Scripture: John 14:27
[Jesus said] “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Thought for the Day: Last night, illness Trudy and I watched “Olympus Has Fallen,” about a terrorist takeover of the White House. The movie’s a piece of crap—completely ham-fisted all the way through. It’s horribly directed, it looks like it was edited by Edward Scissorhands, and I’ve read better stories written by blind monkeys sitting at a typewriter made out of coconuts after they’ve spent a day on the beach drinking Rum.

But I digress.

It was less the lack of artistic capability in the movie that bothered me, than the way it simply played to stereotypical American fears. It is a no-holds barred assault on everything that scares us, and it falsely reinforces stereotypes that do nothing other than make Americans less understanding of the world around them. In this respect, it’s a pretty dangerous film. If there’s anything we don’t need right now, it’s to have stereotypes reinforced.

But, by playing to stereotypes, the movie does show the drastic and constant state of fear we all live in. We’re scared of everything, from financial meltdowns to terrorist attacks. What I think we really need to remember though—and this is where the movie really falls short, is that this is not simply an American dilemma. All we have to do is turn on the news to see that the entire world is frightened (and thanks, MSNBCNN-FOX news for also playing to our worst stereotypical ideas).

I have many friends who complain about the terrors perpetrated by organized religion, but it’s been my experience that the majority of religious people are not fundamental lunatics, but rather people who have found a quiet center that helps them through the everyday terrors of being human. Whether Jew, Christian or Muslim, we can look to Jesus for some pretty good advice—“DO NOT let your hearts be troubled, and DO NOT be afraid.”

My faith convinces me that God is at work in the world. Yes, it’s a violent place. Yes, we are terrorized by the messages conveyed in television and films and advertising. But if we can remember and recognize God as the center of our lives, I promise we will find a peace and calm that gets us through the terror, and in many cases, turns us into instruments of peace that help obliterate terror in all its pervasive forms.

Prayer: Make your presence known to us, Prince of Peace! Calm the storms raging around the world and in my soul. Turn me into an instrument of peace, that everyone I meet may also become an instrument of peace—and so on, and so on, and so on. Amen.