Growing up, I’d stand between pews, usually during one of my two church services a year, and belt line after line of Christmas music. With two French braids running down my back and my two little hands clutching the smooth, glossy-wood ridge in front of me, I thought I had pipes like Sheryl Crow. I dreamed of being on Disney Channel (unbeknownst to me that you needed some semblance of musical ability to sing professionally). Christmas was a conduit to gifts, and the gift I desired was a fun and fancy life on the stage.
The orchestra reset to prepare a new song, and I grabbed the songbook pamphlet in front of me. While I loved the glorious orchestra and the repetition of singing “on this night, on this night, on this very Christmas night” as fast as I could, I longed for the next song. “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” still reigned as the winner. It was, and is, my most favorite Christmas song.
“Peace on earth and mercy mild
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
God and sinners reconciled”
In college, I’d stand between these carpeted, cloth-covered chairs. I’d come to church during my standard weekly Sunday service and sing line after line of Christmas music, with a bit more knowledge about the gospel and who I was singing about. As I sang, my preoccupied mind floated to whether my boyfriend and I were going to continue dating and how that would disrupt—or really, dismantle—the friend group I’d found. As I gently sang my favorite song, my mind came back to church, to the foot-tall stage in front of me. My mind got stuck on lyrics I sang every year:
“Peace on earth and mercy mild
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
God and sinners reconciled”
My biggest prayer was for myself, for my problems to be solved. The weight of anxiety and “what if’s” felt like a 100-pound backpack I wore, and every song talking about peace felt like reading a Nancy Drew mystery. I craved that peace, and I desperately wanted to know what was required in my life for me to feel it.
Peace was, and still is, something that seems to come and go. Life is going well? Peace. Life is not going well? Anxiety or worry, perhaps exhaustion or spiraling, and continual prayer for life to look and feel different, for problems to be seemingly solved—whatever “solved” even means.
December beckons the world. Christmas music screams through speakers, snow splatters the sidewalks, and store lines seem endless. December beckons some of us to spend a lot of money—to live out our best gift-giving love-language potential. It beckons some to get one of our two yearly church services in, and it calls some into a hurried state. Some relive beautiful childhood memories, while others relive painful childhood trauma. December means many different things to different people.
Advent, though, is beautifully simple. Advent looks away from the yelling and clutter to freeing truth. Advent celebrates the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Advent beckons us to look at Christ Jesus himself and behold hope, peace, joy, and love. Really, to behold him. Christ is hope, joy, and love.
Christ is the peace we prayed for and longed for.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.”
Ephesians 2:13-14
For he himself is our peace. For Christ Jesus himself is our peace. In my seeking and fleshly desire for things like a flashy concert-touring life or a smooth romantic relationship, I’ve looked for peace from Jesus in things I can see and hold.
Peace is only found in Jesus, can only be held through him, and—available to us hourly and daily—is reflected even brighter during Advent.
Reconciliation—forgiveness between friends or family, a word so often associated with peace, frees us. Reconciliation is defined by Jesus. Jesus reconciled in his fleshly body through death, for us to come face-to-face with God one day, arriving holy and blameless.
“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”
Colossians 1:21-22
He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless. He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. Christ has reconciled to present you holy.
Advent allows us space to see and understand Jesus: his birth for the sake of the world and his death for the sake of our souls. Jesus came to reconcile for us and to reconcile with us. He covered us with holiness and beauty, so that we can be presented to God as holy and blameless.
We get peace on earth because Jesus walked on earth.
We get peace on earth because Jesus reconciled and teaches us to reconcile.
“Peace on earth and mercy mild
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
God and sinners reconciled”
When I look at my life like an earnings call, a year-over-year angle of ups and downs or the volatility from the world taking a toll, the tailwinds—from goodness or self-proclaimed hard work propelling me forward, I take this beautiful, ever-lasting, and all-encompassing God and make him bite-sized. The hands and maker of the feast diluted to a Butterfinger. An avenue to peace, instead of peace himself. An avenue to my desire, instead of my desire himself.
“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
This year, I’ll hopefully stand somewhere in the midst of my family members, as a new aunt and wife, and also as a person who has mourned on floors and celebrated on stages over the past twelve months. I’ll stand as a person who still has numerous problems she’d love for the Lord to solve, heal, answer, and redeem, but who has learned deeply over the years, from Christ and through Christ, that peace isn’t a mere feeling or fleeting moment or season, but a presence. May we desire the person of peace this Advent. And, just maybe, may we again sing my favorite song:
“Peace on earth and mercy mild
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
God and sinners reconciled”
Application
- Read through the Bible verses mentioned in this article: Ephesians 2:13-14, Colossians 1:21-22, 1 Corinthians 5:14-21. What stands out to you? What does the surrounding Scripture help you understand?
- Pray to God.
- Praise God for reconciling for our sake and salvation. How does that help you see more of God’s character? How does that bring you peace today?
- Reflect on your walk with Jesus, your world currently, and your relationships with people in your life. Where is reconciliation needed?
Photo Credit: Michael Marcagi
Erica spends her days as a consultant and her evenings as a doctoral student, yet her favorite roles are being a daughter, sister, and friend. You can find her yelling, “Roll Tide!” at a television, enjoying a long run, or writing—probably wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. An alumna of the Fulbright Program, she loves traveling and seeing the consistency of God and his love for people throughout the world. YET: The Promise in Habakkuk for Those in Transition is her first published devotional.
