Our Advent Companion: Peace

The second candle of Advent is Peace. I have always enjoyed the additive aspect of Advent. Each week we add to our experiences: They complement each other and enrich these fast-moving days. Just as the vines and branches of the wreath twine around the candles’ bases, Hope and Peace intertwine as well. 

In this week’s painting, Peace is depicted through a well-known symbol, the dove, as she nestles among the greenery. Other symbols include white poppies and lilac-colored lavender plants along with the olive trees that grow alongside a roughly-built wall. Peace is also portrayed as the small town of Bethlehem. The faint silhouettes of our two travelers appear as they near their destination. I imagine what it might have felt like to finally end an uncomfortable and uncertain journey.  I can almost hear Mary’s sigh of relief as she sees the nearby town.  I can see her posture straighten and her eyes brighten. Perhaps her mouth curves into a smile as Joseph looks at her and says the welcome words: We are  almost there.  Though the town’s walls could have seemed forbidding to the weary duo, I portray the town’s gate standing wide open, with a faint light illuminating the last few steps into the streets of Bethlehem.  Peace pours out. Weariness is assuaged.  Light beckons.

Peace seems the most elusive of all the Advent guideposts, something that is forever in the future, or conversely, something that exists only in our memories. I often read that Peace is a process…and I’m not quite sure what that means. In Advent 2024, I prefer to picture the Peace of Advent as a reality. It is found in the real lives of Mary and Joseph, in the haven of Bethlehem… and in the larger reality of God’s Presence. 

Decades ago, I sat around a campfire with a group of friends wearing fringed vests, peace necklaces, and tie-dyed shirts as we earnestly sang Let There be Peace on Earth, and Let it Begin with Me.  The intervening years have not brought peace to our world, no matter how many verses we sing, or campfires we build.  Peace was also hard to come by in Mary’s and Joseph’s time. Still, they traveled with faith and, I hope, with some degree of Peace during times of great trouble.  Another year draws to an end. My voice is not as clear or strong as it once was, but I can still sing. I can still dream. I can still let Peace begin with me. I light the candle of Peace once again. It’s light is still bright.

Peace is more than a well-worn tune sung around a campfire.  Peace is solidly grounded in reality: the reality of God’s eternal Love that renews itself a thousand times a thousand.  The gate is open. Come, enter into a place of Peace.  No special clothing. jewelry or lyric is needed to remind us of this precious truth:

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.  Isaiah 26:3 NIV.  

I wonder…

How was Peace possible for Mary and Joseph during their times of tumultuous emotions and an uncertain future?

I wonder…

How can Peace become more than a song lyric or a feel-good moment as we seek to deepen our faith in these present tumultuous times?

Prayer:  God of our Advent Journey, create a place of Peace within us, that we may create places of Peace for those lives that touch our own.  Amen.