It’s inevitable that one of the Advent themes is peace. The white dove is almost just as common as the nativity scene throughout the season of Christmas. It’s hard to talk about peace in a very un-peaceful world right now. We can start from the outside and work our way inwards, towards ourselves, but that would take eternity. The number of people, countries, organizations and cultures not at peace is staggering. I blogged this summer while deployed and called the deployment, “My America Appreciation Deployment” because I saw so much suffering and poverty in countries around the world that it really made me appreciate living in the United States.
But what I find really inspiring is what our pastor said in last week’s sermon: You have to find peace in a truly unpeaceful setting in order to know that you’ve found it. So true. This week’s scripture reading, Isaiah 9: 6-7, is the promise that JC’s presence on earth will bring about a peace like no other. He will be called, “Prince of Peace”.
Regardless of what each of us believes, I think there’s an incredible comfort in knowing that someone so much greater than myself and this earth has the power to do that. And that, creates a peace inside myself. This time of year is especially critical because we recognize and acknowledge those in conflict, those underprivileged and those who go without so much in their daily lives. Let this week’s lesson be an inspiration to those of us who have so much and so much peace in our lives to help create a little bit of peace amongst the chaos of someone else’s life.
