Looking Ahead to July 14, 2024 -- 8th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 10B

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 6:14-29.

The Sermon title is Dangerous Oaths

Source

Early Thoughts: This week we continue our journey through Mark's Gospel. But what on earth do we do with this story?

It is a nice light thing to talk about in the middle of the summer isn't it. Salome dances and pleases the king [side note, this story is the origin of the famed "Dance of the Seven Veils", which adds a bit of a salacious angle to the story] who makes a somewhat rash promise. Then Salome's mother sees a chance to get revenge on a troublesome preacher, ending with a rather gruesome addition to the evening's festivities.

I see a few possibilities. One could take a slightly misogynistic turn on the story and preach on the ways women lead men astray, using both Salome and her mother as examples. Not going there myself. Not ever going there.

Or one could use this to talk about the risks of speaking truth to power. John is in this situation because he called Herod and Herodias to account for their behaviour. And he ends up paying a really steep price for doing that. We too are called to speak truth to power, to take risks for what we feel is right. There is certainly a sermon there.

For me this year one line jumped out. When Salome comes back and tells Herod what she wants him to do to fulfill his oath Mark says "he king was deeply grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her". Earlier in the story we have been told that for various reasons Herod was reluctant to kill John, but now he seems to be trapped by his own words.

When do we find ourselves trapped by our own words? When do we make a promise and then feel honour-bound to keep it even when it feels distasteful or wrong to do so?

From an early age we are told to keep our promises. Scripturally speaking, keeping oaths would be a good thing. Herod would lose face if he 'chickened out' and reneged on the vow that he made in front of them,. There are lots of reasons to follow-through. And yet....

When I re-read the story I have to wonder if anyone other than Herodias thought this was a good idea. I ponder the possibility that some or all of the guests were repulsed as the platter was brought in and presented to Salome. Might the gathering have given Herod a free pass when they heard the request? 

AS people of faith we are called first to be faithful to the rule of love. Yes we need to be people who keep our word, we need to be seen as people of integrity but our first loyalty is to the gospel of love. So we need to be careful about the promises we make, we have to not make promises that put us in conflict between keeping our word and living as people of love.

Even more important, there may be times when we need to be ready to look foolish or lose honour and respect because we know what the right thing to do is. Sometimes we need to do what is right and faithful even when it means breaking our word.

If we are realistic, we know that this is the way life works. We know, and we teach our children, that there are time when we have to say "I know I promised but...".

Words, oaths, promises are powerful and important things. They can keep us on the right path or they can push us into doing terrible things. We need to discern when to make promises, when/how to keep our promises, and also when to break our promises. May love always be our guide.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to July 7, 2024 -- 7th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 9B

 The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 6:1-13.

The Sermon title is Right Place? Right Time?

Early Thoughts: How do you know? Is the time and place right or wrong? Is one right and the other not? Does it really make a difference?

This week we continue our journey through the Gospel of Mark. Jesus has made his way home and his reception is a bit mixed. On one hand people are amazed at what he has to say and what he can do. On the other hand they are a bit dubious. After all they have known him forever. They know his family. They may even see him as being a bit uppity, too big for his britches.

It seems that home was not the right place for Jesus to do ministry after all. Sometimes you can't go home again. So Jesus goes out and about again.

Around this time in the story it appears Jesus decides that the work needs to be shared. The work is never all for Jesus to do, others play a role. Accordingly, he sends his closest followers out in pairs (the work is to be done together, not alone) to continue what they have seen him doing. They are to travel light and to rely on the kindness of strangers. The text tells us that they do just that and have a measure of success in preaching and healing and casting out demons.

But the text also tells us that they may not always be welcomed. They may find that they are in the wrong place for their ministry to be welcomed, or possibly the place will be right at a different time. Jesus tells them be ready to accept that reality and head off to the next stop.

I wonder if we sometimes need that same reminder.

Are there times we get so caught up in our own agenda, or maybe our own comfort, that we miss the signs that the time or place calls for a different response? I think this can go two ways. Either we try to push people into a place they are not yet ready to go or we prefer to sit in our comfort, saying "we aren't ready to do that". 

We need to read the world around us to know what response is needed and when.  That can be difficult in communities. After all not everyone in a community is in the same place (physically but more importantly philosophically or emotionally) at the same time. Which means that some call for different responses at the same time. What are people in leadership to do?

In our Gospel reading this week results seems to be the answer. Because his hometown was not the right place Jesus was unable to do ministry there. Where the disciples were welcomed they could preach and heal and cast out demons. Maybe paying attention to the results will help us know if we are responding to what the time and place require of us. Then we can re-evaluate what we do next.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 30, 2024 -- 6th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 8B

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 5:21-43

The Sermon title is Restoration

Early Thoughts: Jesus was many things. He was a preacher, teacher and prophet. He was a rabble-rouser and troublemaker who upset the "way things are". The Gospels are also clear that he was a miracle worker, an exorcist, and a healer. The reading this week (and last week come to think of it) presents us with the Jesus of that third sentence.

The Jesus who stilled the storm on the sea and cleared the mind of the man possessed by Legion in last week's now gets drawn/invited/dragged into a couple of healing episodes. SOrt of a story within a story this week...

First Jesus is approached by Jairus, a man with a fair degree of social standing in the community but also a man who is distraught. His daughter is dying, surely Jesus can intervene. Jesus has been invited into a situation where healing is required and he accepts the invitation. We could jump to verse 35 and finish this story.

But there is an interruption. And sometimes great ministry happens when our plans get interrupted.

As Jesus makes his way through the crowd (by this point in Mark's Gospel Jesus is almost always surrounded by a crowd) a woman sees her chance. She has been suffering from a flow of blood for 12 years. Nothing has helped. But she just knows and trusts that if she makes even tangential contact with Jesus ("If i but touch his cloak") she will be healed. So she reaches out and makes her attempt. Healing follows, Jesus has been dragged into a second story even while the first has yet to be resolved.

I think the woman was hoping to remain anonymous, to get her healing and go about the rest of her day. But Jesus feels the power flow through him and stops to address what has happened. [Does Jesus feel violated that he was not asked first? Is he stopping to ensure there is proper care given?] Does this interruption mean that he will be to late to finish his errand before Jairus' daughter dies?

Apparently, because while the interruption is being resolved news comes that the girl has in fact expired. But Jesus sees no reason to stop now. The story is not yet over. More healing follows and joy replaces devastating sorrow.

Jesus the healer and miracle worker has arrived on the scene.

When we read the healing stories we can debate "what really happened". We can ask "could Jesus really change a person's health like that?". Our logical, rational, scientific mindset tends to go in that direction, usually with a degree of skepticism attached. Or we could follow the logic of Hamlet and admit that "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy". We can not understand or explain everything, sometimes miraculous things happen. I think that opens us to a new discussion.

What does it mean to be healed? In the two healings this week the physical meaning is pretty clear. but is that all that happens in these stories? I think there is more, I think that in most, if not all, of the healing stories in the Gospels there is more than physical wellness at stake. When Jesus heals the broken body or disturbed mind, when Jesus casts out the disruptive demons, Jesus also restores things to the way they should be. Jesus restores people in their wholeness as members of the community.

The woman with a flow of blood for 12 whole years! would have been on the outskirts of society. Not only would there have been a hygiene issue and quite possibly a ritual purity issue but her ability to function would likely have been impacted. With healing the physical ailment doors open for the rest of her life. She can rejoin the community.

The family of Jairus has been torn asunder. Life has fallen apart. Jesus returns their daughter to them and restores their family. The community has been brought back into a right state. The first sign of this is that she should eat, she should return to doing what healthy people do.

Jesus brings healing. Sometimes by his choice and sometimes by the choices of others. Both Jairus and the unnamed woman seek Jesus out because they know/trust that he can make a difference, he can fix what is wrong.

Where do we need to seek out/ask for/demand/claim healing in our lives? What might that healing look like? In these stories healing means cure of the physical ailment, is that always true? Do we trust that the God we meet in Jesus can bring healing to our lives?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 23, 2024 -- 5th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper7B

 The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 4:35-5:15

The Sermon title is Storms Settled

Found this on Facebook

 Early Thoughts: What storms have you endured in life? What has helped you weather them? Did the relief come as soon as you hoped it would?

I suggest that storms come in many different forms. Some are wind and rain and hail (like the one that blew through town yesterday afternoon). Many are more metaphorical. I suspect that sometimes those storms feel more threatening, harder to survive. How does one batten down the hatches when the chaos is in your mind or soul?

This wee's reading from Mark shares a a pair of stories. One is a healing story, one is a miracle story. I would say they are both about Jesus as the one with authority to still storms. Whether in a boat on the sea or driving out a demon Jesus is bringing calm and equilibrium to the lives of people around him. Jesus is defeating those things that threaten the well-being of the people in his world.

And I think Jesus is still at it. I think that the God we meet in Jesus is still at work calming storms and bringing calm. [At other times the God we meet in Jesus is at work causing storms and bringing disruption -- sometimes we need both. But either way God is with us in the midst of the storm.] Now the calming may not come as soon as we want. There may be days when the quote in the picture above feels all too real. There may be days when the only way to the calm is to fight our way through the storm. There may even be days when we refuse to allow God to bring the calm because it does not look like what we think we want/need.

Still God is with us in the storms of life. God will, in God's time, lead us to a place of calm and equilibrium. The storm may change us. The calming of the storm may change us. It may amaze us. But that is our word of hope in the middle of the storm that threatens to swamp our boat -- we are not alone, calm will return.

So this week I invite all of us to remember the storms we have endured (or maybe are currently enduring) in life. How have we survived them? What impact have they had on our lives? Where might you have seen God in the midst of the storm?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 16, 2024 -- 4th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 6B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Ezekiel 17:22-24
• Mark 4:26-34

The Sermon title is The Growing Realm

Early Thoughts: Where do you see signs of growth? How do you know that the reign of God is growing in the world today?

Our readings this week speak about growth and the God who gives that growth. (As I typed that sentence a line from 1 Corinthians 3 came to mind "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth".) In Ezekiel we read about the God who promises new life and regrowth from a twig of the old. Under God's care that tiny twig will become a grand tree, providing shelter to many. What twig is God transplanting in the world, in our lives today?

In Mark we have a pair of parables. "The kingdom of God is like....". It is like seeds spread by a sower who then leaves it for something mysterious to happen and grain suitable for food is the result. It is like a tiny seed that grows into an large plant (according to Wikipedia it is probable that the plant mentioned here grows up to 270cm (9 feet) tall) that can provide shelter. From something small something plentiful and large develops. That is what the kingdom of God is like. What small seeds have been planted recently? Where have you seen something get much bigger than it was when it started?

The mustard seed imagery reminded me of something else, a different plant. Wild Mustard is a weed, an invasive plant, and so it is a problem for some, even if others find it useful for some purposes (one of the links in that list also told me that it is the ancestor of some common vegetables). Maybe the kingdom of God sometimes grows in places we don't expect or where it is not wanted. Maybe there are times we see the growing kingdom of God as a problem to be removed not a benefit to be celebrated.

We do not grow the kingdom of God. God is doing that. We might delay or slow its growth. We might fight against it but it will grow anyway. We are called to sow seeds. We are called to grow in love and faithfulness as God feeds and waters our souls. We are challenged to allow that growth means change. As the kingdom of God grows in the world and in our lives we will be changed. That may be why we sometimes try to control or delay the growth that God is causing. Change is uncomfortable.

Even if it might be uncomfortable at times, God is causing growth in the world. Small twigs are becoming grand trees. Small seeds are growing even if we don't know why or how. Those seeds might grow into what we recognize as a tree, or as a food-grain. They might look like an unwelcome weed. But they are growing. God is at work. The kingdom is developing in our midst.

How will we respond?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 9, 2024 -- Affirmiversary, Church Union Sunday

 

A year ago St. Paul's had our celebration to mark our decision to become an Affirming Ministry. This Sunday we will mark that anniversary during our worship time. 

A photo of the Inaugural Service

99 years ago next Monday there was a worship service in a hockey arena in Toronto (the Mutual Street Arena) which marked the official beginning of a new Canadian Denomination -- the United Church of Canada. We will also mark that with a reflection on how we are called to be the church as the UCCan prepares to mark a century of existence in 2025. (Nationally there are plans to make it a year-long celebration starting this weekend)

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Corinthians 12:4-13
• John 17:1-25

The Sermon title is Called to Be Church: Deep, Bold, Daring

Early Thoughts: How do we deepen our spirituality? How are we bold in our discipleship? How are we daring in crying out for/acting for/being transformed for justice?

In 2021 the General Council adopted the following Call and Vision statements that would guide the work of the National church over the next three year (2022-2025) period:

Vision

Call

While these are really more binding on the work of the General Council, all parts of the church, including local communities of faith, are encouraged to hold them in thought and prayer as we consider how God is calling us to be the church in our own contexts.

Our Scripture readings this week might help us in this consideration (at least that was my hope when I chose them). From Paul's first letter to the Corinthians we have a reminder of the importance and gift of diversity and remembering that while diverse we are also tied together in Christ. How does that unity in diversity help us be Deep, Bold, and Daring?

John chapter 17 (this week's reading is the whole chapter) is a prayer from Jesus to close the Farewell Discourse. Right after this prayer we launch into the story of arrest, betrayal, trial and execution. The UCCan motto Ut Omnes Unum Sint (That All May Be One) is taken from verse 21 and speaks in part to the hope of our founders that we would be a united and uniting church. While this is written as a prayer Jesus is offering to God, it is also a public pronouncement being made by Jesus. He is praying this in front of his closest disciples and obviously they are meant to hear and pay attention to it. I think that it is in part Jesus sharing words of hope for who they will be, in part some words of encouragement to keep them faithful when the road gets hard, and in part a reminder of who and whose they are. There is a bit of a sense of commissioning in these words to my ears. How does this prayer Jesus offers for his followers help us grow deeper in our relationship with the Divine, be bold as followers of The Way, be daring in our quest of justice in the world?

If I am honest I think that often in the UCCan we have done better at the daring justice and bold disciple ship part of the call than the deep spirituality. At least as far as our public face goes. A few decades ago the UCCan was known in some circles as "the NDP at prayer" -- and while some folk wore that badge proudly it was not, I think, intended as a compliment (nor was it as universally accurate as some might have thought). We have sometimes been seen as a faith community more interested in non-spiritual things than talking about how God is part of the world, a group that is more of a 'social club' or political movement than a church.

If I am equally honest I don't think that is and accurate picture of who we are. One of realities of faith life is that those three aspects of our call interweave and feed each other. Maybe it is that we sometimes find it easier to talk about the daring justice than our spirituality. Maybe our bold actions make better headlines than our prayers. But each feeds the other.

Our way forward as a a denomination, as a local community of faith, as individual followers of Jesus, is to go further. We need to take the time to deepen our relationship with God. We need to listen for where GOd is calling us to be so that we can step into those spaces. We need to have the courage to speak boldly about the vision for the world God shares with us, to follow a different path with different priorities than others in the world. We need to challenge voices and systems and actions that bring injustice and suffering to our neighbours (near and far) even if it might cost us something.

We are called to be the church, to continue the work of building unity in diversity, to share the Good News that God's Kingdom is growing in our midst. It may not always be easy, but still we try to be faithful.
--Gord

For our Young at Heart Conversation this week...

Looking Ahead to June 2, 2024

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• Mark 2:23-3:6

Sabbath Evening

The Sermon title is Sabbath is for....?

Early Thoughts:  We are commanded (it is not a suggestion) to take a day of Sabbath rest each and every week. Why? What might that look like? How well do we do that? 

The words of Scripture give us two different reasons for the commandment to keep Sabbath. When the 10 Commandments are given in Exodus 20 we are told to take Sabbath in keeping with the first story of creation in Genesis 1, where God rested on the 7th day. In this week's reading we have eh commandment as it is given in Deuteronomy where the act of pausing for a day is a sign that the people are no longer slaves. Even further, the people may have slaves themselves now but those slaves are also to be given a day of rest. Everybody--slave or free, adult or child, native or alien, human or livestock--  deserves a day of rest.

The act of taking Sabbath is an act of declaring our freedom.

Does that mean that refusing to take (or give) Sabbath-time is an act of enslavement?

Stepping aside from the why question for a moment (there are several years worth of discussion on why a day of rest is a good idea for our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health), let's ponder what it means to declare a day of rest. What does it look like to do that? How do we encourage or allow it to be a possibility for everyone? [For example, it can never be the same day for everyone but that does not mean it should not be available to everyone, just maybe on different days.] What exactly is meant by "do nothing"?

Within both Jewish and Christian tradition there have been vast amounts of discussion and writing about what is/is not allowed on the Sabbath (or in Christian terms "The Lord's Day" since the early church moved away from the Jewish Sabbath to mark the first day of the week in honour of Easter). I remember hearing of Christian homes that ensured their Sunday meals were all prepared by Saturday night so that no one would have to cook on Sunday. There are longstanding "blue laws" about what is not allowed on Sunday -- remember the Sunday shopping debates a few decades ago?

This week's reading from Mark shows us that debates about what "do nothing" means go back millenia. Here we see Jesus running afoul of others in the community because he does not appear to share their opinion about the best way to keep Sabbath. I like his answer: "“The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath," (2:27) and later on "“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (3:4). This fits with the Jesus who later will remind his followers that it is of upmost importance to love one's neighbour as you love yourself. As with the rest of life, the ethical requirement of keeping Sabbath is not about rigorously following rules, it is about caring for self and neighbour.

So how do we best honour the Sabbath commandment in 2024? I can think of a few possibilities:

1. Mandate in Labour law that no person can be scheduled for 7 days straight and no more than 5 days in one week at one employer (I am not sure what to do about people working for multiple employers but maybe the next point will help with that)
2. Ensure that every single person has enough to live on to remove the "I have to work constantly or I can't pay rent" reality that many face. One way to do this would be a Guaranteed Annual Income. People need to feel that a Sabbath day is in fact
   
3. Teach children from a very early age about a balanced life. As adults we need to model to our children that it is important to have a day of rest, not just a day off when we are busy cleaning or doing chores but a day of rest.
4. One possibility is a more compressed work week, say for example 4 10 hour days

I am sure there are other things that others could think of that make it easier to encourage and allow people to take a day of Sabbath time. But I strongly believe that the reason we are commanded to take Sabbath is that God recognizes that it is healthier for us as individuals and as a community. It changes our priorities. It changes how we spend our energy. It may even change how we relate to our families and neighbours. We would all be better off.

I Like this option (source)

I don't think the debate about Sabbath time needs to be about rules and "what is allowed". I don't think it need to be about "what day is best", no one day will ever work for everyone. The debate needs to be about "why is this important" and "how do we make it possible and acceptable".

We live in a world that has largely forgotten the importance of Sabbath time. It could be argued that in some circles the idea of Sabbath time, of down "non-productive" time is in fact denigrated. We need to get back to taking that time, for the better health of all of us.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 26, 2024 -- 1st Sunday After Pentecost

 This Sunday we are pleased to be celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism and welcoming 2 people into the family of faith.

The Scripture Reading this week is Psalm 1391-18, 23-24

The Sermon title is Child of God, Deeply Known, Deeply Loved

Early Thoughts: You are a Beloved Child of God. Yes you. As you sit there and read this remember that you are a Beloved Child of God. If you forget everything else you have eve learned remember that YOU are a Beloved Child of God.

First a confession. Psalm 139 is one of my favourite pieces of Scripture.

This piece of ancient poetry reminds us of many things. That we are children of God. That God knows us deeply, "more deeply than we know ourselves" as I have sometimes said in prayer". That God is always with us, wherever we go. In fact God is with us even when we might prefer that God is NOT with us. God sees our hearts and continues to lead us in The Way.

Many of these things are all warm and fuzzy, At least on the surface. But what does it mean to acknowledge that we are fully and deeply known? Why does the poet talk about wanting to flee from God's presence? And what about those verses near the end about destroying the wicked? In the  end it is a much more complex poem than we might think if we picked and chose our favoured verses.

In our baptism liturgy we proclaim:

The sacrament of baptism proclaims and celebrates the grace of God.
By water and the Spirit, we are called, claimed, and commissioned:
we are named as God’s children,
claimed by Christ,
and united with the whole Christian community of every time and place.
Strengthened by the Holy Spirit,
we live out our commission;
to spread the love we have been given throughout the world.

Which, to my mind is why this Psalm is such a good match for a Baptism Sunday. Because we are indeed "called, claimed, and commissioned".

We are all children of the God who watched us grow in our mother's womb, who heard our borning cry, who is a part of every breath we take. God knows us deeply, flaws and all. God knows the parts of our lives we would rather not admit, and yet loves us and leads us in  The Way. God is there when life is terrible. God is there when the skies grow dark. God is even there when we think we would rather be alone.

We are indeed wonderfully and fearfully made, for we are made in God's image. WE are indeed fearfully and wonderfully known, because God knows us to our core. This is a blessing, it may also seem like a curse. It can lift us up or it can be a heavy weight on our soul. Sometimes we need the weight to help us be led in the way everlasting. We always need the blessing.

And remember, the God who knows you so deeply, who has been with you since your borning cry loves you deeply. You Are A Beloved Child of God!
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 19, 2024 -- Pentecost Sunday

This week we will hear the story of the Holy Spirit blowing the disciples out into the world as told in Acts 2:1-21

The Sermon title is Drunk on God

source

Early Thoughts: When I read the Pentecost story there are a number of things that jump out at me. To a degree it is different things at different times but one of the most consistent is in verse 13 when the disciples are accused of having had too much to drink.

Because only drunkenness can account for such an ecstatic display...right?

But what if they are right. What if Peter and the others are in fact drunk...just not on new wine.

[Side note: when I was young we had a small music book at home that was in fact called New Wine, building on the passage in the Gospels about putting new wine into old wineskins]

What if Peter and the others are intoxicated by the presence of the Holy Spirit blowing into their lives? What if they are, in fact drunk on God?

What would it look and feel like if we had that reaction to God blowing through our lives? Would we feel that loss of inhibitions that often comes with extra alcohol in our system? Would we become more fearless? 

Sometimes intoxication might be a good thing. Maybe in a world and a church where we have been taught for generations that being in control and doing things in an orderly fashion (both Presbyterians and Lutherans have claimed the title "Frozen Chosen") are the best/only/proper way to be we could use a bit of intoxication in our lives.

I think we can use some of that new wine. We could do with being a little bit drunk on God these days.
I just hope it doesn't lead us into being hungover...
--Gord

Newsletter Piece on Peace

What does peace mean to you?

Just before I started writing this piece I had been thinking of what I would do for the Time for the Young at Heart on Camping Sunday and a big part of church camps is singing around the campfire. The two trains of thought sort of collided and I started thinking of campfire songs that talked about peace.

“I’ve got peace like a river in my soul” [had to pause to do the actions after typing that one]
“I’ve got the peace that passeth understanding way down in the depths of my heart (where?)”
“Turned the stone and looked beneath it...Peace on Earth was all it said”

There are multiple hymns and other church songs that talk about peace as well. But what do we mean by it? How is it that we find peace to be a fruit of the Spirit, a sign that we dwell in the Spirit of God/God’s Spirit dwells in us?

Peace, like many other words, has a wide variety of meanings and uses. Sometimes we use it in geopolitics (usually to comment on how it is lacking). Sometimes we use it to describe a quiet setting, often outside. Sometimes we use it to describe a feeling, something internal to ourselves. What is the peace that is a fruit of the Spirit?

I think it is all of those meanings. Internal peace, community peace, peace with our environment, world peace are all signs that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and in the world. But more than anything I think that peace is a sign of transformation. And the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the work of transformation.

So I have to ask: where have you found peace in the world this week? What had to be transformed for that peace to exist?

For the fruit of the Spirit to be evident in our lives we have to be open to being transformed. The change may be small, seemingly insignificant or it may be so big we are not sure it can really even happen. Either way transformation is at work.

We could sit in the park and only be distracted by the street noise or the people walking or the worries about what might come around the corner. Then something transforms us and we notice the peacefulness, the colours of the flowers, the gentle breeze rustling the leaves, the rabbits hopping past.

We could be totally distraught by the busy-ness and uncertainties of life. We could be totally stressed out. We could let the anxiety tear us apart. Some of us think that is the natural way to be. Then we follow the advice of Psalm 46 “Be still and know that I am God”, which transforms us and we find some measure of inner peace amidst all the busy-ness and uncertainties.

Age-old enmities and conflicts erupt into open warfare. It seems there is no end to wars and rumours of wars. What would it take for God to transform all involved to find a path for peace? It seems impossible so often but it happened in Ireland. Transformation and peace are possible.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Peace is a dream sometimes. Peace based on justice is a sing of God’s Reign breaking into the world. It will really only come when we open ourselves, as individuals and as communities, to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit blowing through our lives.

Will we have the courage to be open to being changed, transformed, reshaped? Will we have the courage to be makers and seekers of peace?