Deep peace of the running waves to you,

Deep peace of the flowing air to you,

Deep peace of the smiling stars to you,

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,

Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you,

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

This ancient Celtic blessing is one I have heard often in the last year, and one we chose to have read at our wedding in September. On this day it comes as a gentle wind of truth to me along with Jesus words to his followers (as Mark records it) about the subject of power.

In a recent road trip I heard a radio interview that discussed the subject of women in refuge camps and the stories of rape that continue. Inner rage at this age old story of war has prompted me to do more research on the subject. My first reaction to the interview was that once again women not only seem to be blamed for war, but they pay a lifetime price in that blame. Some not only bear the scars that rape leaves but they must also live with the rejection that their culture puts upon them. WE bear the scars of this – all women wear them as each of us identify at some place in our lives where our own sexuality has been scarred in some way. Rape has been spoken of in biblical stories of war and power struggles, and every war in time has done so. Every place I looked at this subject it is known as a “war crime”, one that is rarely ever brought to a place of justice it seems.

Yet my question is how I hold this crime,those who have been affected by it, those who have inflicted it, and Jesus call to live life being fill with love and peace and letting it flow out from us to all humanity.

Jesus’ friends John and James wanted to know if they could have a place of significance with him in the Kingdom but instead Jesus told them that the place of significance was living life as a servant. In fact he told them off for wanting to hold power.

Power – the hunger for it that leads to war, to abuse, to anything but the peace and love and justice that I am seeing more and more as the heart of God. Peace and justice that is not easy to find in our "Christian" world.

I still don’t know what to do with what I am seeing as this crime of mass destruction to women, and young children. The Deep Peace poem speaks of the earth and the Creator that offer peace – not mankind! As I sit with learning “deep peace” and the One who holds and gives “deep peace” I wait for the Spirit to show me what to do with this knowledge. And as I sit with it I must also continue to hold injustice, these crimes of mass soul destruction, and figure out what “righteous anger” looks like for me