Dear Passing the Peace Readers, 

One of the ways I make time spent in the kitchen more enjoyable is by watching TV while cooking. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people who de-stress by baking or find total peace and relaxation fussing over a complicated recipe. 

Recently, I’ve been (re)enjoying Schitt’s Creek. While the ensemble of over-the-top characters make for endless moments of hilarity - it’s the show’s ability to add so much heart that I love so much. 

The story is a riches to rags scenario, where a family finds themselves no longer living their glamorous lives, but stuck living in a motel in a small town. Over time, they have to confront how their elitist attitudes create barriers to getting by without the luxuries they had grown accustomed to. Even when neighbours and community members may be annoying or difficult, have very different tastes in ‘good’ food, enjoy spending their time in different ways, finding ways to be in relationship with each other makes life better. 

Whether we are thinking about our neighbours locally or globally, I hope we can keep our hearts centered on the truth that we all belong to one another. 

A Prayer from a book called The Pattern of Our Days: Worship in the Celtic Tradition from the Iona Community includes the following prayer: 

Neighbours 

God with us, 

you did not put us in the world alone;

you gave us people to live beside,

to keep us company,

to share skills and resources,

to stop us from getting bored. 

Thank you for good neighbours -

people who are kind, people who are funny, 

people who notice if something is wrong, 

people we trust enough to leave our keys with. 

 

God beside us, 

sometimes we don’t like our neighbours.

We can’t believe you really meant them

when you said “love your neighbours,”

did you God? 

Not the nosey and noisy ones, 

not the messy ones, 

not the ones who children don’t behave, 

whose dress or manners we don’t like? 

 

If you really do mean them, God, 

we’re going to need your help. 

Help us not to be too quick to judge, 

help us to hold out a hand of friendship, 

help us to remember that loving our neighbours

is not what we feel, but what we do. 

 

As you build community with your neighbours, may the Peace of Christ be with you, 

 

Yours in Christ, 

Rev Michiko