February 2026

As a college student, I was engaged in a lot of social activism, while just beginning to learn how to pray.  During my activism work, surrounded by many people working for outer peace in the world, the realization/question came to me: “Why is it that so many people working for peace in the world don’t have peace inside themselves?”

This realization pointed to the both/and of the spiritual journey.  It is a journey of seeking to be peacemakers in the world, as Jesus invites us, while seeing peace as a holistic journey that starts in our own heart.  In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh (from Peace is Every Step): “Can the peace movement talk in loving speech, showing the way for peace?  I think that will depend on whether the people in the peace movement can ‘be peace… Peace work means, first of all, being peace.”

Speaking of the balance of outer peace work and inner transformation, former Minister for Justice and Witness in the United Church of Christ (UCC) Rev. Traci Blackmon said at her talk at the Thirty Second UCC General Synod: "The reason we're having so much trouble with the work out there is because we haven't done the work in here… Jesus is not just asking us to be courageous.  Jesus has a bigger ask.  Jesus is asking us to be transformed… and be changed from the inside out."

This month, as we honor Black History Month, we give thanks for Black leaders who have brought, and continue to bring, hope by embodying peace even in the face of grave injustice and suffering. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us, “Only through an inner spiritual transformation do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit.”

Friends, if you are troubled by the state of the world today, take heart.  It means that your heart is still beating.  It means that your conscience is still alive.  Unlike Pharoah, you have not hardened your heart beyond the capacity to feel.  In the words of my friend and UCC Minister colleague Rev. Wendy Miller-Olapade,  

"We are not called to bear this alone. We are not called to stay numb. We are not called to despair.

“We are called to love fiercely in the face of hate. We are called to act with courage when chaos tries to paralyze us. We are called to practice mercy when cruelty is made policy.  So here’s what we do right now, today:

“We turn toward each other, not away. We check on our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable. We show up for our communities. We rest when we need to rest, because rest is resistance. We keep our hearts soft even when the world tries to harden them.

“This is not the time for lone rangers. This is the time for beloved community. This is the time we’ve been preparing for, even if we didn’t know it.  Look for the light-bearers.”

Being a contemplative in action means that we have a practice of prayer, meditation, and connecting to God/the Holy within.  If that practice is authentic, it will lead us to act for love in the world.  Then, our prayer and our action are no longer separate.  As Joan Chittister says, contemplation “brings us to see the big picture. It brings us…straight into the face of a mothering God from whose womb has come all the life that is…We become connected to everything, to everyone….Zeal for justice consumes us. Then, action and prayer are one.”

Friends, may we listen to the still-speaking God, who always invites us towards expansive love of our neighbors, which includes the immigrants among us and the agents who inflict violence.  We hold them all in the light of God’s love as we seek to unite our prayer and action as one, knowing that we cannot do this work alone.

With you in uniting our prayer and action as one,

Rev. Matt Carriker and LaToya Staine Carriker