Wage Peace - Judith Hill
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don’t wait another minute.
I'll admit that I almost skipped church today primarily because of the 9-11 madness. My church community, however, is special to me, so I went. The service started blessing the space with words written by one of the church leaders. A soft spoken woman read the words bringing peace. "When we see acts of hatred and harm, may we pray for a better light..." Today's scripture (Romans 14: 1-12) was read from The Message and started: "Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with -- even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently..." These words to live by, an area I could use improvement, were followed by the story 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy. It was a powerful reading although the story (children's book) was powerful in itself. "Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort." [Please take time to look at the website.] The service was concluded with Judith Hill's poem Wage Peace. Powerful!
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don’t wait another minute.
I'll admit that I almost skipped church today primarily because of the 9-11 madness. My church community, however, is special to me, so I went. The service started blessing the space with words written by one of the church leaders. A soft spoken woman read the words bringing peace. "When we see acts of hatred and harm, may we pray for a better light..." Today's scripture (Romans 14: 1-12) was read from The Message and started: "Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with -- even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently..." These words to live by, an area I could use improvement, were followed by the story 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy. It was a powerful reading although the story (children's book) was powerful in itself. "Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort." [Please take time to look at the website.] The service was concluded with Judith Hill's poem Wage Peace. Powerful!
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