Reflections: Too often words like hope, peace and love roll off our tongues like platitudes. As followers of Jesus, we need to remember their very real power in times of trouble and the fact that the incarnation of God in the person of the Christ means that God is with us. However, we also need to remember that these things require grit, effort and prayer, if we are to take up our crosses and follow the Christ. Hope, peace and love are not just things that God gives to us for ourselves alone, but also for others. These are things that we can work for but might require a shift in our thinking through prayer to make them real. In prayer we may then see the outworking of these things in our world and offer them to those we meet just as Christ offers them to us.
Praying the Peace of God:
Christ,
Source of peace,
The Scriptures say, “Do not be anxious about anything,”
But this is hard,
Especially in times of devastation and strife,
When hope seems faint and the future so uncertain.
The Scriptures say, “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”.
There is so much to pray for,
With so many needs and so much wrong with the world,
And it seems sometimes that there is so little to be thankful for,
But, let us try to heed this instruction,
Let us pray our concerns to you in the way of the psalms
Opening in ourselves in compassion to the needs of God,
And seeking to be grateful for the good that we hold.
The Scriptures say, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,”
May this truly be so in your wisdom and way,
We fervently pray.
Amen.