As I sat down this morning to write my talk for Sunday my heart was heavy with the sadness of lives lost and loved ones in pain in San Bernardino.  As I stalled, wondering how to speak about Peace in the wake of violence I made a cup of tea.  The message on my Yogi tea tag? “Sing from your heart.”

To sing is to make harmony where there was none a moment ago.  To sing from the heart is to allow love and peace to flow where a moment ago there appeared to be none.  I invite you to let your love flow, let peace be a river in you that permeates the world around you.  For only Divine Love and Peace can overcome the fear, anger and hatred that have caused such suffering.  It is only when we rest in the assurance of Divine Love and Infinite Peace that we erase fear from our minds.

As I spoke at our Wednesday evening service I presented two pictures of peace; very different from one another yet peace non-the-less.  I had no idea that as I spoke, the peace in so many hearts was being disturbed. That turmoil was erupting in the hearts of loved ones.  And yet, the illustration is the same.  In the midst of violence, in the midst of what hate and fear and anger can do; peace and love still exist.  It takes great hatred to cause such suffering.  And it takes even greater Love to heal the root cause of the violence we experience in our world today.  And, it is within our power to do so.  Peace and Love already exist in infinite supply.  Our role is to LET it BE.  Our role, if we choose to accept it, is to Let love flow where there appeared to be none.  Our role is to LET peace be revealed where there appeared to be none.

As advent began this week we focused our attention on “Hope.” Hope is the inner affirmation of something better; of possibility.  We read from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, “…Christ in YOU, the HOPE of glory.”  It is this same Christ in YOU that is the source of Peace.  In Spirit there is only peace, love and harmony.  It is the ego that hides from the source of all being.  It is the ego that fears that something can be stolen from it.  It is the mortal “i” that fears and is quick to anger and retaliate.  It is the spiritual “I AM”, the Christ consciousness in you that knows that life is eternal and cannot be stolen.

God is Love. God is infinite.  God is everywhere present.  I AM in God and God is in me therefore I too am infinite.  I too am Love.  I too am peace and harmony. And yes God, I too can be a source of healing, Light and Love in the world.  I choose Love.  I let love flow through me knowing that Love is the answer, the only answer.   I let Light and Love overcome me that they may overcome what does not show up as love in the world around me.  In the words Hannah More Kohaus “… God is my all, I know no fear, Since God and Love and Truth are here.”

© 2015. Rev. Eileen Patra