Longing For Peace

I can't count the number of conversations I've had with people recently that have sounded similar. Individuals share about a load they were carrying and how, just as they felt they could manage that load, something significant came their way adding to that load. And just when they felt they could manage that new load, something else came their way adding to that load again. And again. And again. Person after person I speak with are feeling on the verge of being overwhelmed...and have been feeling that way for some time.

If this is not your reality, I'm so glad! But for those who are struggling with feeling overwhelmed, it is, perhaps, helpful that we are heading towards Peace Sunday. Peace, shalom, is the idea of rightness, wholeness, or completeness in the world. It is something we long for. It is something we hope for. And it is something we work for. And, at times, when things seem beyond our ability to work for peace, we join a chorus of voices around us simply crying out for it.

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

Psalm 13

Heaven on earth
We need it now
I'm sick of all of this
Hanging around
Sick of sorrow
Sick of pain
Sick of hearing again and again
That there's gonna be
Peace on earth

Where I grew up
There weren't many trees
Where there was we'd tear them down
And use them on our enemies
They say that what you mock
Will surely overtake you
And you become a monster
So the monster will not break you
And it's already gone too far
Who said if you go in hard
You won't get hurt?

Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line?
Peace on earth
Tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on earth
No whos or whys
No-one cries like a mother cries
For peace on earth
She never got to say goodbye
To see the color in his eyes
Now he's in the dirt
Peace on earth

They're reading names out over the radio
All the folks the rest of us won't get to know
Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann and Brenda
Their lives are bigger than any big idea
Jesus, can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line?
Peace on earth
To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace on earth

Jesus, in the song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So what's it worth?
This peace on earth

 Adam Clayton / Dave Evans / Larry Mullen / Paul Hewson