Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14 (KJV)
Peace. What a common, yet foreign concept this time of year. We talk about peace on earth, we sing about it, we may even have decorations that proclaim its message, but do we have this peace?
We hustle about back and forth in an endless dance to do more, buy more, party more. Invisible pressures press down on us to buy the right gift and to please the right people. In this whirlwind it can be easy to lose sight of what this peace actually is.
Those of us that are in church work are not exempt from this hustle. In fact, this is our biggest time of the year. The time that we celebrate the birth of our Savior. We must be the best, do the most and ultimately impress our guests.
Every year it is inevitable that someone will approach me and tell me how wonderful our past Christmas program was and they don't know how we will top it this year but they are sure that we will. Inwardly I feel anxiety welling up as I being to ask myself:
“Will this year's program be better than last?”
“How can I make it better?”
It is having peace in the middle of the storm. It's not letting outside circumstances affect the peace that Christ gives you.
“What will people think?”
“Will they be disappointed?”
“Can we really pull this off?”
As Christmas rolls closer and closer it is common to feel stress, anxiety, pressure, and a myriad of other emotions. Emotions that are anything but peaceful. But peace is what we need.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. John 14:27 (NIV)
Jesus came to give us peace, but not peace that the world gives. Peace is often imagined to be sitting quietly next to a lake watching the sunset. Perhaps it is thought of as a world without war where everyone gets along. For some people peace simply means a lack of noise. This is not the peace that Jesus gives.
Jesus never promised us a particularly easy road. In fact, he assures us that we will have trouble, but that it's OK. He said that we will have difficulties and troubles, but even in that, we can have peace --- a peace that is beyond understanding.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NIV)
The peace that Jesus gives is not an external peace. It is a peace that rises from within. It is having peace in the middle of the storm. It's not letting outside circumstances affect the peace that Christ gives you.
People struggle to have peace in their lives, but perhaps they are looking in all the wrong places. They are chasing an external illusion of peace and not the peace that comes from this boy born in a manger long ago.
When I was a child I was afraid of thunderstorms. The flash of light and the crack of thunder was more than my little mind could comprehend. My father would pick me up and take me out on our porch and we would watch the lightning and listen to the thunder, and I felt peace. Why? It wasn't because the storm stopped, but it was because I trusted my father.
True peace, the kind that Jesus gives, is born out of trust in him. We may face difficulties, trials and angry sound systems but we can have peace when we trust Christ. We know that above all the business of the season that he is in control and he is trustworthy.
Certainly we all want to do the best job possible as we present this timeless message surrounding the birth of Christ. We will have complex lighting scenes, sound cues and musical numbers. But within all of that let us focus not on the chaos but on the peace. The peace that comes only from the One whose birth we celebrate.
