Waiting On Peace

Text: Micah 5:2-5a

Focus: Peace

Function: Advent 4.

² But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
    who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
    from ancient days.
³ Therefore he shall give them up until the time
    when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴ And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth,
⁵ and he shall be the one of peace.

Good morning God’s beloved!

Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent and we are celebrating both the Candle of Peace and the Christ Candle.

And we’ll do them both this morning because this prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, listing the specific town where he is to be born doesn’t actually name him as the Christ, but instead the prophecy identifies him as “One of Peace.”

One of my favorite names for God comes from the book of Judges when Gideon was thanking God for a miracle, he built an altar his name for God, “Jehovah Shalom.” The Lord is our peace. I actually have it as my only tattoo.

I thought if there was ever a marking that could identify my passion, this would be it.

Jesus is our peace. Jesus brings us peace. Peace is two things. Peace is a general sense of well being, and peace is an absence of conflict.

The Cross of Christ was anything but a general sense of well being, but it brought us our peace. Sometimes peace means confronting the evil that destroys a general sense of well being.

When we look at peace as a feeling, or a general sense of well being I realize that peace is confidence and rest in God and God’s love for us.

The mystery surrounding the incarnation of Jesus is that Jesus is the Word made flesh. John 3:16, For God so LOVED the World that they gave… demonstrates God’s love for all of humanity. All of us. Even our enemies are loved by God.

I read this week of a mystic, Caroll Housander, who had a profound two day long vision. She lived in London a nd for two whole days, every time she looked at someone, she physically saw what she believed Jesus would look like.

She understood that God’s Spirit was working inside of her to show her how much he loves and is in and believes in every single person.

I’d love to have that same revelation. It reminded her that Christ is present in all of creation, especially at the top of creation, humanity.

It reminded her to have compassion for everyone.

Can you imagine the way that revelation would bring peace if everyone had it? We would never see another person as an enemy, it would be impossible to hate them or despise them.

I love the angels announcement in Luke 2:14: Peace on earth, Good will to men.

Actually, many translations qualify who gets the peace, by implying that it only goes to people of Good will, or kind hearted people.

But I like the translations that render it as peace and good will to all of mankind. Sister Caroll’s vision showed her that it was all of humanity that Christ’s good will goes to.

They, like us, are all created in the image of God.

So I titled the message waiting for peace because that is what Israel was doing. But for us, our peace is already here, we don’t have to wait for it.

Unless, of course, we mean “waiting on peace,” as if Peace, Jesus the one of Peace, were our master and we are the servants of peace. We peace a priority in our lives by the way we love others.

I like that idea.

That brings me back to the introduction to the message.

Christ is our peace. And in a great move of God and rest in God’s power, the Christ was born as an infant, dependent upon his parents trust in God.

(read the Christ Candle)

He fulfills a prophecy that they were hoping for: Isaiah 9:6:

⁶For a child has been born for us,
    a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
    and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Again, the Christ comes to as both Mighty God and Prince of Peace. Christ came as both a beautiful baby and a man of sorrows. He was born born to show us how to live in faith and love others. But he also lived and ultimately died to confront the injustices of the day confronted the injustices of the day. Through that, he showed us the path to salvation through living and loving others sacrificially.

We see God’s mystery in the nativity. The mighty God exalted is by a host of angelic beings, and yet a pure baby, regarded not by nobility, but by lowly shepherds, the poor class of society to welcome him.

Christ comes to us to heal and restore us to the path of love and forgiveness.

In the nativity we have the magnificence of God and the baseness of the human condition combined into one. What a mystery to ponder this Christmas season.