At a recent meditation retreat at Spirit of Life, Vancouver, the instructor asked us to describe “peace.” For a word that is used so commonly, it proved challenging for our group to define. One said it was the absence of violence. Another said it was a contentedness in the absence of fear. I was certain that it involves a spaciousness that has to do with the well-being of our neighbour. We all agreed that peace was communal in that we are all intrinsically connected. The more poetic and altruistic our answers became, the less we seemed able to pin peace down.
In the season of Advent, Jesus comes to bring God’s peace into the world, which isn’t a peace that can be pinned down in any way. The Incarnation of Christ is a God on the loose! Illuminating shadows, increasing joy, and alleviating the burdens of the weary and oppressed. This kind of peace involves the costliness of self-giving love for the sake of our neighbour. How differently might we read the front of a Christmas card inscribed with the words “Peace on Earth” if we equated the image with God’s justice and righteousness upheld endlessly? The world waits.
God who comes to us in birth pangs, increase our joy as we join in your peace for this weary world. Amen. —