International Day of Peace

• Mark your Calendars: A Spaghetti Supper is scheduled for October 18th at 5pm
• Next Death Cafes are September 27th, November 15th, and December 13th at 4pm (join us for an informal conversation around death and dying that may include curiosities, living well, and managing grief–we provide the sweetness with snacks and coffee)
• Sunday Discussion Circle with Pastor Charlotte Sunday is on the last Sunday of each month after Church; in person and via Zoom–a fairly informal discussion around the themes of Sundays Reflections, Inspirations, and life
• Bible Study with Seth is on the 1st and 3rd Sundays after Church; in person and via Zoom

Watch the recording HERE. Recording posts after services are complete each Sunday (usually by noon). There is no recording for today’s service.

Today’s Poem: Because by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

MEDITATIONS ON PEACE WOVEN THROUGH

SPECIAL MUSIC: GOD OF MIRACLES:

We’ve made everything so complicated.  Even Peace, which should be so very simple.  I think we would agree with what peace is…and also could probably argue what peace means.  We definitely have different ideas of how to “get there”.  But maybe, there’s no “getting there” at all.  Maybe Peace is a moment to moment practice and Way, perhaps it’s The Way Jesus taught us by the way he walked in this world.  With Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness, even where it seemed impossible.  With Friendship that knew no bounds.  

Peace is imbedded in Grace and our collective faith…as diverse as we are even in this little Community Church.  Peace (as well as Love) is a keystone of our Way together.  And vital for our existence, here and beyond.

Taking inspiration from our special music, we start perhaps, with the miracle and Mystery.  That unshakable presence of a Great Peace that anchors our lives.  That something great and still and Mysterious that we each give different names to.   

While the world is arranged and rearranged and created by this unseen force and while we do our very best disturb and imbalance this creation, there is a Great Still Point that orients our lives. 

While our lives are shaped and changed by life, our decisions, and the force of this presence, it is the Great Still Point the orients our lives. 

It is the ever-present place of Peace.  It is the wellspring that restores our soul back to Peace when we are shaken, confused, and lost in the chaos.  It is unshakable when we are shaken and afraid.  It asks that we simply trust and surrender to its Great Love.  That we find Peace.  

Call it God.  Call it Grace. Call it Spirit. Call it the Universe.  Call it Love. We feel it in our souls. It comes over our lives when we most need it.  Sometimes asked for, sometimes pleaded for, and sometimes arriving unasked for and in strange and Mysterious Ways.  

It is a force that changes us.  We are not created to be static creatures.  We are meant to grow and change and evolve.  Ideally toward Wisdom, Love, and Peace, all of which take gentle and fierce work and determination and brings us toward a harmony, a symphony, with  one another and the Great All.  

With our hearts and minds oriented on that unshakable Presence of Peace and Love that blesses our lives, in mysterious and miraculous ways, let us share together our personal prayers:

HYMN: COME AND FIND THE QUIET CENTER:

We get caught up, so easily, in the chaos, clutter, and drama of life that we forget the beauty and the peace the orients our lives.  We are striving so much to control and win that we’ve forgotten that love and tenderness are our foundation.  We forget that we are Tended, even if we don’t understand the “plan”. 

That is what Grace offers us…an anchor in Love and Peace.  It is usually us creating the chaos and the clutter.  Grace centers us in peace. Grace clears away the chaos and the clutter.  We only must arrive and find the quiet center to allow this Peace to enter us.  

It’s one of the reasons we come together each Sunday, to come Home.  

Here, we restore our souls.  

Here, we pray and sing and hold close one another.  

Here, we remember peace and we remember love. 

Here, we remember our part in this world.

Here, we ground ourselves in the Way of Love and Peace. 

We come to shed and share and halve our burdens with one another and Grace, so that we can become more centered in Peacefulness.  That Center aligns us with Grace and gives us the strength to go forth and do the work of Peace that our faith calls us to do.  We are filled with the deep courage to do our part in bringing peace and hope to this world.  One small word, one small act, one small kindness at a time.  

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy. 

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, 

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

HYMN: WE WOULD BE ONE

But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Peace is work that is done together.  We cannot fully find true world peace without finding peace within community.  With one another.  The work of Peace is in community.  

We, each of us, ripple peace and love…but a community that ripples love and peace has a farther reach.  We are communal creatures…perhaps that is one of the reminders for us as we take communion together (communion, community): no one goes hungry, no one goes thirsty, and we’re all in this together.  

Peace begins at home.  It begins in our own hearts.  First, we must find peace in our hearts and souls. Sometimes, this isn’t as easy as it sounds.  

Then, we bring peace to the place we live, our home.  We spread peace to our children and loved ones.  We teach love and peace and forgiveness.  Sometimes, this also isn’t as easy as it sounds.  

Then, it spreads into our communities, where we offer peace to our friends and acquaintances and strangers.  Sometimes, this isn’t as easy as it sounds.  

We are called to be friend to neighbor and enemy.  To love one another.  To find peace with one another.  

This is part of our great work together.

If we are not peaceful within, how can we possible be a part of the peace in this world?

If we are not peaceful in our homes, how can we possibly be a part of bringing peace to this world?  

If we aren’t cultivating peace with our neighbors, how can we expect to spread peace beyond our circle of influence?  

What we do ripples.  What we say ripples.  It ripples best when our words are aligned with our actions and our thoughts are aligned with our words.  It ripples best when we believe in what we say so much that we also act on it…as easy or hard as that might be.

Peace in our hearts, spills into our homes.  Peace in our homes, spills into our neighborhood and schools and work places and shops.  Peace in our community, spreads into the next and the next.  This is how our small actions make change, by acting for what we believe in.  

Ours is the Way of Peace.  We have gone astray when we lose sight of the Way of Peace and Love.  Only by walking that Way can we be a part of World Peace.  

We are called and charged to Peace.  It starts in our hearts and souls.  It continues in Community. It is connected to the Love and Peace of Grace.  

May Peace Be With You.