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!
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