The Peace of Advent

 

Today we focus on the Advent theme of peace. We often hear a lot about peace this time of year – but why? Why do peace and Christmas go together?

            Personally, the idea of peace has intrigued me for as long as I can remember. When I was around 12 or 13, I was fascinated with one of those quotes you see floating around the internet these days – “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God no matter the conflict.” Now, I took some time this week to find out who said that, and it seems no one on the interwebs quite knows where or how that quote originated. There are lots of different versions of it out there, and lots of different people they attribute it to. I don’t know where I first read it, either, but I do know it struck me as something amazing – because I, by nature, am not very peaceful. I’m actually very good at finding at least one reason to be a little anxious, a little agitated, a little worried, and I always have been. When I read that quote as a new Christian, I think I was drawn to it because the idea was so foreign to me – feeling peace no matter what the conflict is? How does that even happen? I’m really good at finding all the possible, albeit little, conflicts all around me.

            But throughout scripture, God reminds us that He is the God of peace and that He wants to share that peace with us. As early as the book of Numbers 6:24-26, God blesses Israel, saying, “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” We hear that blessing even today when some pastors use it as a benediction for worship services. Hundreds of years later, we hear David petition to God in Psalm 29. After describing how God is mightier than the storm that is raging outside, David says in verse 11: “May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!” David knew God could provide the kind of peace that nothing else can.

Then later in the New Testament, the apostle Paul tells his friends all over the known world that God offers them peace, too. He tells the Thessalonians in his second letter to them – in 3:16 he says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.” To the Colossians, Paul says in 3:15, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” To the Philippians, Paul says, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

But most importantly, Jesus himself offers his disciples peace – which means he offers us peace today, too. On the night before Jesus is betrayed, he tells his disciples that even though he is about to leave them, the Holy Spirit will be with them forever more. In John 14:27, he describes the Holy Spirit, and then Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Later in John, chapter 16:32-33, as their entire world is about to be turned upside down, Jesus says, “Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace.”

Now this is the kind of peace I’d like to sign up for. No matter the description, it sounds like the peace of God is exactly what I’ve been looking for, especially in 2020. With all of the chaos and uncertainty that we face, with all of the fear and worry and utter lack of control that we’re dealing with these days – a little bit of peace would go a long way. And Paul says this peace Jesus is offering us isn’t just a tiny little bit of peace – he says it can rule our hearts. Overflow at all times and in all ways. Transcend our understanding, he says.

That’s the peace that happens in the midst of chaos, I think – the kind that transcends our understanding. When the rest of the world tells us we should be worried, when the evidence piles up in favor of fear, when nothing around us is making sense and a clear plan has not emerged – God’s peace can still exist in our hearts.

Now, I don’t know about you, but some of us have experienced that kind of peace, at one point or another. Like I said earlier, I am naturally a rather anxious person (and 2020 hasn’t helped that cause at all), but I have felt that peace of God from time to time. When God’s peace just takes over, and my heart is still within me. When I know God is God and I am not, and I am finally okay with that. When I know I can rest by surrendering in and to God – that I don’t have to keep struggling or worrying or making a big deal out of what I cannot control. God’s peace is something I search for and yearn for, and when my focus is on God, I find it…every time I seek it out. Every time I seek God out with my whole heart, God is here.

Often those moments are monumental ones in my life – one afternoon on a mission trip, as I sat far from home but so certain that God was there with us. On the morning when my new boss offered me my job, after I’d been praying about it for days. One afternoon on a prayer retreat here in Springfield, after I’d been sitting next to a small creek talking with God for a very long time.

But peace just in my every day life? Just at 10am on some Tuesday? Well, I want that peace, too, but it’s a little bit more rare. Paul did say at all times, in all ways, though. How does that peace become a constant in my life instead of markers of those really awesome but rather infrequent and monumental moments?

And back to the topic at hand, what’s all this got to do with Christmas and Advent? If God offers us this life-changing peace – why do we focus on it so much this time of year? Why now?

I think it’s because Advent is when we focus on God coming to be with us in the form of Jesus – God with us, Emmanuel. This whole idea comes up in the Christmas story told in Matthew 1:22-23: “All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us.’”

God is with us. When we recognize and acknowledge that God is actually with us, right this moment, in whatever chaos we’re experiencing (and goodness knows we’ve been experiencing a lot of it lately), that peace He promises us can settle in our hearts. Take over, really. Advent is when we celebrate that God, the creator of the entire universe, walked this earth in the form of Jesus Christ – God as a man, walking around in sandals with dirty feet just like us. God loves us so much that He came to earth 2000 years ago as a person, and He didn’t even skip the hard parts of being a vulnerable baby and a child. He loved us so much that He came to earth that first Christmas, and He hasn’t really left since. He’s still with us. Every single moment, every single one of us.

And knowing that, believing that, can give us peace, if we hold onto it. If God is with us, right now, do we have to be afraid? If God is with us, do we have to worry and stress out? Or if God is with us, can we rest in the peace that He offers to us? Can we let it rule in our hearts?

God is offering us a great Christmas gift, and we don’t even have to wait until the end of the month to unwrap it. God’s peace is right here, waiting for each one of us. We just have to open our hands and our hearts to receive it.

O Lord, Prince of Peace, thank you. Thank you for reminding us that in you we can find peace. Peace so strong that it will rule our hearts if we let it. Thank you for coming to this earth to bring us the peace that transcends all of our understanding. Now just help us surrender enough that we can know it, too. And Lord, use the peace that we feel as a beacon for your light so that others might see you in us. In Christ’s name, Amen.

 

*All scripture references are from the NRSV translation.