Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of PEACE: DAY 13 – Fri, Dec 10
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. — Matthew 5:9
Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice
for a light to the peoples. — Isaiah 51:4
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Lighting two candles may be considered an act of creating peace in the community. You kindle flames that generate radiance for everyone in the vicinity.
At its best, peacebuilding grapples with human rights, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability. Acknowledging and responding to such issues contributes to your engagement in the world. It fosters the connection between your inner spiritual self and your community-minded actions.
In this season, do you support a nonprofit or charitable organization that contributes to the overall wellbeing of vulnerable members of your community? Or cares for the sustainability of the natural world? Choosing specific causes to which you give attention, time, and/or resources reflects your values.
By letting your words and deeds align with your priorities, you implement meaningful change based on those values. You feed your spiritual light as well as fueling light in the wider world.
— Rev Gail
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You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. — J. Donald Walters
Give light and people will find the way. — Ella Baker
Advent Daily Devotional: WEEK of PEACE: DAY 11 – Wed, Dec 8
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. — John 14:27
You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. — Job 22:28
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For today, allow the lighting of candles to be an act of naming the blessings in your life. Let it bring awareness of how you can contribute to peace in your own heart and also in your corner of the world.
As you light each of the candles, name one thing you appreciate. For what are your grateful? Gratitude fosters perspective, which leads to a sense of balance and peace. — Rev Gail
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We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. — Dalai Lama
No degree of worldly darkness can extinguish the glow of a soul’s inner light. — Wes Fesler
December 5 Worship- Advent 2: Peace & Communion
Advent Daily Devotional: Day 12
Thurs, Dec 10 – DAY 12
Communal peace requires a different form of attention and advocacy. By our choices, with our voices, through our actions, we foster local peace. While some people may be in positions to affect national and global peace through high-level policy and practices, many of us shape peace through regional and neighborhood-based activism and engagement.
— Rev Gail
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. — Matthew 5:9
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” — John 20:21
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. — John F. Kennedy
Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
— Desmond Tutu
Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that
we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all
that they are. —Hafsat Abiola
Advent Daily Devotional: Day 11
Wed, Dec 9 – DAY 11
Peace may require healing, too. It could involve addressing internal hurts and histories. What do you need to reclaim your whole and holy self? To make your own wellbeing a priority, as you would another’s?
Healing may also be a bodily experience. Perhaps you live with a condition, craving, disease, diagnosis, wound or other circumstance that has changed your connection to your own physical being? Peace may come with caring for your body’s needs. Peace also evolves by accepting changes that have occurred for your flesh-and-bones self, then learning how to live as fully as possible, adapting to the reality of changed abilities or health-related scenarios. Peace may require re-framing how you understand your wellbeing.
Or perhaps healing happens by addressing strained and broken relationships. Rebuilding sustainable and healthy relationships may occur with sufficient time and attention. Connections that you want to rekindle may involve resumed contact and rebuilt bridges. Cherished bonds deserve communication and presence. Also in your life, some relationships must be re-evaluated. Perhaps you know of people with whom you need to establish healthier boundaries, clarity of roles, or complete closure.
What parts of your life might become peaceful through healing, with tender and compassionate attention? — Rev Gail
Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord; and I will heal them. — Isaiah 57:19
You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. —J. Donald Walters
We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. — Dalai Lama
Happiness in relationships thrives when it involves people that already feel whole, secure and happy. These people do not depend on a relationship to give them anything. All of their relationships then reflect the wholeness of what they are. — Adam Oakley