International Day of Peace

Two years ago, MCC Austin dedicated our own "Peace Pole" near the entrance to our sanctuary. The Peace Pole is a hand crafted pole that has the words "May peace prevail on earth" in eight different languages. Our Peace Pole is one of over 200,000 in a total of 180 countries around the world.

It seems that day by day our world moves further away from peace. Wars of words and weapons wreak havoc upon the people and the planet. Sometimes it's hard to remember, much less embrace, the promise of Christ in John's Gospel that "in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

One of our members sent the staff a card this week that helped me regain some perspective. It reads:

peace.
it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.
it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. unknown

This is the lens that I needed to help me regain my perspective on Christ's promise of peace. Our God has not promised the absence of chaos, pain, tribulation, grief, or any of the things that swirl around us and disrupt the peace. Our God has promised to stand with us in the chaos, and ultimately, to bring order to it again.

I invite you to come and worship with us this weekend and allow the love of God and Christian community to help you regain your perspective on peace if, like me, you sometimes lose it.


May Peace Find You...