As we move back into the work week, the echoes of the music Friday night still linger. I learned a new Oseh Shalom, thanks to the band, Soul Zimra that graced Congregation Kneseth Israel with their presence. They introduced us–me included to a new Oseh Shalom by Nava Tehila. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sc5tASLM1o

As they explained to us, this is an active Oseh Shalom. Too often when we sing about peace, when we pray about peace, it is somber, passive. Yet we are told to “seek peace and pursue it.”

Rabbi/Cantor Anne Heath explored something similar at her congregation in Tauton, MA recently. She introduced them to The Jewish/Arab Song for Peace. You can listen to it here. http://jewishtaunton.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/the-jewish-arab-peace-song/ The melody is haunting and the lyrics are joyful and hopeful all at the same time. But for me, watching the faces of the musicians coming together actively to sing for peace is amazing. We need more of this.

Often there is a tension between spirituality and activism. In fact, you need both. For me, my activism is my spirituality. And yet, sometimes I need to sit back and recharge my batteries. Parker Palmer, a well-known Quaker writer in his book, the Active Life, a book that explores spirituality for the busy, sometimes frenetic lives many of us lead. He uses stories to explain that the spiritual life does not mean we need to abandon the world but engage more deeply with it. It was a gift that my spiritual director gave me for ordination. I have read it several times and suspect I need to reread it. It weaves stories from Buddhist, Jewish and Christian traditions. I admit to not fully understanding the Buddhist story, being surprised by the Jewish one and finding his understanding of the crucifixion and resurrection as a communal event instead of a personal event powerful and challenging.

One person who works on the front lines of peacemaking is Gretchen Vapner, the executive director of the Community Crisis Center.  She writes for this project:

“You have described peaceful moments—those times when the quiet or the music or the scenery transports us to a peaceful place. But, to me Peace is non-violent conflict resolution; it is productivity, compassion, and creativity. It should be a verb.

Peace is the end-product and the means. It is the goal and the way of getting there. It is something to be sought which takes constant attention and work. It is discovering something important to do –important not just for you and yours but for them and theirs. It is working to see the ‘whole picture’; what will it mean to you if I get my way? It is choosing my actions based on very broad concepts of equality, knowledge and responsibility. Peace comes with identifying and then solving a problem; collecting all of your skills, resources, and understanding to address a challenge. Peace is not crossing the finish line…being satisfied. It is having the race to run and keeping the finish line in mind.

When I am sitting at the water’s edge at our Lake-Place I experience a peaceful moment or two feeling as if all is right with the world. When I am working to clean up the shoreline or help my grandchildren learn to swim I am all about peace–taking action towards a better world.”

Gretchen Vapner is the Executive Director of the Community Crisis Center in Elgin, IL. She works on making peace every single day as she helps families and the community at large cope with the issues surrounding domestic violence. The Community Crisis Center provides a crisis hotline, resources on domestic violence, sexual assault, children’s resources, shelter, emergency food and utility help, counseling, community education and professional training. I am privileged to work with Gretchen and a number of people on her staff.