The Calm Before the Storm – Peace in Advent

Our last week of Advent falls on Christmas Eve. Depending on your Christian tradition, you may have to go to church twice today! However, if you’re a low-church Protestant, you can still get by with the one service. I won’t tell. No matter if you attend 100 services or none, today’s Church calendar meditates on the peace of God as we wait through the final days before the birth of Jesus.

Today’s reading comes from Luke:

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ Mary said, ‘You see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said.’ And the angel left her.”
– The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985), Lk 1:26–38. Emphasis added

Peace of Advent? Or Fear?

This passage doesn’t feel very peaceful to me. In fact, I’ve highlighted twice where Mary has no peace. She is disturbed and afraid. How can we use this as a passage of peace and calm anticipation. Even by the end of this passage, Mary doesn’t necessarily seem calmed. I don’t think I would have been OK with this if I was in her shoes.

It wasn’t until Mary goes to see her cousin Elizabeth that she seemingly finds peace. When Elizabeth sees Mary, she is overcome with the realization of what is happening (Lk. 1:41-45). Then, Mary understands what is happening, and delivers one of the greatest proclamations of Jesus in the Bible. Mary’s peace seemingly comes more from the shared relationship and experience with her family than with the powerful vision of the angel.

Our religion is contingent on our community. We cannot practice our faith alone – we need our supernatural family around us to support us and to be supported by us. How do we drive out fear and find peace in God? We do this through our shared experiences and the examples of those who we have seen before us. Christianity is, by definition, relational to others.

Last Christmas Eve

A Sunday Christmas Eve is pretty rare. Because of our calendar, it only shows up once or twice in a decade. The last time we had a Christmas Eve on Sunday was in 2017. It was a tumultuous time in America. It was the first year of the Trump White House and many of us in the country were feeling hopeless. We lacked the peace before the birth of Jesus – the true King of the world.

Here we are, six years later, and, while the threat may be different, there is little peace to be had. Americans are struggling to pay their bills and feed their families. Important social structures like healthcare and our government are in turmoil. Around the world, wars are being waged and those who suffer the most are those who are just trying to survive. Bethlehem is locked down.

What do we do? How do we find peace in a world that has global pain at our fingertips?

We need our community as much as they need us. We need to find an Elizabeth and be an Elizabeth to our neighbors. Your community may be a local church, family and friends, coworkers – whoever. Our job as Christians is to be the ushers of the Kingdom of God on earth. A Kingdom that is run by love instead of fear. We must pass the peace in a time of uncertainty.