What do you want for Christmas this year? If you were to ask a typical little boy, he’d probably give you two words: video games.

There’s a little boy I know named Brian. For weeks he bugged his parents about getting a watch for Christmas. Finally, his dad told him, “Brian, if you mention that watch again, you’re not going to get it. Quit bugging us!” One night Brian’s parents asked him to lead in prayer before dinner. Brian said, “I’d like to quote a Scripture verse before I pray. Mark 13:37: ‘I say unto you what I have already told you before—watch . . .’”

In contrast to the little boy, an adult like you or I might answer that we wish for Peace at Christmas.   May I remind you, Peace takes time. Put even more strongly, peace creates time by its steadfast refusal to force the other to submit in the name of order. Peace is not a static state but an activity which requires constant attention and care. An activity by its very nature takes place over time.

In fact, activity creates time, as we know how to characterize duration only by noting that we did this first, and then this second, and so on, until we’ve either gotten somewhere or accomplished this or that task. So peace is the process through which we make time our own rather than be determined by “events over which, it is alleged, we have no control.” – Stanley Hauerwas

The true source of peace is God, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  – Jesus Matthew 14:26

Praying for Peace, Pastor Larry