Advent
November 23, 2016

Scripture Reading: Psalm 122

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
   ‘May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
   and security within your towers.’
For the sake of my relatives and friends
   I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
   I will seek your good. –Psalm 6-7

For whom do we wish peace? The author of Psalm 122, outlines a listing of recipients for whom he desires peace: Hometown, relatives and friends, and for the sake of the house of God. When peace exists for the house of God, all benefit.

Peace is not just the absence of war. Rome proclaimed the Peace of Rome through the threat of violence which held people in a constant state of fear. Peace, the Hebrew word in English is Salem, means completeness, soundness, and welfare*. I think of it as wholeness with God and with all others, a world without “us” and “them.”

It seems most people want the reality of peace. The problem is we see very different, often contradictory ways of attaining it. As a global community, we seem to be at a crossroads regarding how we want to live and move and have our being**. As we begin the annual reawakening of the incarnation, we are called to recognize that the way toward such peace is laid out for us. Let us dedicate this Advent season to a revitalization of our commitment to follow the way of Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord, pray with us when we do not know the words to say. Write on our hearts your message of renewal, so we can be fully the people you have called us to be. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/hebrew/7965.htm
**See Acts 17:28

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.