To Know God
Dan Gregory of Bend, OR, USA
But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. -Luke 6:35-36
God is constantly working to bring about restoration, healing, new possibility in the world. It’s a movement of love, emanating from the heartbeat of the Universe, a pulse, a dance, a song, that literally changes everything.
To know God, then, is to be swept up in this movement. To know God is to set aside the songs of fear and division we’re so good at singing. To know God is to take up a new chorus grounded in reconciliation and healing of the spirit. To know God is to join the dance guided not by laws chiseled in stone but by principles, values that move our feet into new paths.
To know God is to let the Divine Heart of peace beat within us as our own.
Prayer Phrase
“Led by the Holy Spirit, we work with God and others to restore peace (shalom) to creation” (https://www.cofchrist.org/enduring-principles).
Spiritual Practice
Embodying God’s Shalom
Find a way to express and embody God’s shalom. Begin by prayerfully listening to your longing for peace and wholeness. Become silent and imagine you can hear the groaning of the Earth’s people, nations, and creatures. Prayerfully open yourself to God’s yearning for peace and the divine vision of shalom.
What images, feelings, and words come to you? What prayer for peace comes to you from your time of listening? Speak or write this prayer. What act of justice, kindness, healing, or peacemaking does God invite you to consider 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.
