Fourth Week of Advent: Peace

And then there was peace.

For though the night was far from silent,

It silenced the voice of death.

For the empty tomb and the bloody cross began with one breath,

A child’s, born in a stable.

Peace, peace on earth.

Immanuel, God with us, a humble child.

But the night is dark,

So I hold my candle high.

I hold my candle high,

Because God became flesh and dwelt among us.

So I have something deeper than a battle cry,

I bear the truth that will turn death backwards:

Peace, peace on earth.

And all that is within me aches to join the fight,

To burst behind enemy lines, to free the captives from their curse.

If hope is light and love is sacrifice and joy is blazing,

Then peace is what binds them together,

What strengthens my bones and trains my arms to bend a bow of bronze—

Not to bring war, but to proclaim the victory to those that sit in darkness.

Not to kill but to declare that life has come.

Peace is that voice which says, Whom shall I fear?

For I know that man can harm the body but he cannot touch my soul,

For my God is my rearguard, my fortress, my deliverer.

My God is the God that raised the mountains from the dirt,

Who drew the line between the oceans and the shore,

Who broke open the soil for the mighty oak to burst through,

So peace, peace on earth.

Come, come you weary travelers,

You empty wanderers, come.

For here there is the bread of life, the water that you might never thirst again,

The blood that atones for your sin and the righteousness that bears you forward.

Behold your God.

O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,

Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,

And lay your foundations with sapphires.

I will make your pinnacles of agate,

Your gates of carbuncles,

And all your walls of precious stones.

All your children shall be taught by the Lord,

And great shall be the peace of your children.

In righteousness you shall be established,;

You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;

And from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Isaiah 54:11-14

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Merry Christmas everyone!