Peace vs. Hatred

Advent wreath at Susanna Wesley UMC - Photo from their Facebook page

I sent this text to my family Sunday morning (December 8) after the girls and I arrived for worship at their Topeka church:

Irony of the morning: Peace candle is lit for Advent at church. Protestors from Westboro Baptist Church stand across the street as we arrive. Part of Advent litany talked about the hatred in the world. Thankful that Kinley didn't see them on the way into the church.

Jill says the protestors have been there before, though their presence is sporadic and had never coincided with one of my Sundays in Topeka.

Frankly, I wish my record of not seeing them had stayed intact. However, I've continued to think about the juxtaposition of hate vs. love and peace. So maybe it was an Advent message I was meant to ponder.

The Advent candle litany said, in part:

Because hatred is still so strong, because so many swords have not yet been beaten into plowshares, we light a candle of peace. May the light from this candle overwhelm the world. May the light from this candle say to all that God's peace is coming on earth as it already is in heaven! 

In his sermon that morning, Pastor Andrew talked about the preparations they, as a young family, made to get their home ready for Christmas. He talked about shuffling furniture to make room for the tree and then unwrapping the ornaments.

When I think about the tree, I also think about our lives - reflecting back on the things past or looking forward to the things to come ahead. What will be unexpectedly beautiful? What will break by accident? What events will occur in which we need to find our place?

His reference to shattered ornaments took me back to our own Hanging of the Greens at Stafford UMC in late November. As I made my way through the church foyer that day, a dad was sweeping up the remnants of a glass ornament. I smiled and asked him how many had succumbed this year. Only the one, he told me.

Children's tree at Stafford UMC - Children made the nativity ornaments this year in Sunday School

One broken bulb (or even two or three) is a small price to pay for involving young children in the Advent preparations - whether that's at home or at church.

Jon and Bryson shared their love of Christmas bulbs during our Hanging of the Greens event.

 Besides, sometimes, we need to be broken for Christ's light to shine through:

Blessed are the broken and cracked 
for they allow God's light 
to shine through them.

Unattributed

Yes, we are broken. The world is broken. Even if there aren't protestors standing on a street corner, there are plenty of disagreements and differences in opinion. Just take a stroll through Facebook or Twitter and the hatred isn't hard to find.

 

On that Sunday, the Advent choir anthem said, in part:

Soon a tiny child will come

A gift from God above

To teach us all to live in peace

And fill our lives with love.

He will teach us how to love.

May that be more than just a sentiment in a Christmas anthem or a saying hung from the Christmas tree.


Advent is when we name and remember our longing for and need of forgiveness, restoration and redemption in the present day, while we wait for Christ to come again in final victory. While we wait, Jesus calls us into the world to participate in acts of compassion, preparing the way for God’s love to be known by all who need to hear the good news, having their sight restored and experiencing freedom. During this season, we prepare our own lives for one of the most transformative understandings of Jesus’ coming - his mission to set us free.

From Susanna Wesley UMC's Facebook page

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I will take a short hiatus from blogging as Christmas approaches. Adding to an already-packed schedule as CEO of Christmas preparations around here, we are selling feeder calves this week. That adds cattle sorting and loading to the holiday mix this week.Wish us luck!

Wishing you and yours PEACE on earth and tidings of great JOY!

Light the Advent Candle: PEACE? Are You Kidding Me?

Maybe it was ironic that a family with a 3 year old and a 15 month old lit the Advent candle for PEACE. Throw in a couple of parents pursuing their master's degrees while still working full-time, and PEACE seems like an abberation lost in the foggy memory of a time when everyone slept through the night. When was that? 2011?

An attempt at a family photo in Christmas finery prior to church is a lesson in frustration ... certainly not PEACE. The 3 year old thinks the dress is "too scratchy" - though she picked it out herself. (Mommy has learned that even 3 year olds have firm opinions about fashion choices.) No amount of "See how pretty the sparkles look in the light?" seems to work.

A smile is finally coaxed from the little one. (Where was that smile when we took family photos a month ago. Miss Brooke?) But a wayward tongue from the bigger one isn't seen until examining the photos on a computer screen 3 hours away.

But as I watched Jill and Eric light the PEACE candle with their girls at church on December 6, I thought maybe it was just right. No, their lives are anything but peaceful at the moment. But isn't PEACE what we're all waiting for as we anticipate Christ's arrival once again during this Advent season?

A unwed teenager doesn't seem the "ideal" mother for the Savior of the World. A "crazy" guy dressed in animal skins and eating locusts doesn't seem an appropriate messenger for Emmanuel. We don't expect a Great King to be born in a smelly manger. Second-class citizens like the shepherds shouldn't have heard the Good News before the high-falutin' Bethlehem elite.

So maybe harried modern parents toting a baby and a preschooler are just the right people to light a PEACE candle.

Anyway, that's what I thought as I watched Kinley's face as Jill lit the candle.

 

Jesus comes, not just to those of us in Topeka or Stafford, but even to those in New York, Beverly Hills, Syria, Iraq, Africa, North Korea. Jesus comes to us in the words of a preacher and in the song of a choir, but also in the siren of an ambulance, in a letter opened in a prison cell, in a visit to a nursing home, and in the smile - or cry - of a child.

Advent Devotional from the United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries

Yes, Jesus comes in the smile or cry of a child. And in that look of wonder and expectation like I saw on Kinley's face. He comes when little girls hang hats and mittens on a church Christmas tree for other little girls and boys who don't have them ready to grab at the back door on a cold day.

Long ago, Randy and I were the parents up there lighting the Advent candle at the Stafford UMC, hoping our little girl and our little boy didn't light each other or the church yule log on fire during a Advent lighting time.

We sang the same song that we sang back then, too:

Light the Advent, two:

Think of humble shepherds, who

Filled with wonder at the sight

Of the child on Christmas night.

Candle, candle, burning bright.

Shining in the cold winter night.

Candle, candle, burning bright.

Fill our hearts with Christmas light.

Advent candle - Stafford UMC

It's still a HOPE and a PEACE worth waiting for.

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An update:

Jill's and Eric's life got a little more peace this week, when they officially finished work on their master's degrees. Jill earned a 4.0 for her work on her master's of public health from Creighton University, and Eric earned his MBA. Along the way of their online classes, they added Brooke to the family mix. We are very proud of them both!

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I'm linked to Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story over at her blog. Click on the link to see what other bloggers are writing during this Advent season!