control, domination, and/or subjugation. It’s so much easier, isn’t
it, when war or violence or riots are far away and, after all, what could I
possibly do to help? In watching or just reading the news, a day doesn't go by
when my anxiety and frustration levels aren't challenged even by headlines or
political comments on social media, and I find myself, ironically and sadly, highly intolerant of the intolerance of others as my blood pressure rises,
frustrated by the incursion of their rights on my own.
Others wiser
than me have said that peace begins within oneself. And so I must earnestly
search to find some peace within myself, somewhere. Perhaps by breathing very
deeply in and out regularly, stepping away from the noise of all that disturbs
a tranquil moment. Listening to the birds ~ even when they’re fighting ~ calms
me. The laughter of children makes me laugh; as puppies and kittens and
butterflies, and turtles sunning on a rock, warm my heart. Even in the depth of
winter's cold, there is the peaceful quiet of a snowy day.
As I breathe
deeply again and again, the feisty, feckless, fuming, and fraying world is
still there, but within it I can find a small moment of inner peace that
remains.
Yet I must not simply live into a false
peace-filled denial in which I only love
those who love me. It is in the steadiness of holding fast within myself,
that calls me to return to a place of quiet regularly. In prayer, meditation,
and/or in simple moments of beauty, I can
seek and find that special gift of inner peace. And then I must re-gift that
inner peace outwardly to offer a
smile, a kind word, and some serious personal restraint in response to a severe
difference of opinion! World Peace, it
seems, does, frighteningly, begin within me,
at least in some ways. We must
have peace ~ and hope and joy ~ at our core that centers and steadies us. It
doesn’t mean we are continuously silly happy-clappy fools but rather, in the
midst of sad and difficult and yes even angry moments, we can dig down to find that
glimmer of Christ’s light to carry us forward. We can support, defend, write,
march, care about, and join organizations that give us useful tools to, at the very least in principle, support those
who are in the midst of a war whether in their homes, on our streets, or far
across the globe.
To begin in earnest, I and you must each open
the doors to that house that the Lord has already built within us. There we can
seek and sustain the joy that helps us to radiate God’s Eternal Light from the
windows of our souls. Let us pray for the courage and intent to follow the
teaching we are given in Matthew’s Gospel for today, by offering peaceful greetings
and responses that flow from the ultimate love within us. If we are met
with anger, disdain, or silence, we simply breathe out a blessing and move on.
We can always find small ways to mingle a moment of peace-filled breath with
all the air that flows around this fragile
Earth, our island home*****.
Will we end war ~ sadly, no. But peace is in
my hands for one person, one moment, one less argument, one less angry retort,
one full moment of intention and attention. To breathe the breath of God toward
and for another, may be all the peace and perfection I/we have to give; and to
give that is what we are called to do. It
may be very difficult at first and a first step may be to do a little
introspection. If you are finding it very difficult to love those deemed
unlovable or truly hateful, take time to wonder why you feel that way. You very
well may have quite legitimate reasons. Yet also take time to think about whether
your struggle is in some way, a measure of your hesitance to accept God’s love
for yourself.
We are Christ’s ambassadors of continuing
hope and inner joy to everyone, evil and good, righteous and unrighteous ~ as
it is still, and always, not ours to judge who is worthy. Within myself and out into the ether I say:
You cannot take my hope away
nor steal my inner joy
no matter all the plots and schemes
no matter intent or ploy.
My peace will continue
to grow and to give
to all I encounter
each day that I live.
~c.b.lee
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader:
~ O God of Love and Faithfulness, when we are at home and while driving,
or on social media and in grocery stores, in anger, complacency, or fear, among
those we love and those we do not, energize us to discover and embody your
Peace, for and within us so fully, that it radiates through us, to reveal and
believe in Your love-without-end, for ourselves and all we meet.
O Lord of Justice and Mercy
RESPONSE: Guide our hearts toward Peace
~ O God of Love and Faithfulness, for every
governing authority on this Planet, in this Nation, and in every Community, strengthen
us as vigorous witnesses in peace and for peace. May our own words and actions,
break down walls of separation that hide only what we fear to see, to flood
your love to the whole of Your Creation. We pray especially for:
O Lord of Justice and Mercy
Guide our hearts toward Peace
~ O God of Love and Faithfulness, lay
Your healing hand upon those weary of unhealed wounds, fear, and isolation, and
hold fast to those who offer caring help. We now join our hearts to pray for
those in need… add your own petitions
O Lord of Justice and Mercy
Guide our hearts toward Peace
~ O God of Love and Faithfulness, turn
our grief to joy for those we have sent Home to never die again, who are now
raised in eternal splendor to new life in Christ. We pray especially for…
O Lord of Justice and Mercy
Guide our hearts toward Peace
~
O God of Love and Faithfulness, we pause
in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions,
petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently…
O Lord of Justice and Mercy
Guide our hearts toward Peace
~ O God of Love and Faithfulness, ease
the path of all who bless us with Your Word and Sacraments, inspiring us to
serve in this world together, in Christ’s holy name. We pray especially
for: Sean, our Presiding Bishop; Kevin, our Bishop; Patrick, our rector;
Lloyd, our Rector Emeritus; and Cecily our Deacon.
O Lord of Justice and Mercy
Guide our hearts toward Peace
The Celebrant adds:
Creator Lord, Spirit of Hope, two days and 107 years ago, your people breathed
in hope for the future, at the official end of World War I. Yet we restive
humans continue wars on distant battlefields, in our local communities, and in
the halls of political policy. We are surrounded by large and small wars of ethnic,
racial, gender, religious oppression, and more. Hold us closely as we strive to
fill the needs of our neighbors, cry out for justice for the downtrodden, and
work to flourish the peace, the truth, and the universal love in Christ’s
Gospel for all of us, every day, everywhere. We ask through Jesus, our Divine
Example; and the Holy Spirit, our Wisdom Guide; who together with You are One
God, now and forever. Amen.
**This is not the full
reading for 2 Kings 5:1-19 however, as some readings do, this left me wanting
to know a bit more. When we proceed from verse 19, we discover an interesting
subplot. As one long ago commentator, Paul Harvey, used to say, here is the rest of the story:
But when Naaman had gone from [Elisha]
a short distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha
the man of God, thought, “My master has let that Aramean Naaman off too lightly
by not accepting from him what he offered. As the Lord lives, I will
run after him and get something from him.” 21 So
Gehazi went after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped
down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is everything all right?” 22 He
replied, “Yes, but my master has sent me to say, ‘Two members of a company of
prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim; please give
them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ” 23 Naaman
said, “Please accept two talents.” He urged him and tied up two talents of
silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of his
servants, who carried them in front of Gehazi. 24 When he came
to the citadel, he took the bags from them and stored them inside; he
dismissed the men, and they left. 25 He went in and
stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”
He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere at all.” 26 But
he said to him, “Did I not go with you in spirit when someone left his chariot
to meet you? Is this a time to accept silver and to accept clothing, olive
orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves? 27 Therefore
the skin disease of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.”
So he left his presence diseased, as white as snow.
[other interesting bits are that Naaman
translates to fair, gracious, or pleasant. Elisha translates to God is
Salvation.]
***Psalm 85:7-14: Turn, revive us, nourish
our joy. Show us mercy, save us, Lord. I
listen to God speaking: “I, the Lord, speak peace, peace to my faithful people who turn their hearts to me.” Salvation is coming near, glory
is filling our land. Love and
faithfulness embrace, peace and justice kiss. Fidelity sprouts from the earth, justice leans down from
heaven. The Lord pours out riches, our land springs to life. Justice clears God’s path, justice points the way. [From The Psalter: A faithful and inclusive rendering, Liturgy Training
Publications (International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc.), 1994.]
****From the writings of Joan Chittister: For centuries the church has confronted the human
community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when what we
really often mean to say is “icon,” “star,” “hero, ” ones so possessed by an
internal vision of divine goodness that they give us a glimpse of the face of
God in the center of the human. They give us a taste of the possibilities of
greatness in ourselves. What qualities will be necessary to live a life of
integrity, of holiness, in the twenty-first century? What models of those
values, if any, have been raised up to show us the way to God in a world that
is more preoccupied with the material than with the spiritual, more
self-centered than selfless, more concerned with the mundane than with the
divine, more parochial than cosmic?
(They) are male and female, Christian and non-Christian, married and
unmarried, religious and lay, pragmatists and artists, named saint by a process
or proclaimed saint by the people who lived in the shadow of their lives. They
are people like you and me. With one exception, perhaps. In their eyes burn the
eyes of a God who sees injustice and decries it, sees poverty and condemns it,
sees inequality and refuses it, sees wrong and demands that it be set right.
These are people for whom the Law above the law is first in their lives. These
are people who did not temporize with the evil in one system just because
another system could have been worse. These are people who saw themselves
clearly as the others’ keepers. These are people who gave themselves entirely to
the impulses of God for the sake of the world.
~Joan Chittister, A Passion for Life: Fragments of the
Face of God, Orbis
*****The phrase this fragile Earth, our island home, is
from Eucharistic Prayer C, in the US Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, 1979. See bcponline.org, page 370
