Allow the Peace of Christ to Reign in Your Heart!

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The Second Week of Advent we reflect on peace.

Before we get into this weeks scriptures from the Prophet Baruch and the Evangelists Luke Let us turn our hearts toward Peace. The contemporary notion of peace is incomplete and insufficient. When we think of peace we think of the absence of war or violence. In the ancient language of 1st century Aramaic Shlomo or Shlamo means peace.

In the Aramaic it is much deeper than simply the lack of war or violence and conflict. Shlamo means more, that all needs are met, all that is required for living is provided. That which might cause turmoil and unrest is removed. Sufficient food to eat, shelter and livelihood, this to be safe, secure, at peace”, hence “well-being, health” and passively “to be secured, pacified, submitted”. This deeper understanding can truly be achieved and be desired for the other. So as you can see the deeper understanding, we must move beyond that which precludes us from obtaining and experience the profound depth of Peace.

Christ brings this true meaning of peace to our lives. With this notion and deeper reality of peace we can turn to Gospel event for this weekend. God breaks through history and time. God becomes one with His creation and we listen to the account placed in history, time and place. The telling of this account includes eye witness accounts. Although the historic figures of authority and power are not the focus, rather the weak and simple travelers will be, they do provide the historical setting whereby the Christ event takes place. Listen to Luke,

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, 
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis, 
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, 
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.”

Our God enters time and history. This is to tell us and all who read This really happened, these historic figures existed and God acted in time. This is the Advent, the event that impacts our world and has the power to impact our lives. And the truth of this reality is that to be a Christian is not mythical, but rather that God is very interested in our lives and has the ability to dramatically change our lives if we let Him.

We are encouraged by God’s word that the time and place where God entered in there was much turmoil and unrest. People were under occupational rule, tyranny in a place where people were not living in peace

Jesus of Nazareth entered time, history into a context It is here that we meet Christ. He comes to turn his world, our world upside down and proclaims a message of love, hope and peace that He alone can give.

Advent has deep meaning for us in that God continues to enter more deeply into our lives, to know Him, and share His love and power to a hurting world

The Synodal Church, in Communion, In Participation and in Mission like the one whom we follow must seek to dramatically charge our world by going out into the peripheries and encountering those who are lost, forgotten and unloved. We must be engaged in our world, beginning with our relationship with Christ, lived in Christian community and sent to the peripheries. This is our Advent, our daily event drawing us deeper into Christ’s peace and sharing that with the world.

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