Golly gosh, this quest for hints and glimpses of 'peace' in the Northumbria Community daily Prayer readings is proving a real challenge!  Today we have:

Psalm 139: 13 - 18

Song of Songs 4:9

Ephesians 5: 31 - 32

One of these is still very sensual/sexual/metaphorical, one, put bluntly, links the mystery of procreative human sexual activity to the relationship of Christ and the Church, so I am left with the psalm, and words which are very familiar and comforting...

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

If attributes of peace include security, freedom from anxiety, a sense of being held safe, then these words are rich in peacefulness.  I'm not sure there's much to add by way of comment, merely an invitation to rest in the safe, loving, enveloping peace of God...

God of Peace,

These words are lovely, the poetry delights the mind, the imagery thrills

Yet real life is never so cosy

Anxiety, regret, bewilderment, travail, grief...

These and so many more

Cast ugly shadows across the paths we walk

Help us move from trite truth claims and twee smiles

To a deep sense that ultimately our security and rest is, indeed, in you

That despite appearances, your never abandon us

That in the most turbulent storms of life

You are the still centre

The point of calm

The source of hope

Of peace

In our busyness

In our frustratedness

In our lostness

In our delightedness

In our beginning

In our ending

And forever

Grant us peace

Amen.

So, first it was the silent monks, then it was the flash mobs, now it is this less elaborate offering from Alaska.  Enjoy!

So, the Northumbria Community stick with Song of Songs (Solomon) this week, and it's really not so easy to work with that when I'm hunting elusive glimpses of peace.  The three readings are:

Psalm 90:12

Song of Songs 2: 10 - 15

Ephesians 4: 26, 32

Of these, the one that seems the most helpful, or 'on theme' is the Ephesians but, two verses peeled away from their wider context, but with important messages:

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry... Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

"Let not the sun go down upon thy wrath" - words I recall my Dad saying to us as children when it looked as if childhood squabbles might not be resolved by bedtime.  Let it go, today's anger belongs to today, but held onto it becomes bitterness which is pernicious and destructive.  I once did a funeral for someone who told me that there would be people attending with whom they had fallen out years ago and did not speak.  They had no idea why they had fallen out, just that they had, and maintaining the feud was important.  For crying out loud!  If ever there was a time to let bygones by bygones...  Life is too short for grudges; I've always felt that, but the last year has sharpened that opinion.  Let is go.  Be cross.  Be angry.  Shout.  Scream.  But sufficient unto the day is the good thereof, and also the evil thereof... move on.  Or, in the famous last words of famous film... "tomorrow is another day"

Be kind and compassionate, forgiving one another... it's not rocket science, but it makes all the difference in the world.  This is not the place to go into a theological treatise on forgiveness, just to note that it is a conscious act - we choose to forgive - and it is a process - forgiveness takes time to flourish.  In my experience, forgiveness is cathartic - it helps me to 'heal' and blossom.  In my observation, those who cannot, or will not, or do not forgive often become 'unhelahjty' and shrivel.

Hints of peace then in our attitudes and actions, as we choose how we repsond to the quarrels and hurts of everyday life.

God our Parent

How often you must watch our childish quarrels and weep

How disappointed you must be when we fight over the same old silly disagreements

"You took my...." 

"Didn't" 

"Did too"

"I won't speak to you again ever..."

"I don't care"

(Well I do, but I won't admit it...)

"We don't have anyhting to do with them..."

"Why not?"

"Just because..."

As the sun slips towards the horizon, in these shortest of winter days

Help us to let go of our anger

Bitterness

Grudgingness

Childishness

Displace our ire with your peace

Teach us gentleness

Compassion

Forgiveness

So that we, too, may be bringers of peace

Heralding the dawn of a new world

Amen

This afternoon I lugged a wheeled case full of parcels up to the post office and set them off on their way south... still a few smaller packets to post another time, but that's the bulk of it done.  The postage of four parcels, plus stamps for cards set me back more than £60... OUCH!  Still, I have the money to pay for it, and the joy of people to send things to.  OK that's bad grammar, the joy of having people to whom things may be sent.

As I trekked up the hill (protecting my at risk arm and my gammy wrist, fear not) in the snow, it was kind of odd recalling doing the same just about a year ago - a week later I think - when there was also snow on the ground, when my arms were both fully strong but I was wearying from treatment.  A lot has happened since then - mostly good - but I am finding a lot of odd memories popping up as Christmas gets nearer... this one I'm looking forward to really enjoying with no nasty fears overshadowing it.

Now... back to stamping those cards...

Sometimes that 'good idea' you had seems very 'not good'.  This week, I am trying to find hints and glimpses of 'peace' or 'shalom' in the scripture readings offered by the Northumbria Community...

Psalm 139:5

Song of Songs 8:5a

Mark 1:35

With such minuscule readings, with verses (or even half verses) taken totally out of context, the task of finding that for which I seek becomes very difficult and indeed, very contrived.  Read out of context, these verses can seem quite menacing (Psalm 139:5) or bewildering (Song of Songs 8:5a).  So, I've had to look them up and find a bit of a context in which to do my 'seeking hints of peace.'  Unsurprisingly, the possibly sexually explicit, and at least highly sensual, Song of Songs is not the place!!!  So I was torn between the psalm, which is well-loved and often used as a source of comfort, and the gospel, which is complex.  In the end I opted for the gospel, with the one verse from above in red:

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.  Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.  And the whole city was gathered around the door.  And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."  He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."   And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.  (Mark 1: 29 - 39 NRSV)

The gospel of Mark is especially 'zap pow' all action, Jesus racing around hither, thither and yon, always teaching, always healing, always doing... and this little extract from a crazily busy chapter illustrates that.  Poor Jesus, even his attempt to get a tiny bit of space, a little bit of time to pray, is thwarted as everyone hunts for him - serious intent there methinks!  If even Jesus needed space for himself, time to 'be', to collect his thoughts, to commune with God, how much more so do we?

As I wrote yesterday, peace is not 'silence' or 'warm fuzzy feelings' or even 'escape from the hurly burly' yet within any of these perhaps we catch a glimpse of what it is.  Where or what for me - for you - is the equivalent of "while it is still dark, getting up and going to a solitary place..."?  Where or what are then moments where peace pierces out busyness?

Shopping malls with twinkly lights and canned carols

Internet sites with 'buy now offers' and email inboxes 'ping'

Bus queues, traffic jams, trains delayed

Deadlines at work, cards to post, bills to pay

Uncertainty ahead and pressures galore...

Come with me to a quiet place,

just for a moment,

just for a moment...

Be still,

Rest

Receive

I AM the God whose hand is on you to shield you [Psalm 139:5]

I AM the God upon whom you can lean [S of S 8:5a]

I AM the God of the quiet place [Mark 1:35]

(Yes, I AM the God of the busy place too

but for now,

for a moment,

come away and pray...)

God of Peace, grant us peace.  Amen.