Monday December 7, 2020
It’s difficult to think of peace on this day, a day that thrust us into the greatest conflict the world had ever seen. Although most of us now living were not even born on that day called “a day that will live in infamy,” we live with the effects of that day and that war even today both in our attitudes towards our international obligations and our domestic manufacturing industries.
The war became a race to develop a new type of weapon, one that still threatens our understanding of peace. As the United States developed and used nuclear power to bring Japan to its knees, it became obvious that this kind of weapon could unleash a conflagration that would make the eradication of the dinosaur age mild by comparison.
Thus we do need to think of peace, more than the peace in our hearts, but a national attitude toward constructing a new kind of peace in the world. This is more than the warm fuzzies we typically feel at this time of year, but an intelligent approach in collaboration with other nations. Let us not just pray but support new approaches to peace in the world.
Prayer for the Day
Trembling, we come to you, O God, for direction and guidance,
For we know what military capacity we and other nations have;
Fearful, we pray that bluster will now give way to real thoughtfulness
For we know the destructive power we hold in our hands.
Guide our nation and its leaders, both old and new, to consider
How best to build peace in a complex world.
In the name of him who is our guide,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu, architect of reconciliation in South Africa.
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in peace. One must work at it.
- Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady and worker for peace (1884-1962)
My voice to God – let me cry out. My voice to God – hearken to me.
In the day of my straits I sought the Lord.
My eye flows at night, it will not stop. I refuse to be consoled.
I call God to mind and I moan, I speak and my spirit faints.
Psalm 77: 2-5 (Translation by Robert Alter)