True Confessions of an Interim

Sep 26, 2024

By The Rev. Dr. Carl Grosse

You might remember a prayer that starts, “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.” It’s often called The Prayer of St. Francis, but there’s no evidence of it before a French Catholic devotional magazine called La Clochette published it in 1912 (Francis of Assisi was around in the early 13th century). Whoever wrote it gave us a great gift. Musical settings have been recorded by artists ranging from Bing Crosby to Sinead O’Connor, so it has seriously wide appeal. Some have criticized it for having no reference to Jesus or even God, other than the rather generic title “Lord”. 

When we look at the Sermon on the Mount that our Lord Jesus taught, there’s a heavy emphasis on behavior and personal character rather than doctrine or theology. Jesus talks about what we do and don’t do way more than He talks about God. Of course, it’s God who tells us what we should or shouldn’t do, and it’s Jesus who is reminding us how that works. The Instrument of Peace prayer could easily be a riff on Jesus’ Sermon. The behaviors and attitudes sound a lot like the Beatitudes. 

Every day we face a hundred little moments when we use our default settings. We snap at someone, we reach out to help another. We feel threatened by one, we feel comfortable with another. We think “They’re doing it, so can I”, then later we think “I’m not doing what they’re doing”. Most of the time it’s our own rules guiding our responses and feelings. The Prayer suggests that God somehow “makes” us instruments of peace, but really we choose to follow God’s ways or not. God rarely makes you do anything (sorry hard-core predestination people!), neither does anyone else. 

If you have a copy of the prayer, put it on your fridge or car dashboard or desk at school/work. If you’re more of a digital native, set a daily reminder on your smartphone to read the prayer. Having that regular input can change the trajectory of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. The more of us who live this way, the way of Jesus, the more believable our faith becomes, and the more His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.