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Upon Everyone

 Being an adult is the constant thought, "In two weeks, things will slow down... And then, I will have time to... and then I will work on... and then I will feel better..." We are very much in our society and culture a busy, let's get it done, we will sleep when we die type of ethos. We have come to identify peace as the absence of violence, absence of worry, and the absence of conflict. Time spent on a trail or on a lake is peaceful, the rest is grind, grind away. 

However, the prophet Joel shares with us that now, right now is a good time to work on peace. In a time of this book and story, we aren't sure when in history, when there is a massive infestation of locusts eating every green plant, Joel sees this as a warning to humanity that we must change our ways or bigger disasters are headed our way. Yet, even now, proclaims Joel, yet even now, return, repent, come to me, says the LORD. We don't have to put on sackcloth and ashes, but we do have to feel it, work on it, make a change in our hearts that shows up in the rest of our lives, thoughts, words, and actions. We are to start in peace, live in peace, and strive for peace as the goal. It's not easy, definitely not the path that most people take. 

Life would be more peaceful, more just if they would stop..., it they would just..., if they would understand...! In our divided country, peace is harder and harder to find right now. In God's kingdom and way, our goal isn't to defeat them, our goal is to take away the divisions between us and them, and also between the scared and the vulnerable, the haves and have-nots. Our job is to prepare the way, which is our hearts, our thoughts, our actions, and our beliefs for peace. It isn't accepting whatever fear slogan is given, it is seeing all as children of God, worthy of redemption and life. To quote Jimi Hendrix, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then we will know peace."

Let us continue to work on our own hearts and minds, our own beliefs and patterns, to find peace not just in those places and spaces out in nature, here in the sanctuary, and in our homes away from the world. Let us seek the peace, through justice, out in the world, on social media, and in our county and country. 



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