Our journey through Advent finds us amid this week devoted to peace. O God, strengthen us for the work you call us to as peacemakers – in a hurting world, in a divided nation, in struggling communities, in fragile families, in our very being. May we be your instruments of peace with ears to hear and open hearts. Let us lean into our shared humanity and the status of each of us as your beloved child. Be with us in our peacemaking, O Holy One. Amen.