The month of June has been designated as Peace Month. This blog is my "Ode to Peace," written by Laurie Oswald Robinson. The Biblical Text for this writing is Acts 10:24-48.
The title is "Lord of all."
"In this time of war, your creatures
declare you God of only their nation.
The 'chosen ones,' they send bombs
to fortify oil rights and to secure borders.
They profile those who do not look like them
as terrorists and as those 'unclean.'
Those who die in these devastations
are children and innocents,
whose mangled bodies and spilled blood
cry out to the Lord of all--have mercy
on this merciless killing."
Eons ago, your vision hits Peter
like a bombshell: he is to befriend the 'unclean,'
the Gentiles who are not safe or acceptable.
But the wreckage left by the vision's voice
brings Peter to his knees before an impartial God,
a God who though not punitive is to be feared
as the only One in the universe who dares
to speak peace in a time of war;
the only One who shows mercy
in the wreckage of mercilessness.
Today, Peter's story hits us unaware
like bombs shot between Lebanese and Israelis
because of bad blood and hostages held;
and like U.S. tanks gunning through Iraqi desert,
searching for ghosts of rumors that
weapons of mass destruction may exist.
In the midst of these ghost-like howls,
we hear a clear voice proclaiming:
'Jesus heals all who are oppressed."
That means me and you and
enemies and strangers in the Middle East--
all of us who cry for mercy
in this time of merciless war."
Reprinted by permission from Now It Springs Up by Carol Duerksen, Michele Hershberger, and Laurie Oswald Robinson. Published by WillowSpring Downs, email willowspringdowns@juno.com
Pilgrim on the way
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