Advent
December 11, 2015

Scripture Reading: Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

It is an interesting image, the peace of God standing guard over our hearts and our minds. In a world that is rushing to buy guns for self-protection having peace be responsible for care of our hearts and minds is a hard proposition to consider, but doesn’t it sound inviting. Why do you suppose we so readily let the bad guys define our lives?

When I was a child the bad guys were the Russians who were going to come and overthrow us so we practiced bomb drills at school and some built bomb shelters and some stockpiled food. It is almost funny now when I think about it: Children sitting under their desks with their hands over their heads as a means of protection against a nuclear bomb.

Evil will never be overthrown by trying to out evil it. Violence only begets more violence. Evil will only be erased from this world when the peace of God overcomes it. That process starts when we each let the peace of God in to guard our hearts and our minds against impulsive responses to the evil that is among us.

Prayer: O Lord, let your peace that passes understanding flow through this world via all of your children allowing it to flow through them. Amen.

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.