Wednesday, December 5, 2018 (for Advent Two)

“They don’t know where to find peace.”   (Romans 3:17, New Living Translation) 

                What is your idea of peace and quiet? How would you define a sense of well-being or what it would mean to have a spirit of tranquility? What quiets your soul? When do you stop and smell the roses or the coffee or whatever it takes to enjoy life and rest easy in the moment?

                My notion of being in that peaceful space is sitting in a big Muskoka chair on a deck facing a large body of water and just watching the clouds go by and listen to the birds or watch for fish jumping and doing absolutely nothing but swat away the occasional fly or mosquito.

It doesn’t sound like much but maybe that is the genius of perfect peace, sometimes. Not striving; not doing; not accomplishing; not scurrying around; not busy-ness; not being driven by agendas and timetables and spread sheets.

But there are people who don’t know how or where or when to find peace.

For one, there are a lot of us Martha-type personalities – can’t sit still for a moment, always on to the next thing to be done, work ethic up to the wazoo, always on the phone or off to the next appointment, the kind of personality of whom Jesus gently chastises, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!” (Luke 10:41)  Most Marthas whom I know take some offense at this uncomfortable encounter, just a little.

Christmas can be associated with stress and anxiety over all the details that need to be finished by December 25^th. Shopping, baking, decorating, cleaning, entertaining, wrapping, concerts, special church events, and the list goes on. High Christmas expectations and lofty goals of wanting a perfect Christmas can drain a person and by Christmas Eve one can be too pooped to participate or enjoy the fruits of all their labours. Christmas has become an endurance test or a race to the finish.

There is also another way to cloud peace.

Paul is stringing together biblical concepts to underscore his estimate of human sinfulness. It is not a pretty picture – not so much as an ounce of kindness, compassion, truthfulness or morality. They are as far away from peace (shalom) as they possibly can get. Their lives are hectic, frazzled, chaotic, exhausted by sinfulness and selfishness and the way of peace they have not known.

But Advent carries the weight of peace in its spirit and breath. The Christmas angels sang of peace and goodwill. It is a poignant message given to an oppressed people in a land which had very little peace, except for the “Roman Pax” or Roman Peace, administered at the end of a spear or  by a slave collar or the threat of a cross. Yet God’s Peace breaks the impossible burdens of power and oppression. We are no longer slaves to sin or need to earn our freedom or salvation by works and deeds. We are given Peace, not as the world gives, but as God chooses to freely give.

Do not let this Peace get buried under all the Christmas buzz and activity.  Make yourself a cup of tea, cut a slice of Christmas cake for yourself, ask Google to play some quiet Christmas music, put your feet up and breathe deeply. Think on this – God loves you and cares for you; God has your well-being close to his heart. God once stirred the heavens so that you and I might cherish the creative beauty and wondrous sanctity of our lives and the world around us.

Have a silent night and find some calm. You just might discover the Christ child… the Prince of Peace!

Dale