This king won’t judge by appearances or listen to rumors.
The poor and the needy will be treated with fairness and with justice.
His word will be law everywhere in the land,
And criminals will be put to death.
Honesty and fairness will be his royal robes.
Isaiah 11: 3b – 5
Reflect on the word PEACE for a few moments.
The teacher looked across the classroom of bent heads. She moved between the rows as the children painted their understanding of PEACE. She saw many landscapes in colors of gentle blues, greens and yellows. She wondered about the gentle images she saw. Landscapes devoid of humanity. She reflected on the images of destruction that filled TV screens every day. Did young people believe that there would be peace if there were no human beings?
She wondered if she should begin to guide her students into putting people into the beautiful landscapes. Show them the need for people to be instruments for peace. That it takes people to demonstrate that peace is more than an absence of war and violence.
She paused. She smiled as she acknowledged that perhaps she needed to start with herself.
Lord All-Powerful, I don’t always make the connection between power and peace. Make me a builder of peace that the whole of creation may become a Temple of Peace to you.
© Ranjini Wickramaratne-Rebera
For a number of years, our dear friend Ranjini Rebera wrote Biblical reflections for the use of Gungahlin Uniting Church and others, usually for Advent and Lent. We were privileged to receive these, as Ranjini had a working history of writing and teaching on a global stage. Each time she completed the considerable work on one of these studies for us she would announce firmly, ‘That’s it. That is the last one I’m writing. No more. End of story!’ But as Advent or Lent came around again she would start hinting that she’d had an idea for a reflection – and she would write another one.
When she completed a Reflection for Lent 2021, we were not to know that this really was the last one. Ranjini died on 13 October 2021. We miss her intellect, her leadership, her vivid personality, her artistic gifts, her deep faith and her pastoral heart. We have lost some colour from our world.
The Gungahlin Uniting Church Worship Team, where Ranjini served for several years, offers Ranjini’s study material, first produced in 2015, as we give thanks for her life shared among us.