People's Prayers: Prayers of the People: The World at Peace ~ 5th Sunday in the Season of Creation '23 Yr A

For Sunday, November 12, 2023; Readings: Micah 4:1-4, Psalm 127, Rosemary Power,* Matthew 5:43-48

[T]hey shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not life up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore… [Micah 4:3b]

Unless the LORD builds the house, their labor is in vain who build it. [Psalm 127:1]

Creator Lord of the unclaimed place and of clashing claims, of no one’s land where some have homes, in danger zones, in human souls, in nations’ claims: we are all guilty. We build barriers to hide what we fear to see, we draw lines in other people’s hearts, we trample underfoot what others hold dear, we wear wounds unhealed with anger, we defend ourselves from other people’s rights. Drive out the demons that divide neighbours. ["Seven Days," Rosemary Power]

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…the evil and the good…the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, of what more are you doing than others? [Matthew 5:44, 46-47]

*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 that pertain to the specific theme of each of the 7 weeks of the Season. Alternate readings used are posted with asterisk.

Click here for more information about: Season of Creation ~ In The Beginning

Week V's Theme is:

The World at Peace

The World at Peace. Of course! Who doesn't want it? Yet the concept is exponentially large and is well beyond the scope of my abilities to achieve alone. It then remains a mere concept, 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. Whole armies are deployed ostensibly to end war ~ where am I in that? The words of Rosemary Power say it clearly: We build barriers to hide what we fear to see, we draw lines in other people’s hearts, we trample underfoot what others hold dear, we wear wounds unhealed with anger, we defend ourselves from other people’s rights. No army is ever really deployed to make peace but rather for power and control, domination, and subjugation. It’s so much easier, isn't it, when war or violence or riots are far away from me 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 highly intolerant of the intolerance of others as my blood pressure rises.

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. Listen for the birds ~ even when they’re fighting it calms me. The laughter of children makes me laugh; puppies and kittens and butterflies, and turtles sunning on a rock. Even in the depth of winter's cold heart, there is the peaceful quiet of a snowy day.

As I breathe deeply 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 peaceful denial in which I only love those who love me. It is the quietly, steadily, holding fast within myself, that calls me to return to a peaceful place regularly, in prayer or meditation, in simple moments of beauty, and then I must let it out so that I can offer a smile, a kind word, some serious restraint in response to a severe difference of opinion ~ World Peace, it seems begins within me, at least in some ways. We must have peace at our core that centers and steadies us. We can support, defend, write, march, care about and join organizations that give us useful tools to at least help those who are in the midst of war whether in their homes, on our streets, or far across the globe. Let us first each invite the Lord to build our house from within us, that we may radiate God’s Eternal Light from the windows of our souls to all we meet, and continue to mingle our peace-filled breath with all the air that flows around this fragile Earth, our island home***. Will we end war ~ sadly, no. But 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 we have to give, and give it is what we are called to do as Christ’s ambassadors of prayer and peace for all and everyone, evil and good, righteous and unrighteous.

LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY

Leader: ~ O God-with-us at borders, schools, and shopping malls, in anger, complacency, and peril, energize us to discover and embody Your peace within ourselves, so fully, that it radiates through us to reveal Your love without end to all.