Peace Mandalas

They gathered in the parking lot thirty minutes ahead of time
a little tired from day of sightseeing the Port of Houston
and the San Jacinto Monument and battleground.
It was nearly two weeks into their stay in Houston as tourists.
These college students had come to experience Texas for the holidays.
It's a wonderful program.
They live with a family and tour the city at no cost to them
other than finding a way to get here.

Last night they came to my church for dinner and a program.
They were polite and fairly quiet.
They loved dinner!
Skinny little Marina from China ate four plates full of food.

After dinner I spoke of the word peace and how it means different things to different people.
I thought it might be nice
on the edge of this new year
to think about peace,
what it means to us,
and to share our insights.

I directed them to a table laden with supplies for collage -
magazines, glue sticks, scissors, and pie shaped wedges of paper two feet long.
Find a picture of yourself I told them - a person, bird, animal, whatever.
That's going to be the centerpiece of your picture.
Then look through the magazine and grab what grabs you when you think of the word peace.

They set to work in earnest, happily ripping out pages,
trimming the edges,
then gluing them down on their brown paper wedge.

An hour later they were mostly finished,
and so we began the sharing,
assembling eight wedges together to make a big four foot wheel.
Each one talked of his or her wedges - the young college students most of whom were from Asia
and two Anglican priests from Tanzania.
Nearly everyone pasted down clear, blue skies,
happy children,
lots of food.
There were symbols for music,
money
different cultures smiling together, sometimes arm in arm
lots of loving community.

As we gathered around tables together and each one explained his or her very own picture,
we began to form a loving community ourselves,
laughing easily with Joshua at his own self portrait "half dumb-half stupid"
"Oops! I meant half dumb-half smart."
and affirming the work that each one had done.

We were, in that fellowship hall of a little Presbyterian church,
a microcosm of peace and goodwill.
The walls that divided us when we began were down by the end of the evening.
there was laughter, joy and tenderness and hugs when it was all over.
They didn't want to leave,
and lingered for a while, savoring the moment
of the night we all experienced world peace for ourselves.

O God, may it be so!
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.