Borrowing Words Part 1

 

Last week, we stepped into the stillness and silence ~ as God’s first language.  We explored and experienced and experimented with what it would mean to move beyond words.  This week, I want us to ground ourselves in the words of others.  Some of the prayers I will share this week have been shared over centuries…some are contemporary…a few are my own.  We begin with the prayer of St. Francis:

Peace Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

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.

Now, go back and re-read this prayer with a pause after each line to let theords sink in and sing to your soul.  Let there be silent space within you after each petition to ponder.  What does it mean to be an instrument of God’s peace today?  What would that look like, sound like, taste and be like?  Be as specific as possible.  Being an instrument of God’s peace looks like being understanding and speaking carefully at the meeting today.  Being an instrument of God peace means that I don’t let the mountain of despair stop me from hewing a stone of hope (to quote Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.).  Being an instrument of God’s peace means laughing because there is goodness in this world.

What does it mean to sow God’s love specifically for you today ~ be concrete ~ and with whom?  Who are people you anticipate meeting today with whom you can plant a seed of love in the soil of their souls?  Name the people aloud, even if you are not sure how you might sow love with that person, because that person always shows up in all our lives with wonderfully creative ways to annoy us.  Where can you forgive?  Where might you let go of the white-knuckle grasp on anger you have been clinging to and fanning the flames of frustration each day because that person’s existence infuriates you?  Can you say today, “I prayerfully release my anger and pray for pardon in this brokenness”?  Where can you share and shine the light of faith and hope and let loose your smile with reckless abandonment?  The more specific you can find ways to embody and embrace this prayer ~ the better.  May the melody of instruments known as our lives come together in the symphony of God’s still composing and conducting ways today. Amen.