Thought for Today
Isaiah 48:22 "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked."
Jeremiah 8:11 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace.
Luke 12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Sunday, we will light the candle of Peace on our Advent Wreath. As we do, many of us may well be thinking that while Isaiah was surely correct, there often also seems to be no peace for the righteous.
First, we need to think a bit about what we mean by ‘peace.’ “Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups.” (en.wikipedia.org) For many, I suspect that peace is synonymous with ‘lack of war.’ In that sense, there have been few moments of peace throughout the history of humanity. I was born during WWII. We call it a world war, because almost every nation was at war, allied with one or the other major combatants. That war was fought on multiple continents, in theaters of operation on almost every continent and in almost every ocean. For a number of years there truly was no peace.
As we light the Peace Candle Sunday, there is martial combat ongoing in Ukraine, in the Middle East. In those wars, some continue to carelessly say “Peace, peace.” And, although these wars have continued for a long time, “there is no peace.” When we do light that candle Sunday, it might be well for our congregation and all Christian congregations to note that we will first relight last Sunday’s candle, the Hope Candle. Taken together, our Advent Wreath will hopefully remind us and all Christians that we continue to hope for peace. It is proper that we do hope and pray for the cessation of martial combat and the privation, devastation and loss of life inherent in such conflict.
Following WWII, the Allied Powers joined together to form the United Nations. The hope was that this would offer an alternative to conflict resolution through armed combat. Regrettably, since the UN Charter was signed in 1945, there have been and continue to be wars and rumors of wars.
But the peace for which Christians will light that candle and for which we will pray is a much broader and more inclusive situation. Nations can be in conflict, but so too can people be in conflict. Jesus told us, “Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." He said that in response to a question about which was the greatest commandment, about what Jesus read in the Law.
Neighbor is a pretty broad term. When Jesus offered those words, he followed them up with what we know as the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews were bitter, mortal enemies. As you read that parable and try to understand its meaning, it is imperative to always keep in mind that to either a Samaritan or a Jew, the story Jesus told was unimaginable. Next time you read it, try substituting Russian for one side and Ukrainian for the other. Or, maybe Gazan and Israeli. That is the whole lesson in the parable. It is not about whose ancestor did what to another’s ancestor. It is not about the issues that currently drive us to conflict. It is about love, unimaginable love, Godly love. That is why we light those candles of Hope and Peace.
Just as nations and ethnicities can be in conflict, so too can individuals, even family members be in conflict. Lighting those candles of hope and peace represent our hope for peace between all of God’s children at every level. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews offers sage advice, “Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” That too is why we light those candles of Hope and Peace.
Stay safe, hope and pray for peace, trust God,
Pastor Ray