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 A collective reflection on Hope, Peace, Joy, and LoveWednesday, December 11, 2024 |
| Peace Bringers Isaiah 61:1-2, 58:6, Luke 4:18-19 In high school, I had the rare opportunity to join a vertical caving team. Trips to explore and sometimes to help preserve caves, mainly in New Mexico, were the culmination of years of training, preparation, and teamwork. A caving team usually consists of four to six members to balance minimal impact with enough people to care for each other safely should something go wrong. Traveling to remote locations, rappelling deep underground, and encountering profound darkness and silence are part of the wonder of these adventures. They can also lead to feeling isolated and anxious. Allowing your mind to wander through everything that could go wrong is a good way to prepare when done in advance. When down in the cave, it’s a good way to “thought spiral” towards anxiety and hopelessness. When you are by yourself in a secluded chamber of a cave and lost in anxiety or literally stuck in a tight space, it is not your training that calms your fears or pulls you out. The echoes of your team coming from around the corner bring you back to a place of peace. They are the people you have relied on in the past to help you navigate tight spaces, and the sounds of their voices and movements bring you back to focus on the moment at hand. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he read a passage from the prophet Isaiah to a gathering and ascribed it to himself. Each task in the passage that he came to do, he also calls us to do – tasks that restore wholeness and bring peace to others. As I think about Jesus bringing peace into the world, I can’t help but think about the people in my life who have brought peace to me, especially in the darkness. It’s a coworker that has my back and tells me I made the right call. It’s my wife encouraging me to be bold and step out in faith on a major life decision. It’s my friend asking if he can pray for me when I didn’t know I really needed it. And it’s the Holy Spirit (when I listen) saying to not get worked up over that driver in rush hour traffic. By Ryan Heckman PRAYER FOR TODAY Thank you, God, for sending your Son into the world to bring us peace. Thank you for the people in my life who have followed his example and brought peace to me. Thank you for inviting me into your ministry of bringing peace to others. Help me look for those opportunities, listen when your spirit calls me to action, and respond in ways that honor you. |
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