Peace

I've spent a week, now, trying to figure-out how to use this blog to process my reaction to the bombing at the Boston Marathon. So far I haven't had much luck making sense out of non-sense.

As a citizen, I find myself angry,and worried that this might be the "new normal."

As a parent I grieve with those whose children have been killed or maimed. And I wonder how I would respond if it were my child whose face was plastered on CNN.

As a Christian, I am trying to forgive, but it is not easy.

So I find myself praying for peace.  In Philippians 4 we find familiar, challenging words:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding <Conrad paraphrase: doesn't make sense given the circumstances>, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Maybe together we can pray the prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me so love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.