advent 1: seek peace

In violent times, live at peace. This is one of the things we hear from the readings set for today in the Revised Common Lectionary, which include the following psalm, 122:

I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem built as a city that is bound firmly together.
To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers."
For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

The psalmist promises to seek peace for the sake of loved ones, and because it is what God desires.

Beginning Advent once more, still at war, still not willing to acknowledge our wrongs, still not bold enough to make the first move to reconciliation; may we try again to say, 'Peace be within you' to all those we meet on the road and in the home this week.