by the Rev. Dr. Christy Lohr Sapp, Pastor of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Hickory and member of the North Carolina Council of Churches Governing Board.
As shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. — Ephesians 6:15
As a country this fall, we are moving into what is shaping up to be an incredibly contentious election. Political ads are filled with cringe-inducing fear-mongering and name-calling, and staggering amounts of money are funding campaigns in each political party.
In many religious traditions it is a commonly-held understanding that worshiping communities play a role in civic life — both individually and corporately. In some churches, the weekly worship liturgy (liturgy means “the work of the people”) is understood as preparation for people to confess our own shortcomings, proclaim the good news of God’s work among us, partake in rituals of reconciliation, and finally be sent out into the world to share all of this with our neighbors.
With that in mind, in this season, leaders at my congregation have prepared a special emphasis on prayers for peace as part of our weekly worship. This fall through the end of November, we will add a specific prayer for peace to the start of our liturgy of confession and forgiveness — making more earnest and intentional prayers that we regularly pray.
As a visualization of this aspiration toward God’s shalom, a peace pole has been added to our worship space for this time. These tall white poles are emblazoned with the words, “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” The Peace Pole project grew out of a Japanese initiative in the late 1970s and has become a grassroots movement to inspire and foster peace in our hearts and around the world.
The peace pole in our sanctuary has a prayer for peace in nine languages: English, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Hmong, Cherokee, American Sign Language, and Braille. A rainbow also reminds us of God’s covenant of peace with the whole Earth. Each week we light a candle and pray for a specific peace — starting internally with peace in our own hearts and broadening out to our schools and communities until we reach peace in our world. In so doing, we will join our prayers with those of every age and across myriad traditions who pray for a peace that passes all understanding. Peace is not a new longing. For as long as there have been people, our world has been marked with a restlessness that makes God’s shalom elusive. Most of the world’s scriptures offer a rationale for all people to be peacemakers. In the season ahead, may we as a community live into the gospel of peace that marks Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In that epistle, we are called to put on the armor of God but also to don shoes fit for pounding the pavements in proclamation. May we work together to break down the dividing walls of hostility and live into the promises of reconciliation found in God’s shalom. May we all be promoters of peace in our homes, in our communities, and in our world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rev. Dr. Christy Lohr Sapp
The Rev. Dr. Christy Lohr Sapp is the pastor of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Hickory and a member of the North Carolina Council of Churches Governing Board. She serves as the Dean of the Catawba Conference for the NC Synodof the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is passionate about interreligious peace and justice work.
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