Second Sunday in Advent - 2020


Let There Be Peace On Earth, and Let It Begin With Me

So goes the lines of an old popular song. The thing is, that is where it starts, doesn't it? If we can't have peace with ourselves, then there is no hope for any other peace in our world. This year is one that is going down in the record books. 

And I can't help but wonder how much of it actually was external fact and how much was the creation of our own making. The pandemic that has ravaged the world, with mixed catastrophic results; but also, the seething hatred that rears its head every so often. There is so much pain, so much anguish. So many people have lost so much, and it reminds me of those passages in scripture where the people cry out for help, passages in Proverbs are full of this: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The thing is that joy in the morning hasn't come yet. And we are still in bondage ... or, so people feel. As I write, my city is in a lockdown of sorts ... again, and the infection numbers are well over 1500 per day. I am comfortable sitting at home and working on tasks I have. That is a 'gift' that losing my job has given me.

I heard a message today, and the topic was, of course, on peace. It was timely, for the focus was peace with God, within our relationships, and with ourselves. And now none is possible until we have peace with ourselves. This past week, I also chanced upon an interview on YouTube with Matthew McConaughey and his new book Greenlights. I was quite taken with his message, and the connection between his philosophies and world peace came to me. The more we encourage and do what needs to be done to create 'green lights' in our life, refusing to be stopped for too long by the 'red lights', the more we can experience that peace that passes human understanding, I think. Peace is not necessarily about being happy or having a life without difficulties, but it's about establishing something to rise above it all when it comes our way. And that, that ability to acknowledge the reality, and the strength to rise above it become that peace - the peace that comes from the Prince of Peace.

I have this plan to use this time to 'prepare for death'. This isn't a negative thing, but instead a liberating one, one of gratitude and release. In an interview, McConaughey talks about how perspective changes, how those things we once valued when we were younger (popularity, external perfection, accumulation of riches, status) can lose their height and come down to eye level. And those things that we had put aside, thinking 'this will be for later', things like relationships, connecting with history, values of health and love ... those things rise in height and come up to eye level. What this does is open our perspective, so we can see with clarity, with wisdom ... and rise above those things that don't matter anymore and manage and face into those things that we must. Fear is not part of this; peace is. I'm not sure how much of those thoughts are his and how much are from me pondering this all today. Regardless, it's part of my letting go, of dying to self, of releasing ... so that the time I do have left can have a different focus and bring me a joy that I do not experience right now with this current burden.

In the middle of this all - the pandemic, the lockdown, the absence of employment, the chaos around me, I pray for peace. I pray for a heart of peace, so I can bite off a bit at a time as I gradually make my way through this. I pray for a heart of peace, as I face into my reality and speak peace and love to myself so I do not lose hope. I know this is the season of gifts, of redemption and birth. May I find those for myself, and I pray that they are given to all who lament. Let there be peace on earth, And let it begin with me.

Let There Be Peace on Earth, The peace that was meant to be
With God as our Father, Brothers all are we
Let me walk with my brother, In perfect harmony
Let peace begin with me,
Let this be the moment now.
With ev'ry step I take
Let this be ... 

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