Where is it? Where is this peace the Angels proclaimed in Luke chapter two? And the Prophet predicted in Isaiah chapter 9? I can't ignore the irony of that proclamation with the fact that I have been separated from my family for a year on account of war. As a matter of fact I can't think of one major continent where wars and rumors of wars are not on the cover of the newspapers.
In Jesus day and age, the most powerful man on the planet declared peace. The Roman Emporer declared "The Peace of Rome" to everything under his vast and all encompassing control. But even then people noticed the limits of such a proclamation. One man, Epictitus, a Roman philosopher of the first century, wrote in response to the Emperor’s proclamation...
“While the emperor may declare peace from war on land and sea, he is unable to give us peace from our passions, or peace from loneliness and grief. He does not give peace from greed and envy. He cannot give peace of heart, inwardly, which is what man yearns for more than even outward peace”.
It has not gotten better over time. In our day and age it is perhaps even more confusing, the search for peace seems to have intensified.
Today, peace is pedaled on every corner in the market place. Insurance companies sell peace of mind, mattress companies pitch a peaceful nights rest. Makers of burglar alarms promise you a peaceful home. Therapists want to help you discover it and pharmacologists claim to have manufactured it in bottles.
In every place and in every time we can measure and mark the lack of peace that domiates the human story.
So my question, our question, the world's question is, "How has this child brought peace on earth?" How would you answer that to your friends and family who do not know?
The world is becoming increasingly cynical toward us, Our Lord, and our faith. Can you give an answer for the hope at is in you? What do the scriptures reveal about this precious gift of peace brought to us by our Savior?
You think about that with me...I'll continue this in the next blog :)
1 comment:
Hello Pastor R! I think everyone at church has started the count down to your return back to Menomonie.
Thanks for visiting my blog...what a surprise to hear from you.
Post a Comment