Daily Worship

A Dream of Perfect Peace

Rachel August 15, 2016 0 0

John 4:9

The Samaritan woman said to him 'You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.  How can you ask me for a drink?'

I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood……
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”   -Martin Luther King Jnr.
 

Father, you created us all in your own image.  Why then do we always look for differences?  

You created man and woman to be company for each other and to share the task of caring for creation.  Why do we find it so difficult to work with others and to share responsibilities?

A man once had a dream of perfect peace, where everyone would stand together, hand in hand, in love.  Lord, we need each other; we need to live together and to share the gifts you have given to each one of us.  We need to see beyond the things we don't like in others.  We need to see through the surface differences. Help us see.

What do others see when they look at us?  Do they feel welcomed into our space or held at arm's length?

Help us to reach out through the mists which separate us and to find ways of bridging the gaps.  Help us to value the tastes and flavours or human diversity which you have provided to make life interesting and nourishing.  

And when we struggle to be positive, when we hold others at arm's length, when we expect to be rejected, bring into our minds the woman at the well.  May we accept her water and draw water for her when the chance comes.  Only then will we live in true harmony with you.