Building Peace In A Chaotic World

Gustav Klimt - Hope, II, 1907

It’s through the many ways we love and care for one another, that we give birth to God’s ultimate and perfected shalom.

Advent is a time for waiting. But if you are a last minute shopper you may not want to wait much longer. Christmas is just 2 ½ weeks away.

When I was younger, that would have felt like a lifetime. But now, I know it will be over in a blink of an eye.

Remember when the countdown to Christmas was pregnant with joy and anticipation? I would sit in my bed, wide awake, thinking about those bright colored packages under our tree.

Now that thrill of waiting has been replaced with instant gratification. Amazon, Netflix and DoorDash thrive on giving us what we want, when we want it.

​Thankfully, there is no app to make Advent pass quicker. It’s God’s way of saying, slow down, be present, be ready. 

Eugene Peterson reminded us that, “Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. The longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

This is the perfect segue to our reading today from Luke's Gospel and Mary's Song:

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,  where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. . . .

And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
    Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;
 he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.
 He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
                                                           Luke 1:39-55

Mary, A Portrait. by Ellen Griffin
Please visit her website: ellegriffin.com/mary/

I remember the day I found out I was going to be a father—well, I remember it was daytime.  For the rest of the details, you should probably ask Kathleen. However, I remember the pregnancy: ten long months of nausea, aches, emotional swings, and constant irritability. Again, you should ask Kathleen what she experienced.
 
Despite my expertise in sympathetic pregnancy, I still have no idea what women endure to bring life into the world. But I can confidently say, peace is not a word that comes to mind.

There’s no peace when you’re nauseous every morning. Or when your body shifts and reshapes daily. There’s no peace when sleep eludes you because your hormones and body temperature are out of whack. And there’s definitely no peace when a tiny human kicks you like an MMA fighter.
 
Pregnancy can bring hope, love, and joy. But peace? 

Yet for some reason we get a very pregnant Mary on this particular Advent Sunday. Her pregnancy was anything but peaceful. She is a young child, living in poverty under the oppressive thumb of Rome. She is pregnant out of wedlock. And the cause of that pregnancy had nothing to do with the kid she was told to marry. 
 
Her story is a difficult one to make sense of. But if we look beyond the mystery of the incarnation, we find God’s perfect peace, growing and swelling, within this insignificant yet favored child.
 
In her is God’s shalom, the Hebrew word which is often translated as peace. But this is no ordinary, fleeting feeling, or wishful happiness. At its core, shalom means complete wholeness—perfection in every part of your being. It is an ideal state of fullness and joy that overflows from the inside out.

​Scripture equates one finding shalom through reconciliation with God, who makes peace with us through unconditional love. This is where Jesus comes in.
 
As Mary’s story reveals, he is our hope through whom this ultimate shalom--our salvation—is made possible. As we wait for the Christ child, we’re waiting for the one who brings us back to God to be completely restored – physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
 
Nowhere in scripture does it say Mary ask for any of this. God simply chose her—found favor in her—to be the one to carry and birth divine love into the world.

But you may have noticed Mary is not the only one God favored in this Advent story. Luke gives us two women – Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. One is too young to have babies. The other, too old. And in both cases, no man is necessary for God’s plan to unfold.
 
Protruding from their bellies is the good news. God is on the move. Hope is on the horizon. Their sons will usher in the Kingdom of God. A kingdom established on God’s perfect shalom.

We wait with these two pregnant women. Ourselves, pregnant with expectant hope. God is coming. Peace will be restored and reign forever more. Why are we surprised scripture breaks into song!
 
Mary sings not just because there’s new life in her. She sings because God is bringing new life to the world. We are invited to sing with her because her child will hear our cries. He will bear our infirmities. He will give us a new life. An abundant and everlasting life. 
 
In singing of God’s mercy and strength, Mary’s song becomes the anthem of hope for the poor and downtrodden. It is a hymn of joy for the marginalized. A ballad of God’s love to the broken hearted.

Mary’s song is the song of Christ, the Prince of Peace! It is a song of victory. And revolution. A song of inclusion, grace, and forgiveness that exalts the reign of God – inviting every mouth and every heart to rejoice.
 
So why then we are still waiting and hoping for peace to come? Has it not come already? If so, then why is there so much chaos in this world? Perhaps God is wondering the same question.
 
Here’s the thing. The incarnation was not a one time event. While Christmas comes once a year, Christ comes every day. Like Mary, we all find favor with God. And like her, we are all called to carry Christ into the world. So, why aren’t we singing God’s praises by bringing peace on earth and good will to all, in all that we do?
 
As we’ve been learning, it’s through the many ways we love and care for one another, that we give birth to God’s ultimate and perfected shalom.
 
You see, Mary’s blessing is our blessing. Her call is our call. Her baby is our baby. Her song is our song. But who among us will join in this holy choir?

Who here will carry the peace of Christ in their womb? Who will allow God to triumphantly break through the birth canal of their heart,and to turn the world upside down until true peace prevails?
 
As we build a community of love in the space between, God is moving and growing and wiggling and kicking within us wanting to come out. Why wait for December 25th when Christmas can come right now?
 
Just as a belly cannot keep a baby forever, we can’t keep the peace of Christ contained in us.  It is meant to be shared with the world.

And that’s a perfect segue to close with one of my favorite quotes by Meister Eckhart, who said “We are all called to be God’s mother, because God needs to be born every day.”
 
Just as God did the impossible in the wombs of these two unlikely women, God makes all things possible though us.

Let us rise together as one people, to build a community of love, a womb of life that bears the peace of Christ, into a world in desperate need for the complete fullness of God’s healing and wholeness.
 
Together, let us answer the call to be God’s mother. Singing and dancing and rejoicing like a teenager whom God has honored and blessed.
 

Adapted From Between Today and Tomorrow: Peace. (JesusNotJesus.org on December 19, 2021).