麻豆约拍

Good morning. 聽Methodist churches are often very simple, very plain. There鈥檚 not much in the way of decoration 鈥� a little coloured glass in one or two of the windows, a couple of banners hung on a wall, that would be as far as it goes. Just now and again, however, you鈥檒l see words, almost always biblical verses, painted where the eye rests 鈥� above the communion table or in the apse. Words are our thing; we are a people of the Word.聽鈥淕lory to God in highest heaven and on earth peace,鈥� the song of the angels at Bethlehem; that鈥檚 the phrase that appears in one church I know. The verse was slightly too long for the semi-circular apse where it was painted. So the first and last words were out on their own, outside the apse, within the body of the church. So they stood out eye-catchingly on their own. 鈥淕lory,鈥� said one; 鈥淧eace,鈥� the other. And the pairing of those two words has stuck with me ever since.聽The glory is God鈥檚 鈥� seen in all things bright and beautiful, in all that lifts the spirit, in everything that speaks of transcendence, otherness, the beyond. It鈥檚 love in action, a light that shines in darkness, the colours of a rainbow, something understood. Peace, on the other hand, is ours to make. It鈥檚 built on trust, it has no truck with greed or a lust for power. And too often it鈥檚 simply a pipe dream, only noticeable by its absence, always seemingly beyond our grasp. The future of the world may well depend on the glory/peace balance struck between God and humanity.聽Dear Lord, help us to see your glory in what happens today and help us too to work for peace in our troubled world. Amen.