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Next to Peace, I Like a Good Church Fight

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My father used to quote an old preacher saying, "Next to peace, I like a good church fight best." Why do we like quarrels? When people take sides, I suppose it's easier to keep score—to judge how our friends value us. Paradoxically, fighting can make us feel important and even buttress our sense of being loved.

But where God's spirit is, my father also reminded me from the Scriptures, there is peace. It's often hard to find this peace, and for sure it is found only in the silence through which God speaks to us. This peace takes us far beyond our flawed need to feel important; it places us just exactly where we need to be.

Oh God, as a member of your body, the church, help me to find the part you wish me to play. Help me not to presume my tasks, where you need me, what you want from me. Open my ears to hear your voice, my eyes to see your face, and my arms to embrace your presence in those tasks to which I truly am called. Grant me the privilege of lending you a hand. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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