Category: Peace

What kind of a world?

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God, what kind of a world is this that the adult people are going to leave us for children?

There is fighting everywhere and they tell us we live in a time of peace.

You are the only one who can help us.

Lord, give us a new world in which we can be happy in which we can have friends and work together for a good future.

A world in which there will not be any cruel people who seek to destroy us and our world in so many ways. Amen

1 Peace in our time, O Lord,
To all the peoples—peace!
Peace surely based upon thy will
And built in righteousness.
Thy power alone can break
The fetters that enchain
The sorely stricken soul of life,
And make it live again.

2 Too long mistrust and fear
Have held our souls in thrall;
Sweep through the earth, keen Breath of Heaven,
And sound a nobler call!
Come, as thou didst of old,
In love so great that men
Shall cast aside all other gods
And turn to thee again.

3 O shall we never learn
The truth all time has taught,
That without God as architect
Our building comes to naught?
Lord, help us, and inspire
Our hearts and lives that we
May build, with all thy wondrous gifts,
A Kingdom meet for thee.

4 Peace in our time, O Lord,
To all the peoples-peace!
Peace that shall build a glad new world,
And make for life’s increase.
O, living Christ, who still
Dost all our burdens share,
Come now and dwell within the hearts
Of all men everywhere.

All God’s people

Ephesians 2 New International Version

Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Recently we were told at my church that the building was ‘not fit for purpose’ for a number of reasons. This obviously means looking for new premises or a plot of land to build on. We as a church also have to be seen to raise funds to help this to happen, but money isn’t the only aspect involed of course , a lot of prayer has to go into what is happening as well.

For I’m building a people of power
And I’m making a people of praise
That will move through this land by My Spirit
And will glorify My precious name

Build Your church, Lord
Make us strong, Lord
Join our hearts, Lord, through Your Son
Make us one, Lord
In Your Body
In the kingdom of Your Son

Jesus disciplines those he loves

Proverbs 3 New International Version

Wisdom Bestows Well-Being

3 My son, do not forget my teaching,
    but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
    and bring you peace and prosperity.

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them around your neck,
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
    in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.[a]

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones.

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine.

11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in.

This seems to be a week for talking about Temptation & Discipline with a second reading on Temptation yesterday and today a second one on Discipline.

Quietness

Oh the joy, the dark clouds have gone,

The blackbirds sing their morning songs,

Upon the lake, the glorious swans

where the quiet descends upon us.

We silence our minds from the world’s hurried lots

Of dangers and worries and cobwebs of thoughts

We centre our minds on higher resorts

Where the quiet descends upon us.

Love upon Love, we look for the signs. A holy warm peace on the mountain resides

Facing our brothers with words so kind

Is when the Quiet descends upon us.

Love walks with me

Oh the Love that walks with me

Through vale and street from break of day.

Oh that Mercy flows to us

Is our prayer that we should say.

And when the dark opinions come

To rob us of our joy and peace.

In silence turning to our Lord and wait upon a Love increase.

A prayer at Easter for the healing of sectarianism.

Is that a shadow on your brow of tears and deep regret?

Does the thought of Unity bring harm and disrespect?

And oh the games we Children played

just wasting precious hours

when we were close with high ideals

of hunting games and prowess

How can a Faith so clean and pure

divide us into camps?

the Love for you, my brother still,

burns deeply in my heart.

With every wound and bound you gave

My body battered sore

For they taught me God’s great Love

and how to love Him more.

Now we as men in later years look back and question why..we put before us men’s ideals while looking to the sky

A lifetime fuelled with bitterness,of labels, names and fights,

Of all the tears with passing years, please let us find the Light.

Surrendering to His great plan

In every waiting hour

Oh the Joy, the Peace and Love

Oh gentle present Power.

With our different words and creeds there lies a sense of Love. Let us catch those Higher thoughts descending from above.

Joseph McTaggart.

A Christian’s Heart

A Christian’s heart is like a flower

Where there is always room

For every lovely seed from God

Comes to perfect bloom

A Christian’s heart is like a Church

A room of peace and Love

Where Angels make their presence felt

With ideas from above

A Christian’s heart is like a fort

Of mighty rugged stone

Where sayings kept of our dear Lord

Rest upon its throne

A Christian’s heart is like a star

Reflecting light from God

Shining brightly in the night

On pathways deeply trod

A Christian’s heart is broken still

So God can build anew

A pathway closer to himself

Of purity and truth

A Christian’s Heart beats larger

When love is given free

Without condition or distrust

Our Hearts light up with glee

Joseph McTaggart

Go in Peace

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John 16 The Passion Translation

25 “I have spoken to you using figurative language,[m] but the time is coming when I will no longer teach you with veiled speech, but I will teach you about the Father with your eyes unveiled.[n] 26 And I will not need to ask the Father on your behalf, for you’ll ask him directly because of your new relationship with me.[o] 27 For the Father tenderly loves you, because you love me and believe that I’ve come from God. 28 I came to you sent from the Father’s presence, and I entered into the created world, and now I will leave this world and return to the Father’s side.”

29 His disciples said, “At last you’re speaking to us clearly and not using veiled speech and metaphors! 30 Now we understand that you know everything there is to know, and we don’t need to question you further. And everything you’ve taught us convinces us that you have come directly from God!”

31 Jesus replied, “Now you finally believe in me. 32 And the time has come when you will all be scattered, and each one of you will go your own way, leaving me alone![p] Yet I am never alone, for the Father is always with me. 33 And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous,[q] for I have conquered the world!”[r]

Sadly within the last three weeks I have lost two family members who were very dear to me. My fathers cousin who was classed as a older brother died suddenly at sixty seven and on Monday I got a phone call from my mother saying she thought my stepdad had died. As my mother doesn’t live far from me I said I would be there straight away. The paramedics were still on scene when we arrived and confirmed he was dead. The only connection between these two deaths is that they went in peace!

Go in peace, go in love. May the Lord be at your side. Go in peace, go in love, May he ever be your guide. May his Grace overflow, and his mercy be upon you, Go in peace, go in love. Now and evermore

I Vow To Thee, My Country

In light of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral yesterday I thought I would look at the story behind this hymn Although the hymn is commonly used at Remembrance to remember those who fought and died in both wars for the country, the Queen did at her coronation make a vow to serve the Country.

The origin of the hymn’s text is a poem by diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, written early in the 20th century, entitled Urbs Dei (“The City of God”) or The Two Fatherlands. The poem described how a Christian owes his loyalties to both his homeland and the heavenly kingdom.

The Story Behind I Vow to Thee, My Country

In 1908, Spring Rice was posted to the British Embassy in Stockholm. In 1912, he was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America, where he influenced the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain in the war against Germany. After the United States entered the war, he was recalled to Britain. Shortly before his departure from the US in January 1918, he re-wrote and renamed Urbs Dei as “I Vow to Thee, My Country” significantly altering the first verse to concentrate on the themes of love and sacrifice rather than “the noise of battle” and “the thunder of her guns”, creating a more sombre tone in view of the dreadful loss of life suffered in the Great War. The first verse in both versions invokes Britain; the second verse, the Kingdom of Heaven.

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best.
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know.
We may not count her armies; we may not see her King.
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering.
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.