This past week I have been reading about peace. Our congregation’s theme for the coming week is "The Stones Cry Out for Peace" and I have been helping to prepare worship and classes on the practice of peace. In so many ways it is very difficult to get your mind around…this thing called peace. And yet it rests at the base of what humans have longed for since they began to walk upright. Peace among families, peace among tribes, peace among nations,peace within the churches,  peace within our own hearts.

Pema Chodron, the American Buddhist nun whose face carries beautiful,deep laugh lines that surround her dancing eyes says this: "If we want there to be peace in the world, we have to be brave enough to soften what is rigid in our hearts, to find the soft spot and stay with it. We have to have that kind of courage and take that kind of responsibility. That is the true practice of peace."

As Jesus was preparing his followers for the time he would no longer be with them he said:"Peace I leave with you;my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

We live in a world that urges us toward fear, war and revenge. From the daily newspapers to the nightly newscast, the messages of fear and despair can paralyze. And yet the voice of the Holy calls throughout the ages offering messages of peace, with a longing deeper than our own.  Our very lives and those of our children and children’s children depend upon our heeding this call.

Soft hearts, courage, responsibility,compassion,justice,love,faith,hope……these are what make for peace. Across faith traditions, across no faith tradition, across national and political lines,across ethnic and economic boundaries, in our schools, our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities…..the call is deafening. The very stones are crying out!

Peace begins not with treaties signed but with hearts changed. Let us take a deep breath…..and commit to peace in our hearts, in our thoughts, in relationships, in prayer, in daily practice…..for the hope of the world.

Have a lovely weekend…..and don’t forget to spring ahead.