Peace To You

Our prayer is for new life, peace, reconciliation, and healing for Austin and for our broken world. God’s people have a word for that new life, peace, reconciliation, and healing -- it is “shalom”. Saying “shalom” purposefully means to offer a peace treaty, a pledge to live for the other’s well-being, a covenant to desire and seek the good life of God’s favor together. Our desire as a community is to offer “shalom” to you.

These words are found at our Immanuel Austin website and, as a community, we take them seriously. Peace and peacemaking have been on my mind a lot this week (see previous blog) as I have seen those I love struggle to make peace. Tonight, Immanuel will gather, as a community, to worship. We will take time in communion to share the bread and wine as symbols of the body and blood we share. We will offer it as a peace treaty to one another and we will remember that we are called outside of ourselves to offer peace to everyone we meet.

Though we're strangers, still I love you
I love you more than your mask
And you know you have to trust this to be true
And I know that's much to ask
But lay down your fears, come and join this feast
He has called us here, you and me

And may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls
This drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In the Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

And though I love you, still we're strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still His light shines in the dark

And His outstretched arms are still strong enough to reach
Behind these prison bars to set us free

So may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls the drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In this Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you

And may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Like those little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls the draught has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In the Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you