we walk unsure of our steps but confident in the journey.

Tonight, we went to a service of Prayers for Christian Unity. There were Lutherans, Catholics (even a couple of Franciscan Brothers), and Orthodox Chrisitians of various nationalities including German, Swedish, Arab, Israeli, Finnish, Danish, American, East Asian, and many others I didn't see. We filled the sanctuary at Redeemer Lutheran Church, and worshipped in 8 (or so) languages. Following the service, we gathered in a small room, with baskets of bread being passed and wine being poured. To drink wine in the company of Catholic and Orthodox nuns and monks is quite an experience. To realize we are all united thrugh bread and wine and faith that is just crazy enough to ask for peace, perhaps someday God will grant that for which we hardly know how to ask. Our theologies of peace and reconciliation must not become wrapped up in our eschatology. It is well and good to say - in the end - God will win. But so many people live in war-torn regions, without water, without food, without land, without rights. We must ask for the peace - as bread - for today; not the peace for tomorrow, not the peace that can only be fulfilled in the final days, but for peace that is tangible. Just as our portion of bread may be meager, so may our portion of peace. It is, however, when we collect our bread there is enough for all. It is when we piece together our glimmers of hope that shine only as the light hits them just right, we see not shards of brokenness, but our role in making the world whole. The world becomes whole not by our perfections, but by our confession of brokenness. When we acknowledge we are broken, our cries witness to that which is whole. We cry out not for tomorrow, but for today. We ask for courage to ask questions that lead only to more questions. We walk as pilgrims, unsure of our steps, but confident in our journey. We seek faith in the midst of fear. One voice makes almost no noise at all, but when joined together with all the voices of the witnesses who have gone before us, those who walk with us, and those who will come after us, we create a noise that shatters the silence of despair.