Arlington Church of the Brethren

If we really understood our oneness with the earth, we might care for the planet better. If we really understood our oneness, we might treat each other differently. On World Communion Sunday, we remember we are one.

Stories, folk music, hymns, or our scriptures: these are all formational pieces for us. This is how stories work in our lives. We tell and retell the stories we were told and retold. They become kind of like our own folks process for living, churning around in our hearts and souls, affecting us in a way they can't the first time we hear or tell them.

How far will you go for peace?

And now we turn to Matthew, chapter 5. As we enter into Peace Week, let us consider these calls to non-violent resistance and live more generously tomorrow than we lived yesterday.

Those who help us feel at home on this planet of shifting sands are Godsends to us. Be that for others. Pass it on. Let no place be exempt from where we offer belonging to others.

Our souls may sing for many reasons. Let us respond to God's great gifts by coming to God with a sense of awe.

The Good News to a hungry person is bread. So, let us translate the pages of the Bible into our lives, that others may hear the words in a new way, and for some, that in our lives they may hear the good news they've never actually read for themselves. Benefiting your neighbor always glorfies God.

After that long week of tough and tiring conversations, we still found joy in meeting together. I wonder if my table experience could have been a momentary glimpse into what might be possible in the Church of the Brethren. Are we stuck seeing the milk spilled between us or are we willing to see beyond the spills, beyond the differences and see the sacredness in us gathering around the table?

The woman who touched Jesus amidst the crowd—seeking healing—didn’t have the privilege of an audience like the family to which Jesus was traveling to heal. Some of us can't wait and must reach out. Some of us must make time to listen to those who are excluded and space for them to be included. May our faith make us allwell.

If we are three dimensional people—whose souls run as deep as the ocean—ever changing, growing, hurting and healing, are we willing to see others in the same way?