All Shall Be Well: Make Us Instruments Of Your Peace
Clergy from left, Deacon Amy Schmuck, The Rev. Lynn Finnegan, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Pastor Nicolé Raddu Ferry and Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com
By Rev. Lynn Finnegan Associate Rector The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith
"The Peace Prayer" or the "Prayer of Saint Francis" is a well-known prayer of unknown origin. Whether the iconic Saint Francis, known best for his love of animals and all of God's creation, wrote it or not, its symmetry and simplicity has universal appeal. "Make me (or "us" depending on the version) an instrument of your peace," the prayer begins. It then continues in rhythmic ease, describing all the ways we aspire to be such "instruments" in contrast to the ways we are not:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we 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; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
I have seen several versions of this prayer, including beautiful settings of it to music. What I love about the above version is the use of the verb "sow". Now my agricultural skills are minimal, but I know enough to know "sow" or "sowing" is not a one and done.
When seeds or plants are set into the ground to grow, they typically require additional nurturing, watering, weeding, and (in Los Alamos) deer fencing. When we "sow" love, pardon, union, faith, hope, light, and joy, we are in it for the long haul. We are instruments of peace playing over and over, faithfully sowing, nurturing, and giving.
The other notable element of the prayer is that we are praying to be instruments of "your peace", God's peace, not "my" peace, or my understanding of what peace should look like. Likewise, in many of our churches, we pause in the service to exchange with one another a "sign of peace". We say to one another, "The peace of Christ be always with you". Sometimes this turns into a liturgical "meet and greet", which has its place, I get it. The "peace of Christ" greeting, though, is intended to be a prayer: a prayer that the person you are looking in the eye and extending your hand to, or embracing in a warm hug, may be an instrument of God's peace. "God's peace", "the peace of Christ" is not – wait for it – the absence of strife, conflict, or grief. Rather God's peace is the peace of surrender, of knowing that God is in it with us, whatever "it" may be. The Prayer of St. Francis is a prayer of both courage and trust: courage to be nurturing, attentive, and faithful sowers, while also trusting the God who loves us will never abandon us in the process. As you wake each day and go forward as instruments of God's peace in the world, may the peace of Christ be always with you.
