PEACE: Harmonious Relationship

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Sunday, March 20, 2016

PEACE: Harmonious Relationship

Continuing with the break from my posting of definitions of PEACE from St. Viator’s High School. (Don’t worry! I’ll come back to the young people at St. Viator right after Easter!)

Some days ago, I attended a United Church of Christ ministerial meeting here in the Chicago area at the beginning of March. I asked a number of my fellow clergy “What does PEACE mean to you?” This personal definition of PEACE came from a friend of mine who I just reconnected with!

The Reverend Roger Dart took one of my PEACE flyers at the Minister’s Cluster meeting the other day. This is what he said. “I have been giving some thought to your challenge. I finally put down my thoughts, did a bit of wordsmithing, and came up with the following: Peace is not simply the absence of hostility; Peace is when a state of harmonious relationship exists between human beings.”

Speaking further, Roger goes on, “Harmonious relationships (peace) exist when there is the presence of emotional stability, combined with a mutual willingness to resolve differences through non-violent discussion to reach mutual agreement.”

Roger, what a measured, thoughtful answer! Thank you so much for spending a good deal of time on that superb definition. And, I know you. (I don’t have the pleasure of knowing your wife Harriet very well at all—we ought to fix that!) You do your utmost to promote harmonious relationships between human beings as often as you can. Always willing to lend a hand or lend an ear, you promote positive, nurturing encounters between people, even when those people are not well acquainted.

What better thing to strive for, than positive, harmonious relationships! Gracious God, may we all follow Roger’s excellent definition, and be willing to promote harmony. Dear God, lead us to go one step further, and strive to resolve differences, too. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayers!

@chaplaineliza

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Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.   @chaplaineliza  And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er

A Sustainable PEACE for All

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Saturday, March 19, 2016

A Sustainable PEACE for All

I am taking a break from my posting of personal definitions of PEACE from St. Viator’s High School. Going back some days, I had the opportunity to hear Rev. Terry Gallagher speak at a ministerial meeting here in the Chicago area at the beginning of March. This personal definition of PEACE is more political than many of the other definitions I have heard, so far. (Just letting people know.)

Terry is some speaker. Trained as a chemical engineer, he came to the ministry late. Went to seminary in his fifties, and now serves as a United Church of Christ minister. He is also the Chair of the Environmental Task Force of the Illinois Conference of the UCC. He knows what effects various chemicals have on the earth, the plant life, the water, the animals—everything.

He shared a specific situation involving a group of indigenous people in Latin America and mining practices of a foreign company who owned the mine outside their village. How the mining company kept gradually poisoning not only the miners, but also their families. And, the air, the water, the plant life, the animals, and the general state of public health for the whole area around the mine.

Terry broadened his talk to cover God’s Creation, how it was created as very good, and how humans are to be stewards of the earth. And, finished up with a whole list of excellent—and simple!—ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Ways to educate, and to facilitate learning in large groups.

I asked Terry for his personal definition of PEACE. He was intrigued, and told me he would like to think about it. Several days later, he sent me an email with this excellent definition. Terry said: PEACE is the just sustainable access to the life systems of God’s Good Creation for all creatures now present and for eons yet to come.

He also sent me an impactful photo along with the email. I was also intrigued, and asked where it was taken. His response: “It was taken several years ago in front of the White House as part of the protest against building the Tars Sands Oil pipeline known as the Keystone XL. 1073 of us got arrested over a 10 day period, and that was a significant factor in the stoppage of this particularly obscene destruction of Creation.”

Terry, God bless you for your work. God bless you for your tireless commitment to the betterment of the planet. Even though different people have deeply held political stands on some of these issues, still. Dear God, thank You for Terry’s integrity and strong love for Your creation.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.   @chaplaineliza And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er