Peace and Love
Ella sat on a pew and looked up. “I like churches; I always feel calmness wash over me in a church.”
“Some might call it God.”
Ella laughed quietly. “They might, but it’s not creed-specific. It’s there wherever people come to find peace.”
“If religion is about peace, how come it’s caused so many wars?”
Ella turned from the endless sky of the ceiling and looked at Jude. “Religions have started wars,” she insisted, “Faith is about finding peace. Feeling connected to all humanity.”
“Before you go and kill some of them,” Jude laughed.
“No God of mine would approve.”
Extroduction
First, a reminder that you shouldn’t need to read this to understand the story, which is intended to stand alone. I just like to ramble!
Earlier this month, I spent an absolutely wonderful week with my best friend, traveling by train to Halifax, NS (where we stayed in a hotel that signs off emails ‘Peace, love, moxy”) and home via Quebec City. We talked and laughed and walked a million miles between museums, restaurants and churches. While the first line of this story is how I feel in a church, Jude is not a representation of my friend, and this conversation is fictional. The never-ending blue sky is painted on the ceiling of Notre Dame in QC. As someone who has recently started trying to paint clouds, I loved staring at it.
My friend’s visit finished with a Mother’s Day trip to the theatre in Toronto, so this picture reminded me of one particular song. In the videos below, I was intrigued to note that while the theatrical staging of this song is blissful and heavenly, the cinematic version has a distinctly warlike feel. I’ll leave you to decide which you prefer.
elmowrites 