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[Transcript of video]
Hello, I’m Rev. Elder Goudy and I bring you greetings from Metropolitan Community Church of the Lehigh Valley in Allentown, PA, USA.
Peace be with you. Once again, the world is groaning for peace, with too many conflicts all over the globe.
Every year in this region of Pennsylvania there is a 10-mile Peace Walk on the second Sunday of the month of December.
For most of the 24 years I have pastored MCC Lehigh Valley, I have participated in the Peace Walk. We walk from the town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania to downtown Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Quite frequently I have not wanted to be a part of the event.
It is a long day in the middle of a busy season and it is usually quite cold. One year I was so out of shape that by mile six I was walking like a robot because my joints were so out of whack.
All of this is to say that the annual Peace Walk is usually an inconvenience. It is a significant commitment in the midst of many other commitments.
And yet every year there are a multitude of blessings along the Peace Pilgrimage. I renew conversations with Quakers and Mennonites and peace-making people from a variety of denominations. I walk 10 miles along a busy highway and busy streets in a public witness for peace in a world that is resigned to war.
In the 21st century there continues to be a clear conflict between God and all sorts of powers. There are the media powers, the technological powers, the political powers and the power of war and when they all collude together it is a terrible mess. These powers we contend with day-in and day-out, they have a strong grip on us because they have the attention of our eyeballs through the media, they control the algorithms when we do a web search, they control the political process and they know how to manufacture and operate weapons of war.
And yet there is no reason to be hopeless. God empowers each one of us. God believes we are ready to be victorious over the powers that be.
There is a way out from under the powers-that-be! There is a way out from being under the control of the Herods and Caesars of 2023. The way out from under the powers-that-be is to seek peace. We are to seek peace, we are to pursue spiritual illumination, we are to seek God’s light, we are to seek God’s wisdom and we are to commit to a practice of community building.
Peace is inconvenient, it takes time and long-term relationship building. That’s okay, it’s worth it. And when peace flows there is rejoicing! This is the season we celebrate the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Creator.
Peace be with you.
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