Monday, March 24, 2008

Today’s text

John 20:18-20

So Mary of Magdala told the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord,' and that he had said these things to her. In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, 'Peace be with you,' and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord,

Prayer

You speak, Risen One, and the word is that for which our hearts pine: ‘Peace.’

Stillness fills the soul as I sit and listen to your voice: ‘Peace be with you.’

The quiet timbre of the word echoes through corridors of the mind. It exorcises the fevered rancor of daily living, emptying the noise, clearing space to be, just to be, setting all at rest.

And I sink into your words: Peace. Peace be with me. Peace be with me.

Peace: over and again, repeating your first risen word as the secret knowledge you impart to the soul. Peace: freeing me to humbly be that which you have made, neither more than less. The soul quiets, at rest.

Freedom comes at the sound of your voice bearing the first and most central word you would have me hear and know well: Peace.

You create in me this quiet space where I dwell at rest with you, where I can welcome all you love, where our joy together may abound.

So let me ever hear your first risen word.

Pr. David L. Miller