Peace and Love
As signs of Spring begin to be seen, our thoughts turn toward hope for ourselves, each other, and our world.
Many of my friends and family
who have received communications from me
have noticed that I often
close my correspondence with the words,
"Peace and Love."
This is not just to remember my years
in the 1960's,
nor is it only to remind myself
that I'm an aging hippie.
It has more to do with an expression
of my deeply held values.
I do truly believe in my heart
that this world would be a much better place
if we all practiced and shared
more peace and love.
I'm not speaking of either peace or love
in a sentimental sense,
even though feelings
are deeply involved with both.
Peace is far more than the absence of conflict.
Deeply involved with the reality of peace
is our acceptance of each other as human beings,
sometimes in spite of and sometimes because of
deep differences between us.
Peace is a powerful force,
stronger than its opposite in every ultimate sense.
A sense of peace between people
enables us to appreciate
the things we can learn from each other.
Without that sense of peace,
we may think of those who are different from us
or who think differently
as our enemies
or even as a different kind of person,
maybe not really human beings.
I'm thinking of the opposite of peace
as disorder - chaos, and conflict.
Certainly thinking of other people as enemies
can easily and quickly lead
to disorder, chaos, and conflict.
At its heart, peace means well being,
and so it is something we can work
- even struggle - to acheive,
for ourselves, for our loved ones,
for our neighbors,
for members of our community,
and even for people who might be
in deep disagreement with us.
Like peace,
love is certainly involved with our feelings,
but it is also much more at its heart and center.
Love means caring, and so its opposite is not hate.
The opposite of love is apathy,
and apathy means not caring.
Peace and Love work hand in hand,
each needing the other to achieve
its own optimal state of being.
The calm that peace can bring
is needed to allow love to care for the other.
On the other hand,
peace sometimes brings so much calm
that nothing can be accomplished.
Love is active,
and it can bring about many accomplishments
to fulfill the possibilities that peace enables.
Loving our sisters and brothers
means actively caring for them,
seeking to be sure
that their basic needs can be met.
It may not be easy,
but we can desire and work
for basic needs to be met
for people who are on the other side
of some of the conflicts of our time.
It would be much easier to do
after the conflicts have ended,
but it can be even more important
while some of the conflicts are still going on.
The form of love that can allow us
to seek the best for our enemies
is often called forgiveness.
This form of love is a way of letting go.
If we hold on to anger or hurt,
we harm ourselves,
not those who have hurt us.
In the immediate future,
we will need to show compassion,
not condemnation, for those
who have been led astray into extremism.
In the United States today,
there is an urgent need of forgiveness
to enable the healing
of the deep divisions among us.
In our case as in all cases,
forgiveness does not mean
permission to do wrong to us or others again,
and it does not mean escape
from the consequences of one's actions.
So there is nothing against forgiveness
in prosecution or other kinds of accountablity
for harm done or threatened against other people.
Forgiveness means that love can overcome hate,
and past wrongs do not have to control
the present or the future.
Forgiveness is one of the greatest forms of love
that can help bring about peace,
not only for the person who is forgiven,
but often even more for the person who forgives.
As a way of understanding how forgiveness can work
for peace and love in the life
of a nation and its people,
we need only think of the possibility of
a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Such an official opportunity for forgiveness
helped in the healing and rebuilding
of South African society
in the years after the dismantling of apartheid.
In the United States today
we are in deep need of healing and rebuilding,
so the consideration of the establishment
of our own version
of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
may be an idea whose time has come.
When some of the members
of the House of Representatives
and the Senate of the U.S.
do not feel safe in doing their work,
there is urgent need for a time of healing
to help restore peace and love in our land.
We have been called
to just such a time of healing
by a voice that may have been surprising
to some of us,
but whose words came as a clarion call
in the poetry proclaimed at the Inauguration
of President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Amanda Gorman spoke words
that I will never forget hearing,
and that I hope to hear over and over,
just as we heard them again today.
I have long loved poetry
because of the power of the words to move us.
Like most of us, I had to study the analysis of poetry
in school.
The analysis was not one of my favorite things,
but I want to do just a little bit of it today.
*** Some brief analysis of the poem: ***
As Amanda Gorman said in her magnificent poem,
"We've learned that quiet isn't always peace."
In that phrase,
we find a summary of the relationship of the poem
to this week's theme.
From the structure of the poem,
we learn some important balance of the ideas,
from the beginning of the poem to its end:
The context of the words, "quiet and peace"
can be seen in the beginning of the poem:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always justice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
So we see the power of this poetry:
"Quiet isn't always peace."
"What just is
isn't always justice."
Then comes the conclusion,
moving us from the shade
into the ever-present light
with which we can choose to unite:
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
------------------------------------------------------------
In the peace and light of a young woman's poem,
we can catch a new vision of peace and love
for our present and future.
It's not only feelings.
It's great power, ultimately the most powerful Force
in the universe.
In the end, peace and love will prevail.
We can see the peace and love
in the light of the present,
if only we are brave enough to see it,
if only we are brave enough to be it.
Amen.
So let it be.
Blessed be.
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