September 8, 2024
Joseph Metz Rollins
September marks the beginning of our yearly Season of Peace. Every fall, the Presbyterian Church’s Peacemaking Program extends an invitation to join with people of faith from around the country and the world for A Season of Peace, a monthlong pilgrimage designed to deepen the pursuit of peace for congregations, small groups, families and individuals. This season is a time of growth, encouragement, challenge, inspiration and education that leads the way to World Communion Sunday by inviting you to consider your own relationship to peacemaking and justice.
Maggie Kuhn
In the culminating chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author rachets up the exhortations and reminders. “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (12.1), they write. This heavenly band shines forth “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (12.11), and by their example, they extend both encouragement and a challenge: “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet” (12.12–13). This year, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program has developed a devotional resource that takes up this call in a distinct way. In the Path of Peace devotional, we encounter a new vignette each day of a Presbyterian who contributed to the civic and spiritual well-being of our church and world and made a significant impact on the common good here or abroad. Some battled injustice; others broke down barriers and dividing walls. Many advocated for marginalized communities and made room for them within the church. Each offers us an example of how peace can be pursued in tangible ways. We encourage you to join us in this season of reflection and growth toward peace.
The cast of individuals we will encounter isn’t meant to be exhaustive. There are many Presbyterians worthy of note we were unable to consider during this season. But I hope you will be reminded that we belong to the priesthood of all believers, and I invite you to consider what we can learn from our fellow saints. This fall in particular is a tense and tender time in our church, country and world — a time full of division and contested ideas about our future. My hope is that these reflections will spur personal spiritual and moral growth while also serving as a sorely needed balm and a breath of fresh air. May they provide a counternarrative of good news, true hope, and stirring inspiration that moves us all to work together along the path of peace for the well-being of all of God’s beloved Creation.
Dr. Andrew J. Peterson, Associate for Peacemaking, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, September 8, 2024, the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
- First Reading Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
- Psalm 125:1-5
- Second Reading James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17
- Gospel Mark 7:24-37
Today’s Focus: A Season of Peace
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Meg Rift, Executive Assistant, Stated Clerk’s Office, Office of the General Assembly
Kathy Riley, Associate for Emotion, Spiritual Care, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Let us pray
God of glory and God of grace, you have given us rich gifts. Chief among these is the gift of one another, the friends, family, fellow citizens and companions we are graced to enjoy. In their lives, we see your overflowing goodness, as each shines forth with some unique gift from you. In their examples, may we find encouragement and guidance, as we look to live more fully for you. Draw our hearts together with theirs as we journey together toward the table you share with all the world. Amen.
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