Turn, revive us, nourish our joy…I listen to
God speaking, “I…speak peace, peace to my faithful people who turn their hearts
to me…Love and faithfulness embrace, peace and justice kiss… [Psalm 85]***
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…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…people
who saw themselves clearly as the others’ keepers… [Joan Chittister] ****
You have heard that it was said, “You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you…for God makes the sun to rise on the evil
and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you
love only those who love you, what reward do you have? [Matthew 5:43-45]
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:
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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.
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.
***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.
*****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
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