Rev Cheryl Patterson, Minister of Gorey Methodist Church
EACH YEAR AS Advent begins, I look again at our Christmas story. It’s challenging to think about how to communicate the same texts year after year. Yet when I come to read the Scripture passages, I am always reminded that within this ‘familiar’ story is so much hope, expectation, extravagance and vulnerability. This year I found myself captivated by the title given to Christ, ‘Prince of Peace’.
It led me to wonder if we fully understand God’s peace. I asked the children in church what they thought of when they heard the word ‘peace’, their answers included: ‘No war’, ‘That time when you go to bed and everything is quiet’, and one bright little button answered ‘harmony’.
Peace in terms of our scripture means all of that, and so much more. The Hebrew word shalom is translated into peace in our English language, but shalom means so much more than what our English word does. Hebrew words express more emotion and intention, and so the word shalom means more than just a feeling of tranquillity, but means a complete peace, wholeness, contentment, harmony. And so, to hear Christ called ‘Prince of Peace’ means that he is our Prince of wholeness.
I am struck as I write this, that our world today is filled with much restlessness. We see an absence of physical peace across our world, as wars ravage and destroy lives and land.
We also see an absence of internal peace as many struggle with anxieties and worries; or live feeling like they are ‘not enough’. This time of year can be especially difficult, with the dark nights and a growing sense of isolation and loneliness.
However, I believe that our story of Christ speaks into our restlessness and struggle, and offers us a peace that the world cannot. It’s a peace that comes from knowing and trusting that God came and that God is still with us.
In Jesus, we find a complete peace, one that brings wholeness and contentment, because it tells us that we are loved, cherished and most certainly more than enough.
The God of all creation loves us so much that He sent his Son to be born among us, to live and die and to be risen from the dead. All of this, for each of us!
I pray that in this season, whether it be challenges or joys, tears or laughter, that you will seek to discover the Prince of Peace. I pray that busyness and restlessness will not overwhelm, but rather the knowledge that God is with you, and that He most certainly loves you, would mean that even among the noise of the world, you would find a stillness and a joy in your heart.
God bless.