Peace that passes understanding. That is one of the desires of those who have faith. The Prince of Peace is one of the titles we are happy to give to Jesus. We pray for peace – long for peace. We are overwhelmed by Christ’s call that we should be peacemakers – especially in a time when the world has never really known true peace. So here in our preparations for Christmas – by the light of the candle of peace – we might well wonder ‘what does peace look like?’

Our fondest desire is that peace should come suddenly. Imposed by God in spectacular fashion. Malachi suggests that will happen, and frankly, we can’t wait.
The pursuit of peace is difficult. Too many things seem beyond our control. People are hard to please and harder to deal with – everyone wants their own way. Best to let God swoop in and sort it all out…

But in the meantime, life goes on, and the challenges pile up. What options are there for the faithful?

The prophet suggests that there is an order to things that will help us understand when the promised peace arrives…and first comes the ‘refining.’

It would be helpful to know the difference between those who are following the righteous path and those who are not. It would help to know what we mean by righteous. That’s a word that has taken on some negative connotations down the years – so it is better to think of it in terms of integrity.

Righteousness is demonstrated by a sincere desire to make and maintain good relationships, sensible policies, compassion amongst those who disagree, empathy towards those who are different.

Righteousness is not always the stance of the church – rather, righteousness is the weapon used by the church against those who ask too many questions.

For too many people, peace is not found at Christmas time – nor is peace so easily found in the church (or among the faithful.) This is the unfortunate truth. So, we need to be careful about how we present our understanding of the Christmas miracle.

To exclaim with certainty that ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’ is to ignore the harm that has been done in Jesus’ name. We can’t promise peace if we haven’t been honest about our role in the conflicts throughout history. We should not be surprised by the sceptics, since we (the church universal) helped to create them.

So, what is the solution? What can peace look like?

Less certainty and more compassion.

Less dogma and more devotion.

Less talk and more action.

The prophet would have us look for some final and fabulous act of God – judgement is a favourite word for so many prophets – but having encountered the messenger of the covenant in Jesus, we discover that judgement need not be harsh or punishing.

The judgement on Jesus at his baptism is a judgement of delight. God is well pleased, even though at this moment in the gospel story Jesus has done nothing of note.

Jesus will go on to show us how to be gently honest; how to be genuinely engaged; how to be comfortable with compassion; how to be fully, wonderfully human. The anticipation of this behaviour pleases God. It is the path that leads to peace.

Does this sound like some new-age social experiment? Not enough ‘gospel’ for Sunday morning? Well, that’s because the gospel is not exclusively about the solution for the end of all things.

Our ideas about final judgements are just that – ideas. They help us feel better about unmanageable situations like the constant threat of war, or the seemingly endless patterns of injustice that define human interactions. The prophets appeal to us because of their certainty that ‘God has got this…eventually.’

But Jesus is different.

Jesus shows up in the middle of everything. He brings his Holy Humanity to bear on our most ordinary problems – the walking, eating, working, dreaming of daily life. It turns out that the worst of our problems don’t disappear when Jesus arrives on the scene. The Romans still rule (with all the complications that come with that) And Jesus doesn’t lead an assault on the powerful – he encourages the weak to inhabit their full humanity.

The judgement against the worst of what humanity has to offer comes through the empowering of those who so often seem powerless. That’s how Jesus works.

The peace we long for starts small – with us and within us. The peace we pray for is nurtured in our relationships, in our ordinary difficulties, in the mundane challenges of a Thursday deadline at work. And the good news of the story of Jesus is that the small, ordinary victories for peace that we win are contagious. The little victories develop confidence and self-worth in those who have been too often pushed aside. The spark of peace brings heat and light to the cold, dark reality of ‘not-peace.’ Among the gifts we celebrate in December is the gift of Jesus’ life among us – the reality of Emmanuel (‘God-with-us’) – that sets us, slowly but surely, on the path of peace.