Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem
By Dr. Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortal’s, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

Laura Beatty, co-director of music at Myers Memorial UMC wrote these words to highlight our 2024 Advent Theme: Amazing Peace. Sung to the tune of Amazing Grace, these themes can be found in the Poem, Amazing Peace by Dr. Maya Angelou and in the desires of our hearts to bring peace to all.

Amazing Peace, the bells of hope, Ring out for all to hear! Behold he comes for all who hope for peace throughout the year.

Amazing Peace, help us to find that friendship is the way. Through fellowship and life we share, we sing, we love, and pray

Amazing Peace, show us the way, to love and to forgive. In pain and grief, we look to you, it is through Christ, we live.

Amazing Peace, the lights of joy, show us the way to Christ. Behold he comes, follow the star, for all the world tonight.

A recent study published by the Religion and Social Change Lab of Duke Divinity School reported that our congregations within The United Methodist Church in North Carolina are theologically and politically diverse, thus creating a “purple church” which reflects our deep diversity. However, the study also painted a picture of the hopeful future that our diversity presents, as stated in the following:

United Methodist churches remain some of the very few institutions in American society where people from different political persuasions can build deep and meaningful relationships with each other. In a polarized and often toxic political climate, UMC congregations are positioned to advance the ministry of Jesus by creating a beloved community that bridges political and theological divides.

The months surrounding the upcoming elections this fall present a ripe opportunity for our faithful witness as United Methodists in how we build these deep and meaningful relationships that shape the Beloved Community in the face of political and theological divides.

To help build these communities of shalom where all people are of sacred worth, safe, and growing toward spiritual, physical, and emotional wholeness, the Peace Building Ministries of the Western North Carolina Conference offers the Purple Church Initiative.

You are invited to utilize these supplemental resources as we seek to Choose Peace as the people of Myers Memorial UMC who seek to cultivate a Christ-centered community that welcomes, loves, and serves one another and the world.

Click Here for a Spotify Play List of Peaceful Music

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

(Prayer for Peace)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,