I have always found it a challenge to stay in the season of Advent with all the Christmas pressure of the world around us. The themes of hope, peace, joy and love are too important to be glossed over.
This coming Sunday we will acknowledge peace which is God's "shalom" or wholeness, for all of creation. Last week I received the latest reflection from Peter Sawtell of Eco-Justice ministries and it bears repeating. http://www.eco-justice.org/
In it he mentions a couple in the United States, where he lives and works, who put up an outdoor wreath in which they formed a peace symbol. A neighbour complained to the homeowner's association that this was an inappropriate political statement that should be removed. The couple insisted that it wasn't a protest against the war in Iraq. It was just a peace symbol. They were still fined -- $25 a day -- until they took it down. The story made the national media across the border and finally the "powers that be" relented.
There are always principalities and powers which are suspicious of the motives of the way of peace. In another time they were unable to comprehend the message of the Prince of Peace and the brutal force of the Roman empire was brought to bear against him. Yet that empire is gone and we still celebrate the birth of Christ as the one who fulfills the promises of God.
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