Vol 12 No. 50 Fourth week of Advent: Peace

Dear friends,

Isaiah 9:6 calls the coming Messiah the Prince of Peace among other things. In John 14 Jesus said, “My peace I give to you.” Prince of Peace, Amen!  Giver of Peace, Amen…

Its personal… a gift to us for ourselves and others, yes!

All this peace talk is pretty “rich” given the sadness, mayhem, and grief all around.  The list of tragedy extends from Aleppo to the refugee crisis seemingly everywhere, from the ­­­Missing Women’s Taskforce to political polarization in a degree rarely seen in modern times.  Given the chaotic and confusing nature of this week’s Advent theme of peace let’s start simply by establishing some foundations for the topic.

Peace is personal.

Unless peace begins in my own life and relationship with God it is elusive and unsustainable.  It is a personal peace based on relationship with Jesus but never exclusively for ourselves.  The “joy” the angels sing of was for “all the people”.  So is the peace of Christ not just to be appropriated by me.

Peace is contagious.  1 John 4:19-21.  I cannot withhold or contain peace within myself, my friends, my family or intimates.  Peace as a Christian is contagious.

Peace as freely granted to me must be given away.

Peace is measured in different ways (and is not just about us!).  For the first time in 1,000 days Vancouver experienced snow that stayed on the ground.  How amazing is that!  More importantly there is snow in the local mountains but not just for skiers.  While snow was chaotic for Vancouver drivers it was heaven for Vancouver skiers.  Peace comes to us in different ways.  What the snow really means (and the fantastic growing snow pack on the mountains from the coast to the Rockies) is that there will be water for rivers and irrigation canals next ­­summer on the Prairies.  That water will grow crops for Canadians who export more lentils-legumes than any other country in the world.  Big deal.  Yes, it is.  Mark Doerksen and I talked to a lentil broker in Chaplin, Saskatchewan, last month.  He said the market for lentils grows by 100 million people per year.

Peace is reassured in different ways.  Temporary occurrence of snow in Vancouver robs a driver of peace for a few days.  The same weather brings snow to the mountains which enables our farmers to put food on a family’s table in India.

Back to Christ’s promise of peace: He has given us what he has promised but it begins with me.  If the peace of Christ rests in me it is contagious to others.  Peace doesn’t just extend to those I know; it is for the whole world.  From lentils to the gospel… the peace of Christ for all.

Warmly,

In Christ,

Jeremy Bell

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