Becoming Peace
This time of year we are staying up late regularly. Whether it is watching Christmas movies or football games, visiting with friends and family or at holiday events, Christmas parties or late night Christmas shopping and wrapping. On top of that, there is a lot less nutritional consumption in Q3. To say we are not at our best, is a massive understatement. I’m pretty sure yesterday, my food consumption consisted of too much coffee, a breakfast sandwich, cake, gingerbread, popcorn, corndog nuggets, pizza rolls, and peanut butter. I stayed up way too late and woke up too early. I’m operating as a college student during finals.
This wear and tear on me, leaves me less than ideal as a human, husband and father.
I find when I am needing to address something with my children, like a scuffle breaks out…hard to imagine, right?…I usually match them and their energy, instead of meeting them with peace. I don’t rumble with my kids, but I certainly find myself raising my voice or simply not being as slow, gentle, and calm as I should.
…I’m sure if I was well rested and had a better caloric intake I would be a perfect father…
Anyway. I rarely put my best foot forward. I don’t meet them with the peace and grace they deserve.
Jesus says in his sermon on the mount, that blessed are the peacemakers, they will be children of God. This means, when we step into difficult situations, when we don’t just keep peace, or don’t just like the idea of peace, or hope peace happens someday, but we enter into situations to bring peace, to make peace, when we become peace, we look a lot like God…we have a family resemblance like we are the children of God.
It would seem as though being people of peace, inexplicable peace, we are like our God and King.
St. Francis of Assisi famously refers to this as us being instruments of peace.
Scott Erickson is a friend of mine, author, artist, and he wrote a book I read every year at Christmas time, called Honest Advent that says that when speaking about the prophetic words in Isaiah about the coming Messiah,
For to us a child is born, a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
There are two ways to operate in this world, as a kingdom of fear in this world or a kingdom of heaven from God.
Scott says,
“The kingdom of heaven, was illuminated on the shoulders of a naked newborn prince. The announcement scared the powers so much that they killed innocent baby boys in the hope of snuffing out this incarnation. Later on the powers successfully killed this incarnation in the hope that this way of being in the world would never catch on. Two thousand years later, the powers are still trying to kill that way of being in the world.
Two thousand years later, the kingdom of heaven still lives.”
The Kingdom of Heaven, the ways of Jesus, the calling from our God and king that was fulfilled that first Christmas is to trust in our Prince of Peace and live out his ways. To become peace that can only come from God. That starts with us seeing that Jesus is our Prince of Peace, and then embodying his ways, for the glory of God and good of others.
Me yelling at my kids or trying to rule with a heavy hand or fear doesn’t actually work in the end…it’s like using a cheat code…it may work, but it’s not a real win.
When I meet my kids with love, grace, and peace, it is counter to my natural disposition, but has the greatest positive lasting impact.
Imagine if we did this, not just in parenting, but in all areas of our life?
What if we lived as people of peace in every situation how we would change the world?
This isn’t about being more like Mister Rogers, thought that guy is great, it’s about being more like Jesus and his love. That peace will change everything.
True peace will only come from God. Fear and anxiety will try to stifle that.
So who is our trust in? Where are we finding peace?
This Christmas, will we see the peace that comes from Jesus, will we share the peace from the Prince of Peace with others, so we can be non-anxious peacemakers that transform the world?
This means we will become a steady force in the midst of a chaotic world. The rest of the world may be spiraling, but we trust in an unchanging God and King. When our trust is in Jesus, we will not be shaken and we will have all we need. This calm consistent presence will make us stand out from the rest of the world because we aren’t matching the chaos, but making peace, embodying shalom, and trusting in the one who created, redeemed and sustained us.
Teresa of Avila was an early church leader from the 1500’s. She famously said…
“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.”
Let us draw closer to Jesus. Let us be changed by him. Let us embody his ways. So that in any and every situation we live out a radical peace that is desperately needed.
Peace is not the absence of conflict — it’s becoming “shalom” in the midst of it.
Also, let’s try to rotate in some fruits, veggies, and good night sleep while we’re at it.
I hope this week you will journey with us to become peace.
If you haven’t picked up an Advent Guide, Becoming Christmas, we still have a few hard copies left and there are digital versions available online, along with all the Christmas details at TheChapelatSeaside.com/Christmas
A few reminders for the coming weeks here at The Chapel.
- If you are interested in year end giving to continue to help the ministry of The Chapel, we are a 501c3. Your generous gift is tax deductible. If you want to know more about where our money goes or some of the other great organizations we help support, you can go to thechapelatseaside.com/give where we have a Frequently Asked Questions page and also a link to give online.
- We have a noon prayer hour every Tuesday at noon. We will NOT meet on Tuesday, December 24th or Tuesday, December 31st.
- Bible studies have wrapped up for the year. If you missed any, I hope you’ll check out our Chapel Study Notes podcast where you can get caught up on the entire Exodus study. Check them out on Spotify here, Apple Podcast here, or wherever you stream.
- All of our studies will be back in the New Year.
- In case you didn’t know the paid parking has paused for the season in Seaside, so when you come to worship, you don’t have to pay.
- Our Christmas Eve Services will be Tuesday, December 24th at 4pm and 5:30pm. We’ll have seating inside, outside in the grove, and under a tent on the lawn. We look forward to you joining us for one of those services.
- If you are out of town, under the weather, or just need to worship from home, you can watch our live-stream on our website, thechapelatseaside.com, on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheChapelAtSeaside and our Vimeo page, Vimeo.com/thechapelatseaside.
Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you soon. I hope you will follow along in the Advent Guide, Becoming Christmas each day.
Blessings,
Andrew