A post-it note Peace Wall (twitpic @rachel_ashcroft) appeared in Peckham a couple of days ago... looking a lot like the prayer walls we've seen in schools over and over again these past few years. People, whatever their age or religious or cultural background, need the space and the permission to express how they feel.
According to the BBC News website, "Hundreds of people in Peckham have hit back at rioters with peaceful Post-it note messages of support for their community. A boarded-up shopfront targeted by looters in the London riots has been transformed into a declaration of "Why we love Peckham"." (To see the zoomable, close-up photo of the Peckham Peace Wall, click here)
The messages included;
"Shed light on our world"
"Because God loves Peckham"
"If this is our future, God help us!"
"God +heart+ Peckham"
"It has always been a place for all people - let it still be that place"
"Stay safe. Good will win"
We all feel angry sometimes. We all feel pain and disappointment, grief, fear, as well as hope, joy, gratitude, etc. These are all part of what makes us who we are, human beings. And we all need safe spaces to express these strong feelings.
The Bible is full of prayers that are full of these kind of feelings... full of anger, fear, pain, disappointment. Read David's Psalm-prayers for example. Or Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before he is captured and taken to be crucified.
The prayers of the Bible are not calm and considered, polite and formulaic. The prayers of the Bible are honest, full of raw human emotion, and God welcomes these kind of prayers. When Jesus' friends ask him how to pray, he tells them, "don't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage..." (Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6) Just say it like it is. Or scribble it. Or scream it. Or beat your fists on the earth. Or wait in silence. You get the idea...
I know that God has read every post-it note on the Peckham Peace Wall. As well as the ones that people couldn't even put into words.
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