The United Church’s official position on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was discussed at great length during the Church’s National General Council Meeting this past summer. My first thought was:  Will the position our church takes here in Canada make any difference in a war oceans away?

Yes! I believe my church’s statements, as well as mine as an individual, do have significance for our world and for me. It’s just too easy to accept that violence in this world is inevitable, that there’s nothing we can do.

In my lifetime, the Berlin Wall became a source of pain and violence in Germany. Like many other individuals and groups, I prayed and spoke out at the injustice it created. I remember the amazement and joy when that wall started to come down. I believe that prayers and expressed opinions of people all over the world prepared the way for God to bring forth that miracle.

When you and I join with others to declare our disgust and anger at violence and express our desire for peace, change does happen. People are set free from prison. Refugees are cared for. Even wars will cease. Together we can be catalysts for change.

I encourage you to take time today and everyday to pray, to send your love and desire for peace to one of the “hot spots” in our world. I believe our prayers are like a drop of water hitting a stone. Eventually, a depression is made, and then a hole. We can make a difference. Thanks be to God.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10)