Suffering: The Stauros Notebook

Suffering: The Stauros Notebook

Suffering is a quarterly publication of Stauros USA

Editor
Louise Dickey

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Suffering: The Stauros Notebook.
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ISSN 1557-976X.

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THE STAUROS NOTEBOOK VOLUME 27 NUMBER 3 AUTUMN 2008 print version

The Peace

by Jill P. Baumgarnter

Shy or bold, we inhabit
these familiar pews,
know the creak and shine of them.
We are accustomed
to the mutuality of shared space.
We have memorized
the part in the hair in front of us.
We recognize the alto voice behind.
Across the aisle we note
each week the restless child
calmed in a parent’s lap.
We know the tentative glance
of someone new.

This is no time for holding back
Resolute and solid,
we must take the offered hand
look straight into her eyes
not past her to the next in line.

This is Christ’s peace,
a kiss crossed
with the compassion
of affliction.