Make Peace the Goal for 2023

  At the beginning of a new year we often make resolutions and set our intentions to better ourselves. Many of us wish for more peace in the world as each new year begins, and that is what I'm doing with the altar that I have dedicated to peace. 

    As I placed the symbols of peace on this altar I prayed that 2023 will be the year that the Era of Peace truly begins in the world of form. The Christmas card framed in green and gold displays the word "peace" in eleven languages. This and the golden globe hanging on my little tree remind us that people all over the world long for peace. Wars are waged by powerful and egotistic leaders, but most common people desire peace with their neighbors. When the will of the people, and the will of God prevail over the will of the egotists, there will be peace. 

    Doves of peace and a paper crane hang from the little tree along with the golden globe. Paper cranes have been symbols of peace since a little girl named Sadako died of leukemia ten years after the bombing of Hiroshima where she lived. Sadako believed that she would be healed if she could fold a thousand paper cranes. She made 644 cranes before she died. Afterword her classmates continued to fold cranes until there was a total of one thousand to be buried with Sadako. 

    Cranes had always symbolized long life, good health, and good fortune, but after Sadako's story spread around the world, the paper crane became known as a symbol of peace. I folded the crane on my altar as a reminder that no child should have to suffer the horrible effects of war. 

    Finally, the lion and the lamb lying together remind us of the Book of Isaiah where it actually says: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb . . . and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together . . . ." Whether the lion lies with the lamb or the calves is not significant. The point is that Isaiah's prophecy illustrates a future in which animals do not kill each other and there is peace in all the land. 

    Every new year ushers in the possibility that this will be the year when enemies begin to recognize the humanity in one another, when children are cherished as the miracles they are, and all of nature is honored and we begin to restore the earth to its original beauty. Let us pray that 2023 brings peace to the world. 

You might enjoy Diana Cooper's message of peace:

New Year's Eve Message 

 

The Miracle of Christmas

     During the Christmas season we are asked to believe in miracles. Believe that a virgin conceived a child by the Holy Spirit. Believe that an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that Mary would give birth to the Son of God. Believe that angels came to the shepherds in a field outside of Bethlehem and told them where to find the baby Jesus! And yet, if anyone claims to have seen an angel in today's world, they are scoffed at and called delusional. 

    We are told that Jesus grew up to be a great teacher and perform many miracles. He said: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12) And yet, many churches condemn those who perform spiritual healings because, you never know, the healing might come from the devil rather than God.

    Jesus demonstrated that life is eternal, and yet, we are told not to try to contact our loved ones in spirit. Catholics and other Christians may pray for their departed loved ones, but in Protestant churches we are told that we should not pray for the dead, and we should not pray TO anyone other than God and Jesus. Life is eternal, and yet many Christians believe that this one brief physical life is our only opportunity for salvation. They don't seem to believe in the miracle of a loving God who desires the best for his and her children. 

    I often feel that Christians have put themselves in a little box with God and their definition of God.  If church members stray from the perimeters of that box with questions, explorations, or imagination, they risk the wrath of God. If we tear down the walls of that box, we find that God expands to fill the outer reaches of the universe and beyond. In Matthew 19:26 we read that "with God all things are possible." So yes, it is possible - and most likely - that God has created intelligent beings on trillions of planets throughout the universe. It is possible and likely that many of these beings are more  highly evolved than we are, and that they are already among us, waiting for the day when we are spiritually mature enough to meet them peacefully. 

    With God all things are possible - and yet, many who pray for God's kingdom to come to earth do not believe it will happen. Some Christians have told me that we will never know peace in this world, even though we read in Isaiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." In Luke 2:14 we learn that a heavenly host of angels said to the shepherds on that first Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

    We sing and pray about world peace every year at Christmastime, but how many believe it can become reality? Is it an impossible pipe dream, or do we believe that with God all things are possible? Perhaps if we truly believe the miracle of Christmas - that Jesus was born to save the world - and work toward that end, we will find favor with God and the world will be saved from the violence and mayhem we have allowed to exist for far too long. 

    I believe that if we open our hearts and minds to the possibility of miracles this Christmas, and every day, we will discover there is so much more to God's universe than we ever dreamed possible. Why not try it and see what happens?