Advent invites us into a season of waiting, wonder, and reflection. It’s a time to consider the profound reality of God’s kingdom breaking into our world—a kingdom that reveals what is truly right side up. In this season, we are called to reimagine the world through the lens of God’s peace, a peace that holds the center of life in God’s reign and speaks to our deepest longings.
Peace is not merely an absence of conflict but a fullness, a completeness, a wholeness. It is what the Hebrew word shalom beautifully encapsulates: harmony with God, with others, with creation, and within ourselves. Advent invites us into this peace, grounding us in the profound truth that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has come and is coming again.
Peace as the Heart of Advent
The announcement of Jesus’ birth came with a proclamation of peace: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14). This peace is not an abstract ideal; it is tangible and real. Jesus embodies this peace in his life and ministry, calming storms, reconciling sinners, and healing the broken. But even more, Jesus’ peace is the foundation of his kingdom—a kingdom that is right side up in a world turned upside down by sin and brokenness.
In this kingdom, peace is not passive; it is active and restorative. It mends what is broken, heals what is wounded, and brings together what has been torn apart. This is the peace that Advent calls us to anticipate and embrace. It is the peace of God’s presence breaking into our lives, giving us hope and inviting us to live as agents of reconciliation and restoration.
Waiting in Peace
Advent is a season of waiting, but it is not idle waiting. It is the kind of waiting that shapes us, forms us, and prepares us. We wait for the fullness of God’s kingdom, but even in our waiting, we are called to live out its realities. And at the center of this is peace.
Waiting in peace means trusting that God is at work even when we cannot see it. It means surrendering our anxieties and fears, not because everything is perfect, but because we know the One who holds all things together. As Paul reminds us, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace” (Colossians 3:15). Peace is not just something we experience; it is something that rules, governs, and guides us.
Waiting in peace also means embodying peace in our relationships and communities. In a world marked by division, conflict, and competition, Advent calls us to be peacemakers. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). To be a peacemaker is to live into our identity as God’s children, bringing the reality of God’s kingdom into every interaction and circumstance.
Peace That Transforms
The peace of God’s kingdom is not a fragile peace that crumbles under pressure. It is a robust peace that challenges and transforms. It disrupts the false peace of complacency, the false peace of silence in the face of injustice, and the false peace of individualism that ignores the needs of others. It is a peace that reconciles and restores, even when it costs us.
Jesus’ ministry reveals the transformative nature of God’s peace. He welcomed the outcast, forgave the sinner, and called for love of enemies. His peace was not limited to personal tranquility; it was communal and cosmic, seeking the restoration of all things. This is the peace we are called to live and proclaim.
In this Advent season, we are reminded that peace often requires action. It requires stepping into spaces of conflict with humility and grace. It requires seeking forgiveness and offering it. It requires working for justice and standing with the vulnerable. This is not easy, but it is the way of the right side up kingdom, where peace is the substance of reality.
Living Peace in the Now and Not Yet
Advent is a paradoxical season. It reminds us that God’s kingdom has already broken into the world through Jesus, but it also points us to the day when this kingdom will come in fullness. We live in the tension of the now and the not yet, and this tension invites us to live as people of peace here and now, even as we wait for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises.
To live as people of peace is to align our lives with the reality of God’s kingdom. It means choosing love over fear, forgiveness over resentment, and reconciliation over division. It means living with open hands and hearts, ready to welcome others as God has welcomed us.
This peace is not something we muster on our own. It is a gift of God, made possible through Jesus. As Paul writes, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14). Jesus is our peace, and his peace transforms us so that we can become instruments of his peace in the world.
Advent Peace and the Light of Christ
As we light the Advent candles, the flame of peace reminds us that God’s kingdom is breaking into the darkness. It calls us to reflect on the ways we can embody peace in our lives, our relationships, and our communities. It challenges us to live as citizens of God’s kingdom, bearing witness to the reality of what is truly right side up.
In this Advent season, may we lean into the peace that Jesus brings. May we rest in the assurance that God’s kingdom is real and unshakable. And may we live as people of peace, waiting with hope and working with love until the day when all things are made new. And as we wait, let us join the angels in proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).
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