Thoughts of Peace

A quote form page 24 about the author helping his son get his blown out truck towed from the highway. "...I was sitting there, too, in the grass by exit 244, beneath some apple trees from an old orchard, waiting for the tow truck. The autumn sun was shining on us. Cars were barreling down the freeway and we watched the faces of the people, how worried and unhappy they looked, like ma a few hours before, when I was so pressed for time. And suddenly I was glad I was there, on the side of the road. There was this peace seeping into me, this slow, gradual feeling of the presence of God.."
Another quote from page 23, "I remember the intellectual joy I felt when I realized that this is the faith of my tradition and that it makes sense, it answers to my experience. It's about my experience, and all experience-it says experience is more important than dogma, more important than systems.

This sense of peace reminds me of one day in my own life. I was at church singing during the singing part of the Sunday worship service and a song I had never seen came up on the screen.
"Make me a channel of Your peace.
Where ther's depair in life, let me bring hope.
Where ther is darkness, only light.
And where there's sadness, ever joy.

Make me a channel of Your peace.
It's pardoning that we are pardoned.
In giving of ourselves that we receive,
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.

Make me a channel of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love.
Where there is injury, Your pardon, Lord.
And where there is doubt, true faith in You.

Oh, Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console.
To be understood to understand.
To be loved as to love with all my soul."

You may recognize this as being the Prayer of St. Francis of Asissi. This song changed my life. During the singing of this song I made a pretty big life decision to become a missionary. Right now I am getting prepared to become a missionary by getting my degree. During the singing of this song I felt the total peace of God. I felt as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be in that place in time. This reminds me of St. Clare in Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The character St. Clare finds this sense of peace too and made me feel that someone understand that feeling too right along side of me. Here is the exerpt:
"St. Clare found a strange calm coming over him. It was not hope-that was impossible; it was not resignation; it was only a calm resting in the present, which seemed so beautiful that he wished to think of no future. It was like that hush of spirit which we feel amid the bright, mild woods of autumn, when the bright hectic flush is on the trees, and the last lingering flowers by the brook; and we joy in it all the more, because we know that soon it will all pass away."

"It's about my experience, and all experience-it says experience is more important than dogma, more important than systems."
Although I think I understand that feeling of joy and peace, I do not understand or maybe agree with this last statement about experience being more important than dogma and systems. I agree with Rich Mullins' when he sings that the creed is making him who he is. I agree. This is the Apotles Creed. My experience means nothing compared to the truth of creeds like this packed full of Scripture. What I am saying is that my experience means nothing in the light of Scripture, without the scipture what I feel or experience does not matter. It has no meaning.

I believe in God the Father
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified and dead and buried

Chorus:
And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man

I believe that He who suffered was crucified, buried, and dead
He descended into hell and on the third day, rose again
He ascended into Heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand
I believe that He's returning
To judge the quick and the dead of the sons of men

Chorus

I believe in God the Father
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
I believe in the Holy Spirit
One Holy Church
The communion of Saints
The forgiveness of sin
I believe in the resurrection
I believe in a life that never ends

Hope you enjoyed this song and creed of the founding fathers of the true Christian faith.