Daily Bread April 19

Celebrating Peace
Darrell Belrose of Calgary, Alberta, Canada


These are portentous times. The lives of many are being sacrificed unnecessarily to the gods of war, greed, and avarice. The land is being desecrated by the thoughtless waste of vital resources. You must obey my commandments and be in the forefront of those who would mediate this needless destruction while there is yet day. -Doctrine and Covenants 150:7

Inspired by Andi Melham’s Peace Mobile in 2001 and by Community of Christ’s 187-year mission of promoting peace, a former school teacher felt the desire to honor our senior graduating students with a special Community Peace Scholarship, a monetary award of $500.00 given to the winning recipient to acknowledge and encourage the highest standards of promoting peacemaking in the student’s personal, home, school, and community life. The eligible high school student(s) are selected from the grade 12 classes each year. The scholarship is awarded to the student who has promoted the concept of peace during his or her school years.

The award promotes awareness of peacemaking as well as actions leading to peace. The award encourages the recipient’s peers to become personal and corporate peacemakers so that all may benefit from an expanding core of peaceful students in their communities.

Port Elgin congregation was the first of 10 congregations in Canada East Mission Centre to promote this award in their community and has done so for the past 16 years. A church representative presents the award at the high school graduation ceremony with a brief explanation of its significance. The church also plans a worship experience at the end of the school year and invites the media, parents, and extended family of the winning recipient to celebrate the student’s accomplishments. Some congregations even follow the students throughout their educational pursuits and send them care packages, greetings, and encouragement to continue to be ambassadors of peace in their lives.

Regardless of the size or the age of our congregations, there is always an opportunity to promote what is important to us-the mission of Jesus Christ.

Prayer Phrase

“Every breath is a resurrection” (Gregory Orr).

Spiritual Practice

Breath of Life

Take a few moments right now to breathe. Simply observe each inhale and exhale. Pay attention to how it feels in your body. Notice the rise and fall of your chest. Notice how you breathe even when you aren’t thinking about it, how your body instinctively knows how to keep you alive without your thought or effort. In this moment, you are alive. Receive this awareness as an expression of divine grace. In joy or despair, loss or celebration, your body continues breathing. How is your breath a resurrection this day?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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