Contemplating Leading Toward Peace

Lord of equity and abundance, You who measured out manna in the wilderness so that no family went without — teach me what it means to lead toward peace in a world that hoards its bread.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians not with soft suggestions but with the arithmetic of grace: "The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little." This was never abstract theology. This was a blueprint. The Reformed tradition has always insisted that Your sovereignty extends to the marketplace, the budget meeting, the church potluck where some tables groan with casseroles while a single mother slips in late with nothing but her children and her courage.

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is the presence of enough. Enough food on every table, enough dignity in every conversation, enough of Your Spirit moving through us that we notice the gap between our surplus and our neighbor's shortage — and close it.

So I ask You today: Where am I gathering more than I need? Where has comfort made me blind to someone else's lack? Give me the holy discomfort of Your prophet Amos, who thundered against those who lounged on ivory couches while the poor were sold for a pair of sandals. Give me the tender resolve of Christ, who broke bread until everyone was fed and twelve baskets remained — proof that Your economy always has a surplus of mercy.