Listen

“Go! Be warned, though, that I’m sending you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no wallet, no bag, and no sandals. Don’t even greet anyone along the way. Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house.’ If anyone there shares God’s peace, then your peace will rest on that person. If not, your blessing will return to you. Remain in this house, eating and drinking whatever they set before you, for workers deserve their pay. Don’t move from house to house. Whenever you enter a city and its people welcome you, eat what they set before you. Heal the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘God’s kingdom has come upon you.'”

Luke 10:3-9

Think

When you encounter new people, whether at the grocery, pool, laundromat, work, or school, what is the first thing you think?

The very first thing the 72 are instructed to do upon entering a house with strangers is to proclaim, “May peace be on this house.”

Encountering new people who are different from us can often lead us directly into judgment. Our minds may jump to make assumptions about what a person believes, how much money they have, who they want to vote for, or what they are thinking about us. But what if we adopt the instruction Jesus gave the 72? What if we accept the invitation to proclaim “peace” first?

Even if we don’t exclaim loudly to the world, “PEACE,” when encountering someone new, if we allow ourselves to lead with God’s peace rather than judgment, this may positively impact the way we encounter the world. Being mindful of one small word of peace may allow us to make a big difference in the way we treat those around us.

Valerie Lott

Pray

God, help me lead with peace today, just as those sent out before me were instructed to do.

Amen.

Go

May God console you, may God affirm you, may God shepherd you, may God delight you out of the inexhaustible stores of divine love and joy.

Terry J. Stokes, from “Benediction”
in Prayers for the People: Things We Didn’t Know We Could Say to God (2021)