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. (2nd Thessalonians 3:16)
A much-used word in this time of holiday preparations is peace. The personal peace many of us are seeking just doesn't seem to come. We continue to try to create it ourselves but usually only make things worse by adding just "one more thing" rather than trying to reduce what leads to our frustrations. But God can, and does, intervene and show us – if we take the time to recognize it – that his way of providing peace is not the kind the world gives.
I remember on December 20, 2009, – the fourth Sunday in Advent – waking to a winter wonderland. Fourteen inches of snow blanketed everything including our driveway and the street in front of our home. Both our driveway and the street involve fairly steep slopes. We knew that without plowing there was no way we would be able to participate in the many activities scheduled for that day – including attending the morning worship service at APLC – so we started the day by holding our own worship service in our home.
Trapped in our house, we started in the kitchen where we opened the day's window on our Advent calendar. The owners of the family–run hotel where we had vacationed in St. Wolfgang, Austria had sent the calendar to us. The hotel is situated at lakeside and the owners place a huge Advent wreath on a float in the lake and hold evening worship services throughout the Advent season for guests and townfolk. The calendar's window for December 20th showed worshipers coming to service in a horse–drawn sleigh; too bad we didn't have the use of such a sleigh to get to the service at APLC (!)...but it was good to remember the peace we had felt in that wonderful hotel.
Later, we sat at our dining room table and lit the fourth candle on our Advent wreath. We then proceeded to follow our daily practice of using the devotional activities – Bible reading, related message and prayer – from our subscription to Christ in Our Home. To that year-round event, we added the December 20th prayer from our church's Advent handout which, for Advent 2009, had been published by Gettysburg Seminary. My husband's older brother was a graduate of Gettysburg Seminary and served as pastor of several Lutheran churches in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The connection to the Seminary through the prayer in the handout reminded us of this wonderful, peace–loving man and his dedicated life to Christ. We felt again the peace he brought to our family during his lifetime.
After breakfast, we went into our living room where we listened to the devotions for the fourth Sunday in Advent presented on the 2006 Abiding Presence Lutheran Church Advent CD. Both 2006 and 2009 used version C of the lectionary; thus, the scripture lessons were the same as those we had used earlier that day from our Christ in Our Home booklet. Hearing the scriptures repeated by fellow members of APLC on the disk combined with the beautiful singing of the Voices of Faith and the organ prelude, Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel, gave us a blessed feeling of peace.
In the evening, we went to the computer where the APLC webmaster so faithfully had delivered the week's Running in Faith devotional writing. We found a meaningful devotional message, written by one of our APLC members. The author reminded us, "The universal Star of Bethlehem guides each of us towards our own salvation should we choose to follow."
At bedtime, still not plowed out, we felt refreshed by our day of enforced isolation. That day of unexpected snow brought us a true and wonderful day of peace. For to the snow He says, "Fall on the earth, and to the downpour and the rain, be strong." Job 37:6
For you, I pray…Now may the Lord of peace give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. (John 14:27)
Contributed by Nancy
Monday December 14, 2015
Liturgical Year C: Week 3
Liturgical Color: Blue
Sunday Gospel reading: Advent3
Third Sunday in Advent