It’s been said before, and it will be said again. 2020 was/is a crazy year! In a lot of ways, it has been a year unlike any other within recent history.
First, COVID. How to even begin? At the start, there was so much unknown. How did the virus originate? What are the common signs of having the virus? How can we keep others from getting sick? How do we keep ourselves from getting sick? Is COVID a death sentence? On and on the questions popped up into mainstream conversation. There were a lot of unknowns. At this point, some time has passed, and we’ve gotten some answers to some of those questions, but it still doesn’t feel like we have 100% of the information that is needed. There are still endless debates about the seriousness of the illness. There are still conversations being had about the usefulness of the masks. Opinions concerning the coronavirus and appropriate responses are varied and held to strongly. Even now within our society, there is a lot of unknown. Are masks necessary? Should I go out to eat dinner? Should I get vaccinated when it becomes available? How do I know if the vaccine is effective? How do I know who is giving me accurate information about this whole thing?
On top of these questions about the virus and health, there are a number of other issues that have popped up this year. There are a number of other uncertainties, a number of other unknowns. How long will this last? Are the mask requirements going to end anytime soon? When will I be able to freely visit with my friends, my family? When will restaurants be able to seat people at full capacity? Is there hope for the ones that have had to close? What about the economic impact of this situation? Will we recover? When will schools return to normal? Sports? Will we ever be able to attend a Pirates game again?
These are just some of the unknowns that people are wrestling with now, and I didn’t even mention politics. (Without diving too far into the political stream let’s recognize that there is a lot of debating about the presidential outcome, voter fraud, etc., etc., etc. Plus, there are the questions about how we can recover from the division that is present in our nation and if we can ever have a more unified, peaceful outlook as a society.)
Yes. 2020 has provided us with a lot of unknowns, and I haven’t even covered some of the harder ones.
How will we deal with loss? How will we deal with grief? How will we deal with suffering? With heartache? With pain? How will we deal with the fact that the coronavirus has put some things right in our face that many of us would rather ignore…that we are not in control, that life can be difficult, unfair, hard, and that the time we have on this earth is limited, that we each will face death at some point? What will we do with those things? Those difficult questions that have popped up this year?
How will we deal with all of the unknowns?
After all, having all of these unknowns in our lives can lead to other issues…to fear, to worry, to stress, to anxiety, to all kind of negative responses. So, how will we deal with them? How will we finish up 2020 and look into the face of 2021 with so many unanswered questions, so much uncertainty?
Hopefully, we will take a reminder from our Advent wreath.
Right now, we are in the second week of Advent, 2020. We are gloriously expecting to celebrate Christmas, and we are also anticipating the second coming of Jesus. As we wait, we continue in the tradition of the Advent wreath, lighting a candle each week to remind us of some of the things that Jesus offers to each of us. Last week, we discussed hope. The candle for this week?
Peace.
One lesson from the Advent wreath for this week is this: Jesus offers us peace. Not only that but Jesus is peace.
Isaiah 9:6 says this:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Take some time to read over that Scripture. It is a remarkable description of Christ. Breath it in. Allow God to remind you of just who it is that we are looking forward to celebrating on Christmas. A child, a son who holds the government on his shoulders. Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. Allow those words to paint for you a picture of Jesus. Allow that picture of Jesus to impact your life, even now.
When you pause for a moment to reflect on Christ, you realize just how remarkable He is. The Prince of Peace. He has come. He is here. He is coming again.
Isaiah looked forward to the time when the Prince of Peace would walk the earth, something he would never personally see in his lifetime. We look forward to the time when the Prince of Peace’s kingdom will be on earth as it is in heaven, when he returns for his second coming, a time that we may or may not get to see in our lifetimes. But even though we anticipate the future, we also are able to look back on the time when the Prince of Peace walked on the earth, that time that Isaiah longed to see. We have the benefit of history, of hearing about the life of Jesus, of reading the stories of how his miracles, of studying his words, his teachings.
One such teaching has the Prince of Peace talking about peace.
Look at what Jesus says:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
~John 14:27
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, offers us his peace.
It’s comforting to know that this peace is offered in spite of the unknowns that are going on in life.
It’s interesting to note that Jesus provided this lesson in the middle of a whole lot of unknowns. In the Gospel of John, Jesus offers this teaching to his disciples during the Last Supper. They had gathered together in a room to celebrate the Passover, and Jesus had shared that he would be betrayed, that he would die. The Prince of Peace told them that violence would fall upon him. Obviously, this left a lot of unknowns, a lot of unanswered questions for the disciples.
“How could this happen?” “Isn’t he the Messiah?” “Were we wrong to follow him these last years?” “If he dies, what about us?” “Where will we go?” “What will we do?” “How can we possibly saved?”
Even though Jesus did not address all of these needs, even though he did not provide an answer to all of these unknowns, he offered peace.
Peace right in the middle of it all.
Peace in the mess.
Peace in the storm.
Peace in the chaos.
Peace in the uncertainty.
Peace in the face of fear.
Peace even in the unknown.
You see, the world needs answers to have peace. The world needs to know that everything will be “OK” in order to have peace in a situation. “There’s a vaccine? Great, now I can have peace!” “We only have to make it through ____ more months? Great, now I can have peace!” For the world, peace is conditional on knowledge and the outcome. There isn’t much peace in the unknown. There is even less when an outcome is undesirable.
Fortunately, Jesus does not offer us peace as the world offers or understands it. Jesus offers us peace in spite of our problems. Jesus offers us peace right in the middle of the unknown.
Friend, I hope that you have found peace. I hope that you have found it from the only one that can give you lasting peace, peace’s Prince, Jesus.
Jesus is the only one to make lasting peace with the Almighty God a possibility. He is the only one to fulfill every aspect of the law. He is the only one to offer his life as a perfect sacrifice. He is the only one to offer us true peace, peace eternal, peace everlasting in our relationship with our God. I hope that you have found that peace.
Then, I hope that you allow this peace that you have found in God through Jesus to filter into all other areas of your life.
After all, if I am at peace with my Creator, if I know that this life will have troubles, but that Jesus has overcome them all, if I know the Prince of Peace, the uncertainties of today don’t seem so significant.
I ask you…Do you know Peace? Do you know Peace’s Prince?
I pray that you do. I pray that you have come to meet Jesus. I pray that when the unknown rears its head (as it has done a bunch in 2020) that you will seek God and his peace. His peace that passes all understanding. The peace of Christ that is available to all who put their faith, their hope, their trust in him.
My hope for you this Advent? That you would know the one that Isaiah foresaw, that you would know the Prince of Peace.
~ Pastor Chris
