Second Sunday of Advent 2023

Being Peace

If you are using an Advent wreath, today you light the candle of Peace.  With wars going on around the world right now, we’ve heard lots of talk about peace. 

We often hear about the desire for world peace and inner peace but what about A Just Peace? 

Isaiah 40 begins with with words, “Comfort, O Comfort my people… Speak tenderly…”

Where have you seen or experienced comfort or tender speaking?  Where have you offered comfort or tender speaking?

There is so much noise in our world right now. The sounds of missiles exploding, buildings crashing, shootings, cries of pain, of horror, of fear, of loss.  The sounds of political distress, anger, hate.  It can be hard to find comfort or to even hear tender words! 

It can be easy to get caught up in all of that and think, “There is no peace.”  

But I wonder if maybe instead of seeking peace, comfort, tenderness outside of ourselves, we should be working to BE peace, comfort and tenderness in the world around us.  

I invite you to think about how you have been this in your community, how have you worked to provide peace for others lately?  Where have you spoken tenderly and offered comfort? 

Now, consider how you might add to this over the next weeks or longer.  How and where can you offer comfort to others?  Where can you speak tenderly?  Where can you offer peace?

As you think on this, jot those ideas down!  Feel free to send them to me and maybe I’ll compile them in a list to share.

I love the quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world” credited to Mahatma Gandhi but I recently read a different version of it that I think speaks well to this, and I’d like to close with it today.

     “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi