I wish you Peace

12May
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
-1 Timothy 2:1-6


I struggled with writing this meditation, more than usual. I always enjoy the process, but the amount of energy involved can vary quite a bit for me. About two weeks before the due-date, I typically begin with a quick read of all the verses in the lectionary for the assigned day. Then, I don’t do much for a while, letting ideas just percolate before I choose a verse or start to write. Sometimes I choose a scripture that is challenging for me personally and the goal is to wrestle with the passage for my own learning; sometimes there’s a scripture I know and love like an old friend, and it’s a pleasure to visit; other times, I have strong feelings about how the lines might apply to a contemporary issue that I find compelling. Today’s writing falls into that group. When I first looked over the passages assigned for today, I knew I wanted to do something with this section from the first letter to Timothy. But not for healthy reasons, I confess. 


Paul suggests how Timothy can make his life more quiet and peaceful by praying for those in “high positions”. I presume Paul mentions this not because the kings of the day were acting with justice and fairness. No doubt Timothy and the early Christians had things far, far worse than we do in America today with respect to authoritarian rule, corruption and the abuse of power by government officials. However, before March of 2025 or thereabouts, I would have never even considered making any sort of comparison, whatsoever. I admit I have never been inspired to make prayers or intercessions on behalf of the current administration and when it comes up during the prayers of the people on Sunday, my heart is not exactly “in it”. Quite the opposite. I confess that my wishes for many of America’s political leaders today are decidedly un-Christian and my first impulse when I read verses from 1 Timothy was to indulge my self-righteousness and tell you all exactly why I feel that way. I was very much inclined to use this vehicle to get on my moral high-horse, a desire I confess to you all and ask your forgiveness.


I know God loves each of us, and sees all of us as her beloved children. Loves us equally, and without exception. I also understand and have experienced the freedom and peace that comes from forgiving others, just as God herself forgives me. The bitter resentment I experience when I learn anew, almost daily, of the amoral and illegal actions of this administration is something like a poison. A poison I drink, while hoping the other gets sick. It is worse than crazy - it is sinful. I understand God wants us all to forgive one another, not because any one of us “deserves” forgiveness, but because forgiveness frees us from ourselves. It is a choice each of us must make at certain times in our lives, when we experience a mood of resentment or hatred toward another. Forgiving not only brings us closer to God’s wish for us, and to God herself, it also just feels better.


This was beginning to come together for me today when I was in church and we sang the sequence hymn, which was a paraphrasing of the familiar prayer attributed to St. Francis. I took it as a sign. The first stanza goes:


“Lord make us servants of your peace; where there is hate, may we sow love; where there is hurt may we forgive; where there is strife, may we make one.”


Friends, I wish you peace today.


Musical Reflection - Prayer of St. Francis - Kristin Chenowith


Peace Prayer of St Francis


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. Amen.
Peace

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