International Day of Peace -- An Interfaith Observance
International Day of Peace
Today is, by decree of the United Nations, the International Day of Peace. This day of peace was first set aside by the UN in 1981, and since 2002 it has been observed each 21st day of September. According to the organizers:
"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples . . . This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace." (http://internationaldayofpeace.org/about/background.html).
It is especially important for us as people of faith to participate in this event, because:
- Religions have often been at the heart of our world’s violent conflicts, whether that be war or terrorist attacks. Whether or not faith traditions are the cause of a conflict, more often than not they are called upon to provide a rationale for the conflict or to give their blessing – and thus the blessing of God – to their "cause." And as much as we would like to believe otherwise, there is no religious tradition that has not been implicated. If we examine our sacred texts and look back at our histories, it is likely that we will see sufficient examples of calls to arms and defenses of violence.
- But, most every religion, if not all religions, also have a tradition of peace. Even as we can find calls to violence and defenses of war in every tradition, so we will also find a witness to peace and to justice.
Today we come to confess our complicity in violence and commit ourselves to the cause of peace in our world. And to do this, we will take time to listen to each other’s witness to peace. For instance, in my own tradition there is the witness of Jesus, who said: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9). From the Hebrew Bible, there is the witness of Isaiah:
Many peoples shall come and say,‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,to the house of the God of Jacob;that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations,and shall arbitrate for many peoples;they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,and their spears into pruning-hooks;nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war any more. (Is. 2:3-4)
From Taoism comes this witness:
Armies are tools of violence; they cause men to hate and fear. The sage will not
join them. His purpose is creation; their purpose is destruction. (Tao Te Ching
31).
These are but three statements, but each of the religious traditions represented here today have come to share their own witness to peace. We recognize that none of us can offer a complete promise of peace. We know that there will always be challenges to our embrace of peace. But, that does not mean that we shy away from making that appeal.
As we prepare to join in this journey let me share with you this prayer for peace, which is often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, although neither the date of its composition, nor the identity of this prayer’s author, is truly known. But whoever may have written it, it remains for us all, no matter our faith tradition, a call to peace:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.
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