God Our Midwife: Birthing Peace from Violence and War

Proper 28 — Mark 13:1-8

There will be wars, and rumors of wars, and wars that will shake the foundations of the world and your faith in humanity. There will be death. There will be disaster. There will be all manner of things in this life to rattle your soul. There will be worry, anxiety, fear, hatred, racism, injustice, terrorism.

There will be wars and rumors of war, but it is not the end of the world.

The world ends not with flames and terror, blood and carnage. That’s not what our faith tells us. That’s not what Jesus tells us today in the wake of violence and terrorism.

He tells us, “The end is yet to come. Fear not. This is not how the world ends.”

The world ends with peace, not violence.

And that is the end of the world we look forward to. The end of this violent world, birthing a peaceful one. The end of an impoverished world, birthing a just one. The end of a hateful world, birthing a world pulsing with love.

Peace birthed from the depths of violence is a holy child indeed, because violence begets violence.

Come, God our great midwife in the midst of our world’s birth pangs and labored groans for renewal.

Come, help us birth a new world.

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