Advent in Peace

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Frederick Buechner wrote: PEACE HAS COME TO MEAN THE TIME when there aren’t any wars or even when there aren’t any major wars. Beggars can’t be choosers; we’d most of us settle for that. But in Hebrew peace, “shalom”, means fullness, means having everything you need to be wholly and happily yourself…. for Jesus, peace seems to have meant not the absence of struggle, but the presence of love.

We often equate peace with passivity, sitting quietly without conflict.  Imagine sitting at the side of a mountain lake, watching the birds fly by and the fish jump… sounds peaceful, doesn’t it?  Shalom is far more than just a quiet afternoon; it is not simply passive, we have work to do as “peace-makers”.   In his sermon on the mount, (Matthew 5:9) Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called children of God”. Into a world that is ugly with violence and hate, Jesus sends us as peacemakers.

Throughout the Proverbs and book of Ecclesiastes we read the value of wisdom and the desire to seek peace and live in peace.  God calls us to be peacemakers, not simply passive but actively working to give people the peace of God’s presence in their hearts, their lives, their relationships, their communities and in the world.  How is God calling you today to make peace a reality today?

Immanuel, God-with-us, Incarnate, taking-on-flesh right here, right now.  Light in the shadows, flickering yet strong, leading us in the way. We light candles of hope and peace, that we might better see the good reason we are called by our with-us God who sits down in our midst to share our humanity.  Amen.