4 Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! 5 Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. 7 Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.
Reflection
Every year, since I was a child, I would ask my father what he would like me to get him for Christmas. As a child, I had a somewhat limited budget saved in my piggy bank. The reply was always the same; “You can get me some new socks and world peace.” I would respond back, somewhat exasperated, “Socks again!” To which he would reply, “Well, you can always use a
good pair of socks, and the world always needs peace.” So Dad would get new socks, but not world peace. I thought maybe the world peace part was just an impossible request, but Dad never gave up on the idea that the world could actually have peace.
Now that I am older I see the wisdom in my Dad’s request for both socks and world peace. I now understand the value in never giving up on asking God for the impossible, because if we truly are God’s children then we should be praying for what is impossible for us, but not for God-world peace. Why pray for the impossible? Because peace with justice is the telltale sign that the Kin- dom has arrived. Jesus asks us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,”
when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, because only God can bring peace with justice to the world, and instill a longing for peace with justice in our hearts and minds through Jesus.
This week we light the Advent candle of peace, and it creates a longing in us for peace in our homes, our communities and the world. As disciples of Jesus we work for peace. Our scripture today tells us” be glad, don’t be anxious,” because “God is near” to us. So we can bring up all our requests, thanking God in our prayers and petitions. We can ask God in faith for peace because we trust that peace is God’s will for us. And God’s will for us is reconciliation,
restoration, new life in Christ, healing and wholeness, not for us only, but for all of creation. And God will give us the “peace that exceeds all understanding, safeguarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Prince of Peace.”
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering and Prayer
In this Advent season do you long for peace? How are you working for peace in your home, your community and the world? Are you praying for the impossible, that God will bring peace with justice to the world. With war and division in our world creating anxiety, have you experienced the peace that only Christ Jesus can bring?
Prayer: Holy and Loving God, we pray for the impossible, that the peace and justice of your Kin-dom may be born in our hearts and minds, as you transform the world. In the name of the Prince of Peace , Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.
