Tuesday mornings this Lent I'm spending in Portland's Pioneer Square praying for peace with my local Pax Christi Chapter. For half an hour we stand in silent prayer in this busy downtown square as buses go by and office workers rush through with their lattes in hand. That was the plan anyway. We didn't factor in the added element of the proliferation of leaf blowers. Not one or two, but three or four. Loud engines blowing leaves and litter here and there while we stand in a circle near a sandwich board sign that says "Join us in silent prayer for peace."
You'd think it would be distracting, the cacophony of leaf blowers and engines. And to some extent it is. But in a way it's soothing - like a chorus of "ohms." And my friend Rosemary and I decided this morning, fitting. We decided upon this Lenten practice to be in solidarity with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. So, just as ordinary Iraqis and their friends are committed to peace amidst the chaos of war and reconstruction, we are in solidarity praying for peace amidst the chaos of urban life.
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