A bigger kind of peace

As enormous numbers of people across the world join in Christmas services this year, we need to open our eyes to a bigger kind of peace.

I love carol services, the lights and the goodwill, the well-known and much loved tunes, the prayers for peace across the world and the focus on the One who came to offer the world so much. I also know how easy it is to knock it all, to worry about commercialisation, false sentimentality and the infantilisation of the message. I sense there is something real and good in the Christmas tradition as we currently practice it, but just worry that it is not good enough.

My concern is focussed on the word ‘peace’.
We are all wished ‘peace’ many times each Christmas, but what do we mean by the term? For most I suspect it is peace within, that settledness or comfort of a life united in itself, in harmony with family, friends and the wider human community. Likewise when we pray for the peace of the world we tend to list the areas of conflict around the world and pray for wisdom and love to overcome division and hatred. And our prayer for all these things is focussed on God and on Jesus Christ as the One who can make these things real for us.

The Christian faith originally grew out of a Hebrew tradition where the word ‘peace’, or ‘Shalom’, had a wider meaning than this. It was about a vision of peace with God the creator, which included all the things we have mentioned, but reached further to include harmony among the entire creation.

Isiaiah had the whole creation in mind when he spoke about the One who would come

as a shoot from the stump of Jesse…
...and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding…
...he shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth…
...the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the shepherd shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them…
...they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. (Isaiah 11)

Jesus had the whole creation in mind when he spoke about peace and urged his followers not to be anxious but to rely on the gracious hand of God who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the flowers of the field.

Paul had the whole creation in mind when he meditated on Christ’s work and described it as a huge reconciliation of ‘all things’.(Colossians 1 v 20)

For all these biblical writers ‘peace’ meant a bigger sort of peace than the one that we remember with our human-centred gospel.

As we human beings enter on a period of immense testing in our relationship with the earth and all its creatures, we need this vision of peace which embraces all things, and we need the power and strength of God to make it real in our lives.

Peace be with you this Christmastime

Suggested Task: For those who went to Christmas celebrations this year, were there any examples of creation being specifically included?

Tell us how your celebration included creation.

Your comments.