"Fruits of the Spirit: Peace"

Pastor Laura Guy

August 29, 2010

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We laughed at the example of Frank Costanza from Seinfeld who yelled, "Serenity now!" in an attempt to calm down. The Christian mystic Julian of Norwich offered a different thought - "All will be well. And every kind of thing will be well." She grounded this sense of well-being in the peace of God.
We learned that, to feel this peace in our lives, we must trust that we are forgiven, turn over our anxiety, and treasure what we have. If we do not know peace because we can't accept that we're accepted, the first thing we must do is take Jesus at his word that he forgives us.
We read Phil 4:4-9 where Paul tells us "don't be anxious about anything." But he goes on to tell us to "present your requests to God." If we turn over the things that make us anxious, we are acknowledging that we don't have control over the situation. We give it to God to keep for us.
We thought about how much time we spend focusing on the things that aren't going right. But Paul says, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." If we learn to treasure what we have, recognize what "enough" looks like, we can live more peace-filled lives.
We saw how our inner peace could change our homes and workplaces. We thought about how a peace-filled church could change a neighborhood and community.
We prayed for God to help us trust that we are forgiven, turn over our anxiety and treasure what we have so that we could be people of peace.
We celebrated communion at the table of peace.