Peace is the movement of Advent that often sounds the most hollow. Hope is an anticipation. Joy and Love are traces of which we receive many glimpses. I guess it is true that we might receive glimpses of peace as well. Yet I sometimes wonder if those glimpses are just respites born of privilege; a peace that comes from being fortunate to be born into a life not knowing hunger, war, or prejudice.
No justice! No peace! This was one of the cries in the Summer of 2020. Covid had locked all of us down which left us without distractions when the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others came across our newsfeeds. Tens of thousands donned masks and carried signs of protest. From bullhorns we heard it declared that none of us were free unless all of us were free. No justice, no peace. Summer 2020. Winter 1955. Advent 2024. Winter, spring, summer, and fall ad infinitum.
Peace is often the desire of a person who is sitting in a hospital room with their dying loved one. Typically they desire peace for the beloved with tubes connecting them to machines. They do not usually ask for peace for themselves. Folks will ask prayers for all kinds of miracles, but it seems that most know that being at peace with the loss of a loved one is a bridge too far. I am not even sure that most people would take that peace even if they could. It is true that time heals many things and the years may ease the sting of loss, yet there is no complete end to grief. Complete peace is just out of reach. Though the beautiful flipside of this reality is that no end to grief means that there is no end to love.
“Peace on Earth” is what the heavenly messengers declared to the shepherds the night that Christ was born. What did they mean? Certainly not the absence of conflict. The ground where they stood is a waitron patch of land this very day as are Ukraine, Syria, and many other pieces of earth. Even some of our own homes and hearts feel a lack of peace. If peace came down to the earth, then that peace has to be something different than a lack of strife. And it needs to be something more than feeling content when all else goes to hell.
Maybe the peace in that child was the first ember of a still growing flame that would incinerate injustice, wipe away every tear, and finally bring full peace on earth. The peace they declared was not a culmination but, well, it was the advent. For whatever reason, God wanted us to be part of this project. In his most famous sermon, Jesus said that the peacemakers would be called children of God.
This peace is not keeping conflict at bay. It is building a better, building God’s dream, so peace can flourish. In the Already But Not Yet tension of Advent, peace often feels like the most Not yet. All the more reason for each of us to join God to make peace wherever we can.