The eleven28 Advent Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance.
The Second week of aDvent: The Way of Peace
1:78 By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
1:79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
These beautiful words found in Luke 1:78-79 are the end of a blessing of a father Zachariah to his newborn son, John, who we would come to call John the Baptist. They are filled with hope, our practice from last week. Hope that God will work through John to change the course of human history and hope that God had not forgotten the people of Israel. But what captures my imagination is the phrase, “the way of peace.”
I am an enneagram 9 and peace is my jam. I want to feel at peace in myself and with the world around me more than anything. My desire for peace is so strong that I avoid and ignore the conflict necessary to create real peace. This weakness of mine has never been as tempting to me as in the last 18 months. It feels as if conflict is the very air I have been breathing: does this state or local business require masks or not? If we have a family gathering, some with be afraid. IF we don’t have a family gathering, some will feel angry. If I bring up politics or church, will we be in agreement? Or will that conversation be too much for this particular relationship to handle? Where is the way of peace to be found in our current world?
What people in your life bring you joy?
What people in your life are hard to love right now?
What is the way of peace with those who are hard to love today? Remember, this can include different boundaries, necessary conflict, and reconciliation.
As you go from here, may this promise from Philippians 1:6 sustain you in the work of peacemaking:
There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
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