Blessed are the peacemakers
The ones who craft safety and sanctuary,
so that parents can read to children in their own beds at home,
instead of hiding in bunkers.
Blessed are the peacemakers, who stand up to bullies
for they value lives over money–
Flipping tables along the way…
and life over the color of ones skin or religion
knowing that God does not say “only let the white Christian people in”
But instead says “It is your job, always, without fail, to care for refugees, for you were once a refugee people.”
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they do not hide from conflict
but face it, head on, and name the injustices, in voices clear and strong.
God bless the makers of peace–who reach into their pockets
and pull together whatever bits and pieces they have on them,
and commit to make peace with whatever they have on them at the moment.
They are never silent in oppression,
They ask the right questions like “What happened here?” and “Let the one without sin throw the first stone?”
they never worry about inconveniences or being uncomfortable,
but choose to act out of the giving of their very selves–to make peace.
God bless the peace makers,
The rainbow promise keepers, the food-givers, the stranger welcomers, the least of these carers. God bless them, for theirs is the Kingdom.
And while you’re at it, God, help us to pay attention, so we too may be makers of peace we pray.
Amen.
Feel free to use/share/adapt with credit to Pastor Katy Stenta
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Author: katyandtheword
Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ.
She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible.
"Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal.
Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.
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