Peace: The Second Week of Advent

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." -Luke 2:13,14

I could take this post and spend the whole time raving about how our God is favoring peace, not war, then go into the whole non-violent resistant, pacifist thing. I could use the 274 times peace is mentioned in the Bible to verify, but I'm not going to. Maybe a short, tame one at the end, but I reall want to focus it on something else we can all agree on. Peace is much more than the opposite of war. I learned this as our Sunday School had classes on the topic of peace. It was a DVD series, with class discussion in it. The program had a definition of peace that cirriculated throughout the lessons-

"Peace is when everything is the best it can be." -PeaceDVD (www.peacedvd.com)

Of course, I couldn't say it right, and everytime I tried, I pretty much quoted a popular praise song. I would say, "Peace is when everything is as it should be." If you didin't recognize it, it comes from the praise song "Blessed be the Name." But it comes down being the same thing? If the world was as it should be, as God intened it, without sin, then everything would be at the best. That's peace. We see a peace in the garden of Eden. The garden is peaceful because everything was as God planned, nothing wrong or out of place. Adam and Eve walked with God. They were at peace with their maker. When Satan came in and Eve fell to his temptation, that peace was gone. When God promised them a messiah, not only was he providing a way to get out of the sin, but a promise of restoring the peace. Isn't that what Jesus did coming to earth? That's what the angels meant when they were talking to the shepherds in Luke 2:14. The hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" rewords it when it says "Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconcile."

Remember, when the Israelites could come into God's presense, it was not peaceful. First, there were several preparations one had to go through to be able enter the Lord's presense, from cermonial washing to performing sacrifices to wearing the right thing. Even when they could go in, it was was enter, do your business, and exit. No tarrying. It was very hard. Perhaps the man entering the Holy of Holies were in great fear doing his job. God was seen as the boss, not a friend. One wrong move, and you were gone. But as this Christmas season comes, remember that the child born would eventually die on the cross, splitting the heavy curtain dividing God from His people. God was saying, "No more of this bossy business stuff. Let's be personal. Let's become friends. Let's talk." God gives us the oppurtunity to have that peaceful relationship with him again. How much more perfect will it become when we have it in the new Heaven and the new Earth!

The characters in the Christmas story that show peace have to be Mary. Mary had a big assignment. Based on we know of culture back in the time of the New Testament, Mary was probably between the ages of 12 to 17! I don't think any of the girls around my age I know would want the responsibility. On top of that, Mary was engaged, not married. Being pregnant and not married was a dangerous situation. Mary could be punished for that from just being disgraced to being stoned to death. Mary must have been freaked out. But God's messenger Gabriel put Mary at peace with that. That's another gift God gives us in this gift giving season: a peace of mind. Not a piece of His mind, a peace of mind. The Holy Spirit relaxes us when deep down inside we want to panic. Just as the children's song tells us, it is the peace that passes all understanding. It doesn't make sense to be peacefully calm, when we really want to be tense.

As I was writing my Christmas cards, I came across one that said "Peace on Earth." Christmas is the one time of the year we wish we could stop all military combat and have world peace. We think it's unlikely to happen, but it did happen. On December 25, 1914, in the midst of World War I, the German and British soldiers stopped fighting and took up what is now known as "The Christmas Truce" (Google it if you don't believe me). The troops ceased to fight and celebrated the birth of Christ. The men met in the middle of no-man's land. Banners was made, carols were sung, gifts were exchanged between countries, and a friendly game of soccer was played. Some scholars are doubters of this; they say the event demonstrates at this point of time the war was still not taken seriously. But I think it was. The men realized that both sides had Christians who celebrated the holiday. They were united for a while as God's children. The next day, the fighting resumed. Wouldn't that be great, to do it again? For one day, especially a day where it is promoted to have no fighting but a time of peace? Not just war, but any kind of fighting. No homocides, no bar fights, no bullying. And to continue that, why can't we have it for more than a day? Why can't stop fighting between neighbors and nations all year round? It would be our way of helping the Lord restore that peace that he intended.