...begin with me…

There is a wonderful little hymn that is often sung at Christmas, but it is good for all year. It is called, “Let There be Peace on Earth.” And, I think it has something powerful to tell us about the season of Lent.

It was a tradition in the Church that people gave something up for Lent. It was an act of self-denial that helped ready people for the great celebration at Easter. This tradition morphed into a kind-of self help exercise where we were expected to give up something that was bad for us anyway, like smoking or drinking or chocolate (in excess). Some preachers, myself included, started talking about not only giving something up for Lent, but taking on something too. So, sure, give up Facebook for Lent but take on prayer for the same amount of time you would have spent on-line.

All that is fine, but the hymn, “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” suggests that what we do to improve ourselves is really about improvements for everyone. Peace can begin with me, but ultimately the goal is peace on earth, for everyone.

Just about anything can be substituted for the word “peace.” The point being, be the change you wish to see in the world. That’s a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. Former US Presided, Barack Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

Wow, we are the ones, we are the change. There’s no escape from the awesome responsibility that’s been entrusted to us, to help usher in “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)