We live in a time of great anxiety. People are anxious about typhoons, earthquakes, global warming, peace and order not only in Mindanao, but also here in Dumaguete City.
For students, there is so much pressure from peers to do things which you may believe are wrong. Going out and having a good time with friends seems better than doing your research papers. Thus, when exams time comes, there is so much anxiety, that cheating seems an easier option.
It is ironic that all the things we have done, invented, and produced have not reduced anxiety at all. In fact, there is reason to believe that our great technological advances have increased anxiety, rather than reducing it. We have Facebook that helps in our communication. But it can also be a source of conflict.
I have read a report in the news indicating that people who spend a lot of time chatting on the internet are experiencing increased stress and anxiety because of decreased human contact. Thus, the sale of tranquilizers and valium are at an all-time high.
I know that in this season, many of us are stressed on what to buy for a gift. Others are worried what to do on Christmas because they have no family to go to. Some may worry where to get the money for the family to celebrate Christmas.
On this Sunday of Advent, we are told that one of the gifts that we can receive is peace. Our gospel tells us the story of a multitude of the heavenly host appearing to the shepherds singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.” From this wonderful story, let me share some thoughts for us who need to find the light of Peace in the darkness of anxiety.
First, in a world where there is so much violence, hatred and suffering, you have to look for signs of God’s Peace. The angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, “…for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
The birth of that child was a sign of God’s love, mercy, and grace; a sign of God’s Peace. God’s graceful Son was born in Bethlehem, and when he entered the world, he was the embodiment of God’s Peace. They called him, “The Prince of Peace.”
But we need to be intentional in looking around for the signs of God’s Peace. And if we look hard enough, we will find it. The angel of the Lord said, “You will find a babe.” But that means you have to go to Bethlehem.
Take that as a personal statement to you. And if we look hard enough, we will find it in the common, everyday things of life which we sometimes take for granted. Many times, we miss it because we look from a different perspective or with a different mindset.
I was reading about a boy from Mexico by the name of Juan. Every day he would come to the Mexican border on a bicycle with two large bags over his shoulders. The guards would stop him and say, “What’s in the bag?” He would say, “Sand”. For a while, they would cut the bags open, and would find nothing but real sand.
Every day for three years, Juan would ride a bike to the Mexican border, be asked the same question, give the same answer, and they would let him through.
Juan just smiled and said, “Bicycles.”
Like the innkeeper, King Herod, and the others, they did not see the Christ in that baby lying in the manger. They had a different mindset on how the Messiah would look like, and where to find him.
But the Bible passage tells us that the One who can help alleviate our anxiety is not found in the palace, but in a baby born in a stable where one can smell animal dung and decaying hay.
Today if we look hard enough, we can see the Christ who brings Peace in ordinary people like you and me.
A family waited anxiously in a hospital while a loved one hovered between life and death. The family’s pastor was with them. One man in the family, who was always suspicious of religion, said to the pastor, “Okay, preacher, tell me now. Where is your God at a time like this?” A nurse, who had been helping their sick family member, was walking by. The pastor pointed at her and said, “There goes God. God is here in the touch of that nurse.”
You need to look for signs of God’s Peace in the kindness of others, in the generosity of friends, and in the lives of fellow Christians.
Second, there can be Peace only if there is justice for everyone.
The prophets of the Old Testament times put it this way: “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8). “Do not oppress the poor.” (Amos 4:1) “Answer roughly the entreaties of the needy.” (Proverbs 18:23) “Do not let some acquire so much of God’s earth for themselves, that others are left without” (cf. Isaiah 5:8) for this brings no Peace and prosperity, but resentment and rebellion.
Then, Isaiah added that with the coming Messiah, “Valleys of injustice and squalid deprivation shall be lifted up, and mountains of excess and inequity shall be made low. The uneven ground which selfish greed has fashioned shall become level, and the rough places of disadvantage shall become smooth.” (cf. Isaiah 40:4).
Likewise, the Psalmist said, “Faithfulness shall spring up from the ground and righteousness look down from the sky,” and the gift of God’s Peace “shall dwell in the land”. Justice brings Peace.
Third, Peace announced by the angels is like that of the Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is more than physical Peace. It is wholeness in every level. It is oneness. It is Peace of body, mind, soul and spirit.
When the angels announced, “God has come to you,” what a remarkable thing to say to a group of anonymous shepherds! Shepherds had a hard life. They wandered from place to place, and depended on the land for survival. As the shepherds heard the good news, it did not remove them from the troubles in the world.
Most likely after that night, they were still nameless, and had gone back to their hard life. They probably continued to have disagreements among themselves. But we are told, “they returned glorifying and praising God…”
Today, Christ comes to us not to shield us from the harshness of the world but to give us the courage and strength to bear it; not to snatch us away by some miracle from the conflict of life, but to give us Peace–his Peace–by which we are made calmly steadfast while the conflict rages. In the darkness of anxiety, the light of Peace still shines on us.
An elderly woman was going through a great deal of physical pain. Physicians told her she would not get well. She faced a long painful decline. One night in December, however, a choir of carolers appeared in her driveway to sing carols. She opened the door just in time to hear the lyrics, “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven. No ear can hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.”
She listened to the words, thanked the carolers, waved goodbye, and shut the door. In that moment, she felt a tranquility she had not known in months. Hobbling up the stairs, the aches and pains returned. Yet, something was different.
That is the Peace we find in the Christ child. It is not the absence of pain, but serenity in the midst of stress. It is the momentary yet unmistakable awareness that all is right with the world because God is in control.
Peace is the fleeting but very real insight that, even in the darkness of our anxiety, “all is calm, all is bright” because “the dear Christ enters in”.
Lastly, the birth of Jesus has changed the world. God has come. As revealed in a birth in Bethlehem, we have a God who loves us, keeps us, and comes to fill us with the Peace of the Holy Spirit. If we believe it, if we want to believe it, we are prompted by the Christ Child to join the song of the angels, “All is calm, all is bright…” And we can receive a gift from God that the world cannot give. May the Peace of Christ be with you all today and the days to come!
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Author’s email: sillimanuniversitychurch@gmail.com
