Coincidentally, my devotion for today was on peace. Again. Is God trying to tell me something?
This message resonates with me at the very core of my being, even if I don't always live it out.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Home for the HolidaysBible Excerpt from Zephaniah 3:14-20
I will bring you home.
Reflection by Ron Buford
It's almost Christmas Eve and I ask you, "What exile are you bringing home for Christmas?"
Is it easier to talk about making peace between Israel and Palestine, about international cease-fires, about bringing full marriage rights to same-gender loving people, about freeing Tibet and illegal aliens than it is to forgive someone who betrayed you, or a family member or friend who hurt, violated, embarrassed you or let you down?
You think making peace is easy. So, what exile are you bringing home for Christmas?
It's time.
Bring an exile home. Make peace without conditions.
Think you cannot do it?
Oh! Are you the exile? You can't forgive yourself for something? God says, "It's time to bring the exile home."
If this nation can put a Black man in the White House, with a mix of northern and southern states, then you and I can make peace--with ourselves, with others, with the world.
It's time.
God has taken away judgments against us. We have escaped disasters' worst. Those who aimed to hurt us have not totally overcome us. Our fortunes are beginning to be restored . . . and you and I can make peace.
Prayer
Gracious God, Help me do the thing I really do not think I can do. Help me make peace. I do not have the power or the will to do it. Please give me the strength, the courage, the wisdom, and opportunity to make a healthy and lasting peace with some exile in my life this holiday. Amen.About the Author
Ron Buford is Director of Development, Northern California Nevada Conference, United Church of Christ.
MERRY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!
PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN
2 comments:
Thank you so much for that - just beautiful, and from you who said she couldn't come up with cool quotes (on my blog). Pshaw! Is that the exile you're bringing home?
I tease, but really, this is marvelous. It is so alligned with the Maitri principles Pema Chodron talks about - loving kindness towards the self (http://beautifulcandy.blogspot.com/2007/06/teachers.html). I'd love to send you some of her stuff - I find it's so like open-hearted Christian teachings. You know, Joseph Campbell talks about that principle of exile in Judeo-Christian philosophy, and that atonement is the completion, or end of that - At-one-ment. It's about unity, not separation.
But you knew all this.
Merry Christmas to you. You're a beauty, GB.
I like the part about getting a black man elected in such a segregated country. I guess when you put it that way, holding a grudge because your little sister flushed your favorite Barbie doll when you were 8 seems very silly. Happy Holidays Grizzbabe!
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