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The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis

By Pr. Lisa Rygiel

So many people I know, including myself, have expressed hopelessness and helplessness during this past year, a sense of paralysis, a loss of knowing how to act in a world that seems unrecognizable. We are debilitated by the pace of change. It is tempting to curl up in a ball under the blankets and hide away until the chaos is over.

When I opened this week’s lectionary texts and saw the first lines of Isaiah 58: “Shout out! Do not hold back!” I had to laugh. The admonitions went on. “Is this not the fast that I choose: to loosen the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” (Isaiah 58:6-7).

While there are many other places where the scriptures counsel silence and even the secret doing of good deeds, this isn’t one of them. Here the idea is to make the light as visible as possible, to shine in the darkness.

To see this in action, look to the people of Minnesota. Thousands upon thousands of these ordinary people, from all backgrounds, are going about the business of shining their own individual lights on their own streets and in their own neighborhoods. Braving the cold and ICE, marching in the streets to protect their neighbors, calling for peace during troubling times. This is the righteousness that “exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees” (Matthew 5:20).

The prayer below is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but the author is unknown. One account says the prayer was found in 1915 in Normandy, written on the back of a card of Saint Francis. I am sure you have read it before, but it certainly seems applicable today as we long for peace, reconciliation, and redemption in our fallen world.

The Peace Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in self-forgetting that we find;
And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

 

Feb. 8, 5th Sunday of Epiphany

10 a.m. Sunday Worship

Announcements

  • Fellowship: Join us after worship in the Fellowship Hall for coffee and conversation. All are welcome.
  • Church Council: Zion’s church council will meet after worship on Sunday, downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.
  • Wednesday Book Club: The Wednesday Book Club focusing upon What if Jesus was Serious – A Visual Guide to the Teachings of Jesus We Love to Ignore meets at 10:30 a.m. each Wednesday in the Fellowship Hall. Note: each session is a stand-alone unit, so you jump in anytime!
  • Memorial Service: A memorial service to commemorate the life of our friend Bill Winters will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, at Mt. Carmel.
  • Souper Bowl of Caring: Each February, Zion’s joins churches nationwide to help transform Super Bowl weekend into a nationwide movement designed to address hunger in our communities. As part of Souper Bowl of Caring, Zion’s will collect canned goods and non-perishable food items throughout the month of February, for donation to the Trinidad Soup Kitchen. Please consider bringing donations to worship this month. Place these gifts in the soup pot at the front of the Sanctuary. At the end of February, all donations will be given to the Trinidad’s Soup Kitchen.
  • Officiating Next Sunday: On Feb. 8, the Reverends John & Charlotte Strecker-Baseler will officiate at our worship service that Sunday, so that Pr. Lisa can attend the ordination in Houston, Texas, of one of her TEEM seminary classmates.
  • Ash Wednesday: We begin our Lenten observance with worship on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, with a 5:30 p.m. soup supper followed by worship. At 7 p.m. All are welcome to one or both.
  • Time of Prayer and Coffee: The Zion’s family is invited to join our siblings in Christ from the Methodist church for a time of prayer and coffee at 10:30 a.m. each Thursday at Kangaroo Coffee -- in the Marketplace on Commercial Street.
  • The Way Ministry: At 1 p.m. each Sunday, Zion’s welcomes the Way ministry to our Fellowship Hall as they offer food and worship to the unhoused and others in need. 
  • We’re Here for You: For pastoral care, call Pastor Lisa at 719-846-7785 or send an email: zionsluth@gmail.com.

E-formation

We cannot live without salt or light. In the gospel for this coming Sunday, Christians are called to be like salt and light for others. Come to worship, to enter once again in the light of the baptized assembly, to hear the word, and to share in the meal of forgiveness.

Matthew 5:13-20

Christians receive the call to be salt and light, for the gospel means to transform not merely the self or the members of the church, but the entire world. The impossibility of our living such a perfect life makes us rely on the mercy of God and the power of the Spirit.

Isaiah 58:1-9a [9b-12]

This prophetic passage is appointed as background to Matthew’s words. Jesus reiterates the prophet’s call to justice and the biblical metaphor of light. Christians see in Jesus the continuation and culmination of the Jewish hope for righteousness. This passage is also an optional reading for Ash Wednesday.

1 Corinthians 2:1-12 [13-16]

The “spirit of the world” that Paul writes about is precisely what Matthew is urging Christians to reject in favor of a radically transformed life in the Spirit. Christians see in Paul’s description of the actions of God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit the foundation of the later doctrine of the Trinity.

 

Zion's Lutheran Church

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785