Good Monday morning, my friends.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the second week of Advent. We lit the second candle in our Advent Wreath, which, according to the devotional we are following at home is the candle of Love. This morning, however, in searching for prayers and material for this week I discovered there is no universally accepted order to the candles. It seems most common is to have "Peace" as the theme of the second week. So Peace it will be.
Jesus said "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27)
What did He mean by peace? Perhaps this prayer will help define it.
Grace and Peace be yours in abundance,
Bruce
I have come to bring you peace.
Not the peace of the season, for it is too fleeting,
Not the peace of the carol, for it is too nostalgic,
Not the peace of the greeting card, for it is too slick,
Not the peace of the crib, for it is too wistful.
Not the peace of the carol, for it is too nostalgic,
Not the peace of the greeting card, for it is too slick,
Not the peace of the crib, for it is too wistful.
Rather, I have come to bring you peace,
Peace of the ordinary, the daily, the homely,
Peace for the worker, the driver, the student,
Peace in the office, the kitchen, the farm.
Peace of the ordinary, the daily, the homely,
Peace for the worker, the driver, the student,
Peace in the office, the kitchen, the farm.
I have come to bring you peace,
The peace of accepting your self as I fashioned you,
The peace of knowing yourself as I know you,
The peace of loving yourself as I love you,
The peace of being yourself as I am who I am.
The peace of accepting your self as I fashioned you,
The peace of knowing yourself as I know you,
The peace of loving yourself as I love you,
The peace of being yourself as I am who I am.
I have come to bring you peace,
The peace that warms you at the completion of a task,
The peace that invades you at the close of the day,
The peace that sustains you at the beginning of the day,
The peace that reinforces you when you are reconciled with one another,
The peace that touches you when your family is in order.
The peace that invades you at the close of the day,
The peace that sustains you at the beginning of the day,
The peace that reinforces you when you are reconciled with one another,
The peace that touches you when your family is in order.
Without peace, my coming is unfulfilled.
Without peace, my birth is forgettable.
Without peace, Christmas is a contradiction.
I have come to bring you peace.
Without peace, my birth is forgettable.
Without peace, Christmas is a contradiction.
I have come to bring you peace.
The world tends to define "peace" as the absence of war, but if you look through the Bible -- particularly the Old Testament -- you see that peace comes when the people and their leaders choose to walk in God's ways. There will still be wars and attacks and troubles, but they come through them victorious. Consider Peter, in Acts 12, about to be delivered up to Herod and, most likely, executed: late that night, he was asleep when the angel came to rescue him. He couldn't have slept if he weren't at peace, and sticking with God's ways. I'm personally going through times at work that might be troubling, but the more I surrender my fears and my attitude to God, the more I'm at peace and can sleep.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Drew. You helped me find peace on something I was struggling with today.
ReplyDelete:-)
Bruce