Regular logo white text.png
  • Welcome

    • Our History
    • Meet the Clergy
    • Meet the Staff
    • Meet the Vestry
  • Connect

    • Connect With Us
    • Pastoral Care
    • Events
    • Shrine Mont
    • Contact Us
  • Groups

    • Youth
  • Worship

    • In-Person Services
    • E-Services
    • Music
  • Give

    • Online Giving & Pledging
    • Legacy Gifts
    • Vestry Statement on Stewardship
    • Endowment Fund
    • The Thrifty Church Mouse
  • Serve

    • The Church
    • The Community
    • The World
    • Our Commitment to Racial Justice
  • COVID 19 Response

    • E-Services
    • Live Prayer
    • Outreach Opportunities
    • Community Opportunities
    • Stories of Hope
  • The Day School

    • Classes
    • Enrollment
    • School Calendar
    • Forms
    • Employment
  • Life Events

  • Job Openings

  • More

    Use tab to navigate through the menu items.
    • Weekly Message
    • May 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • July 2018
    • August 2018
    • September 2018
    • October 2018
    • November 2018
    • December 2018
    • January 2019
    • February 2019
    • March 2019
    • April 2019
    • May 2019
    • June 2019
    • July 2019
    • August 2019
    • September 2019
    Search

    Peace before us...

    Updated: Jun 5, 2018

    April 27, 2018

    Let all around us be peace

    I've long been fascinated by the fact that there's such a thing as a "performative statement."

    According to good ole' Wikipedia, "performative statements or utterances are "sentences which are not only describing a given reality, but also changing the social reality they are describing."


    In other words, there are certain sentences where the very act of saying them changes reality. 


    Examples? 

    Instances like, when the chair person of a meeting bangs the gavel and says, 

    "The meeting is adjourned." 


    Those aren't "just words" -- the very utterance of them (if they are spoken by the right person at the right time) actually accomplish something: they end the meeting! 


    Other examples of words that actually DO something (again when spoken by the right person at the right time), 


    "Play ball!" 

    "You are under arrest." 

    "I do." (Take this man/woman to be my husband/wife.) 

    "I resign." 

    "I accept your apology." 


    And to us people of faith, we'd add things like, 

    "Let there be Light." (What God said/did in creation, in Genesis)

    "Be silent, and come out of him!" (What Jesus said/did to an evil spirit in Mark 1:25)


    Here's what I invite you to think about/do now: 


    Listen to a prayer, song or hymn (try  this YouTube video* and let the words be not merely words, but performative utterances for you, as you hear and sense 


    Peace

    before you, 

    behind you, 

    under your feet. 

    Peace within you, 

    over you.

    Let all around us be Peace - (and the love and light of Christ).  


    See you Sunday, 

    John 


    *song/hymn by contemporary composer David Haas, Copyright 1987, published by GIA Publications.

    • April 2018
    Realm
    • Facebook - Grey Circle

    The Falls Church 115 East Fairfax Street, Falls Church, VA 22046

    Tel: 703-241-0003  |  Fax: 703-532-3321  |  info@thefallschurch.org