When I was in grade school one of the songs we learned for our Christmas performance was “Let there Be Peace on Earth,” by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller. A few of the lyrics went as follows:
Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me;
let there be peace on earth,
the peace that was meant to be.
With God our creator,
family all are we.
Let us walk with each other
in perfect harmony.
This song stuck with me for many years. I would like to say that it was inspirational and that it moved me to do something big, but . . .
I remembered it often because I could not wrap my mind around the fact that there could be peace on Earth. My young elementary mind, while full of imagination, could not fathom this. This was likely because on too many occasions I witnessed chaos in the world. Whether is was kids fighting on the playground, adults yelling angrily at each other while I waited with my mom in the DMV line, or seeing the countless number of homeless people sitting hopelessly with signs asking for help just down the street from my church. People passed them by, but no one took notice of them.
I wondered, if we can’t make peace here now, how will ALL the people EVERYWHERE accomplish it? Such a great need for peace and the idea that world peace could somehow begin with me was crippling. I was a great line leader (according to my elementary teachers at the time), but I didn’t think I could lead such a line for the world. Peace, as a kid, felt like an enormous responsibility.
As an adult today I continue wrestling with the bigness of peace. As I read about Jesus’ birth in Matthew, I recall how chaotic it was in the world before the birth of Jesus. I am reminded, reading the genealogy of Jesus’ family (the part most of us skip), that generations after generations of people sought the face of God so that one baby could be born. This also meant that generations and generations of communities struggled and endured unrest and disharmony. Even after the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the world continued in its struggle. People were still fighting amongst each other, marginalized people were still going without and death was all around.
I confess that at times I feel disappointed in the birth of Jesus. The world seems to be tragically lost in chaos and it feels as nothing has changed. But, as I remember this song and its lyrics something is clicking differently this time around about the bigness of Peace and Jesus as the Prince of Peace.
The birth of Jesus was not an easy fix that magically changed the chaos in the world and made it so all the people in the world would love each other. However, Jesus was and is the light pointing us to that peace. The coming of God in Jesus was a gesture of love that surpassed any idea of love ever conceived. The Advent of Jesus restored peace even in spite of the chaos of the world.
God was modeling that this kind of peace as delivered from God in community was coming to us also in community. Jesus would be born surrounded in a community coming together despite its differences, and Jesus would grow up teaching all people whom he encountered about the same kind of community and togetherness.
Bright young Bev, though uneasy, was right about peace. Peace is a huge responsibility for only one person to carry, but it’s not for the people of God. The people of God when they come together are the very resources the world needs to change both in a very practical sense and in a spiritual one.
As I pray for peace this season, I am learning to pause and pay attention to how God can transform my often anxious self to be an agent of peace, wherever I am, and whoever I may be with. Peace is not to be conquered by one person. It is to be shared in abundance. Peace is to seek harmony. Harmony calls me and you to stand in the world and with the people in it—though it be a mess and still under construction.
Peace calls you and me to abide in love so that the Prince of Peace can do the healing. Together, with God our creator, we create peace of Earth.