Two and a half years ago I wrote about my struggle with maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with the conflicted political environment that I believe has infected the Church (at least in the US). nstolpepilgrim.blogspot.com/2018/07/under-siege-unity-of-spirit-in-bond-of.html
The 2020 Presidential election campaign and its aftermath reached a fever pitch with the storming of the US Capitol on January 6. In response massive security measures have been implemented in anticipation of the Inauguration on January 20. A daily prayer encounter with the Prayer of St. Francis has been intrinsic to my spiritual rhythms for several years. I have wrestled mightily with how to be an instrument of Christ’s peace, especially among fellow followers of Jesus, in the turmoil that followed the election.
Lord,
make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where
there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where
there is injury, pardon;
Where
there is discord, harmony;
Where
there is error, truth;
Where
there is doubt, faith;
Where
there is despair, hope;
Where
there is darkness, light;
And
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,
Through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Then
today I read this from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship” (1937)
at the edgeofenclosure.org site and found it incisively challenging.
The
followers of Christ have been called to peace. … And they must not only have
peace but also make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult.
In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods. … His disciples
keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict
it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They
renounce hatred and wrong. In so doing they over-come evil with good, and
establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate
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