This Advent, Iowa Conference Communications invited members of the newly formed Bishop’s Leadership Team to share reflections based upon the themes and scriptures of “Unrelenting Grace.”
Let there be peace on earth
and let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be
During the season of Advent, we hear this song as one of the songs played over and over. We sing along, and the lyrics stick with us for hours or days. At church, we light the candle of peace and sing hymns of peace. Christmas cards and letters express wishes of peace. Perhaps when we think of peace, our minds go to lack of danger, abundance of resources to meet our wants and needs, silence, retreats, peaceful music, or absence of disquieting voices.
While studying "Unrelenting Grace," we read and reflect on peace as a gift from God with an invitation to not be passive in waiting for this gift but to engage God’s given freedom to work in God’s service towards that peace. It continues to invite us to consider a “third way” that trusts the Spirit to continue God’s work on us toward the fulfillment of an agenda that is larger than what we can fully comprehend.
How do we use these gifts from God to seek to delight in our differences and stories? Where may there be voices or stories in our midst that are different from our own narratives? How are we listening and paying closer attention to the similar and different stories of people suffering from unrest, conflicts, war, or oppression around the world are to ours? Do we choose to ignore some voices and disregard them as voices from the wilderness?
Events in the world, our country, our cities, our towns, our neighborhoods, our churches, and even within our families incite passionate opinions and perceptions, with strong beliefs that we know what is true. In this season of Advent, let us trust and be guided by the Holy Spirit as we seek to understand the peace of God’s dream for all humanity. Let us seek to discover how our own narratives are shaped, and let us rejoice in the different narratives and stories others bring to the table.
Let us pray,
Merciful God, bring your amazing grace to all those oppressed and marginalized,
Oppressed by economic, structural, governing, militarized power…
Help us to be engaged in seeking to understand the similar and different stories that we make us who we are, help us rejoice in what makes each of us unique;
Help us listen to voices that may seem like wild or unreasonable voices;
Help us love neighbors that don’t look, sound, act, live, love alike us;
Help us show love and mercy in the way that Jesus taught us
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Nitza Dovenspike is a lay member of the Indianola First UMC and School for Lay Ministry alumna, who enjoys reading, walking, and learning about topics that challenge her thinking.