The song for
today is ‘In manus tuas pater, commendo spiritum meum’, a chant from the Taizé community. Like many of theirs, it’s short and simple. The Latin
text translates as ‘Into your hands father, I commend my spirit’.
The saying is
one traditionally used in the service of Compline at the end of the day, as we ‘let
ourselves go’ into the hands of God. It’s a concept that I, and many others
find helpful, whether it’s pictured as God holding our hands, or embracing us,
or (as some images interpret it) as being a tiny baby in the large hands of father
that are big enough to cradle us. It’s about letting go worries, letting God
handle them.
John used
the song for Saturday morning prayer as usual, and perhaps this chant can be
seen as relating to the Gospel reading where Jesus tells his disciples not to
worry about tomorrow (for tomorrow has worries of its own) and trust God to provide
their basic needs.
sharing the peace, King of Peace church, Kingsland, Georgia, USA
Today’s hymn
from Sing Praise is “Put peace into each other’s hands” by Fred Kaan. Although found
in the “God and the world” section rather than the “Holy Communion” section, it
is presumably inspired by the practice of sharing the peace before the breaking
of bread at the Communion / Mass.
The words of the hymn offer several approaches to the Peace. “Protect it like a candle-flame, with tenderness enfold it” reminds us that there are those in the congregation who are hurting physically or emotionally and need to be treated with tenderness. Likewise, “Give thanks for strong, yet tender, hands, held out in trust and blessing” is a signal that those hands held out to meet ours may look strong, yet may actually be a sign of needing affirmation from us.
“Be gentle
in your words and ways, in touch with God’s creation” might be understood as
seeing God in the other person: that hand you are touching, as Teresa of Avila
reminds us, is Christ’s hand on earth.
“Look people
warmly in the eye, our life is meant for caring” calls us to more than merely
shake hands and mumble “peace be with you”. It has been said that this has
become a mere ritual of shaking hands with as many people as possible, ‘quantity
not quality’ and that the time would be better spent with just one person,
getting to know someone a bit better or talking to someone you have been
avoiding because of some disagreement. That takes more effort but it’s worth
it, as you can then approach the actual communion feeling that the words “we
being many are one body” have a real resonance in what you have just done.
The last
verse begins “reach out in friendship, stay with faith in touch with those
around you” and reminds us that the peace and fellowship we share should extend
beyond Sunday worship and our lives should be shared throughout the week
whether in group meetings or individual friendship. It ends by saying that the
peace we offer each other is nothing less than “the Peace that sought and found
you”. It is not merely contentment that we offer, but the Peace of the Lord, the
‘shalom’ or wholeness and integrity of life in God.
