Advent Greetings …

The second week of Advent we light the candle of peace … but what comes to mind when you hear the word “peace”?  Is it calm surroundings, a tidy home, or people behaving well?  Maybe it’s relaxing on a beach, being away on holidays, financial security, soft music, no strained relationships, or being in control of things?  Maybe it’s keeping the status quo so we know where we stand, rather than risking the unknown?

While those things are all good, and can certainly give us temporary peaceful feelings, our own peace inevitably lasts only as long as our ability to have or maintain these things.  They are self-dependent and, over the long term, we cannot rely upon ourselves or our circumstances for the assurance of ultimate peace.

So what can we rely on, who can we rely on?  We can rely on God, the One who slipped into skin to be with us, and the peace that only God can give.  Philippians 4:7 reminds us that ‘the peace of God passes all understanding’.  It is bigger than us, outside of us, and something that we find hard to articulate.  But we can feel it as our hearts and minds are quietened.

During Advent we are again invited to receive this peace.  As we reflect on the coming of the Jesus, the promised One who is called the ‘Prince of Peace’, we acknowledge that his birth was something deeply disruptive to the world.  For in that little town of Bethlehem, a new King was born – One who would usher in a new kingdom, upend our values and change our vision.

This Advent, may each one of us be guided by the Spirit to be ambassadors of reconcilliation to a hurting world.  May we shine the light of God’s peace that we experience.

Blessings – Heather (she/her).