Sunny and cool was the weather Sunday morning as members of Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ left the confines of their 138-year-old home at the corner of Dennison and Hovey streets to enjoy an outdoor service in downtown Oxford’s Centennial Park.

The theme was peace.

“I don’t know about you, but my heart is yearning for peace,” said Pastor Liz Wilson, referring to all the violent events that have occurred across the nation and around the world over the last few weeks.

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, can we please have peace? No more (violence), please, no more.”

Wilson told the small crowd “all of us contain the seeds of peace.” She likened spreading the spirit of peace to creating ripples in a still pond by tossing a pebble.

But unlike those watery ripples that quickly dissipate, Wilson said, “Peace in our hearts gets larger (and) stronger as it radiates out” into families, friends, neighborhoods, communities and eventually, “the whole world.”

“It gets bigger. It grows the (further) it goes out because other people pick it up,” she said.

Wilson said many folks have difficulty finding peace in their lives because they feel “stuck” in a rut and don’t know how to change things.

But all they have to do is “turn around.”

“Don’t keep doing the same darn thing. Turn around. Go (in) another direction,” Wilson advised. “Don’t stay on a track that is miserable. Find peace by reaching out, turning around and (seeking) it in another direction, not in the same old, same old, s