Advent | Say Yes to Peace

This Week’s Reading: 

Excerpts from The First Advent in Palestine, written by Kelley Nikondeha: 

The Beginning of Peace (pg. 115-116) 

“Jesus brought the beginning of peace. And those who follow his lead work for the fulfillment of it. Jesus showed us what living at peace could look like—how to respond to the places, people, and politics around us. Along with the gifts of advent, his life bequeathed to us the challenge to make choices in keeping with peace, wherever we are embedded in the world. 

“As I, as we, live into the reality of advent hope, we embody God’s peace, not only in struggle, lament, and solidarity with others but also in the shared experience of patience for the unhurried culmination of a peaceable kingdom. The life of a peacemaker embraces the hard truth that peace will remain incomplete in our lifetime, even as others carry the campaign forward.”  

No Easy Peace (pg. 161) 

“Advent’s exhortation is to God’s peace, birthed among ordinary people in hard landscapes. The message is as relevant now as it was in ancient Palestine. Embodying God’s peace and living as a peacemaker amid troubled times—this is what the newborn king did. He incarnated another kind of peace for a world hemorrhaging with injustice.   

“This was no easy peace—it came with confrontations, abandonment by his followers, crucifixion. But that way of seeing the world and living into it differently brought change, if slowly.”  

The Story of Advent (pg. 183) 

“This is the story of advent: we join Jesus as incarnations of God’s peace on this earth for however long it takes. God walks in deep solidarity with humanity, sharing in our sufferings and moments of hope. Amid our hardship, God is with us. Emmanuel remains the name on our lips in troubled times.  

“Advent isn’t the acceptance of status-quo peace, but an incarnation of God’s peace that we live in the world. The peacemakers formed by advent are those who resist empire, who practice hospitality with neighbors, and who enter into solidarity with God in the work of liberation for everyone. 

“May there be calm, bright nights ahead for the peacemakers, the meek, and all people God accompanies through advent still.” 

Reflection:

In our modern times, it’s sometimes hard to imagine God’s perfect peace. We are constantly reminded that the world is not at peace—with conflicts occurring in Ukraine, Gaza, and Venezuela, among others. Our hearts break for people we don’t even know who are suffering around the globe.  

We’re told in Isaiah 9 that there will be a Prince of Peace. In John 14, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” We may look around and say, “I hear what you’re saying, Lord, but where is the peace you promised?” 

In her book, The First Advent in Palestine, author Kelley Nikondeha explains that Jesus’ peace is another “already-not-yet” gift given to humanity. With Christ’s birth, crucifixion, and resurrection, we are already recipients of God’s peace through salvation. Your salvation story may be one where you experienced a transition from turmoil into peace. Peace is here for us to claim for ourselves and to proclaim into the world around us. But like other gifts of God, we will not experience perfect, complete peace until we are reunited with Him forever.  

So how now shall we live? How do we pursue peace if it is not a completely fulfilled gift? Thankfully, it is not humankind’s creation of peace, but God’s peace that we have received through Christ. Nothing but a supernatural God can exact His perfect peace upon this world. We have been instructed by the Prince of Peace to not rely on our own strength to carry out His work, but to rely on Him in all things.  

Jesus was born into a world not too different from ours today. He was born under stifling Roman rule, chased by the tyrant Herod, fled to Egypt, taunted and tested as a rabbi, and later killed in a torturous way by His own people on the cross. And yet, He instructed us to be peacemakers. He instructed us to spread the Good News of salvation throughout the world—and to teach others all that He instructed. If we have the hope and joy of Christ in our hearts already, how can we not pursue and proclaim the peace of Christ to everyone around us? 

Questions to Consider: 

• Think about a moment where you experienced Christ’s peace. What were the circumstances surrounding that moment? How did you know the peace was from God and not man? 

• What other signs of “already-not-yet” do you experience in your relationship with Jesus? 

• What are three ways you can choose to be a peacemaker in a broken world? 

Prayer: 

Father, You told us to become more like Jesus, and we ask that You would help us do so by Your Spirit. We live in a broken world that desperately needs You and universally acknowledges a need for peace. We pray that as we move through this world and encounter others, we would be known as peacemakers. May our pursuit of peace bring others into the family of God through a relationship with You. Thank You for the Prince of Peace, who not only told us how to be peacemakers, but showed us through His life and actions. Make us more like Him. In Christ’s name, Amen. 

Sources: 

Nikondeha, Kelley, The First Advent in Palestine. Minneapolis, Broadleaf Books, 2022. 

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