Finding Peace at Christmas

Finding Peace at Christmas
by
December 04, 2024

We are very excited about Walk Thru Bethlehem coming up this Sunday, Dec. 8. This is an incredible Woodmont tradition that is a highlight of the Advent season for so many people. Thousands will come and walk through our church on Sunday. Please spread the word. Invite your friends and family. Those who come to the 11:00 AM service are able to go right into Bethlehem at the end of the service. Thank you to our WTB planning team and to everybody who is working hard this week to build the village!

The past few years have certainly been challenging for a variety of reasons. We have lived through a global pandemic, polarizing election cycles, and ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Our culture is one that is now marked by high levels of fear and anxiety. Many people seem to be on edge and expecting the worst. But during the Christmas season, we are called to focus our minds on the virtues of hope, peace, joy, and love. This is the heart of Christmas. These are the gifts that Christ brings to the world.

I have always believed there are three different levels of peace: “Global Peace” – which is certainly a challenge and is very complex in our world today. How involved should America be in global conflicts? This is hotly debated. “Local Peace” – or peace in our families and in our communities, our immediate surroundings. Our words and our actions drive this. But the most important peace of all is what we call “Inner Peace” – or peace within our own hearts.

I have come to the realization that all of these are interconnected but they all begin with inner peace. There will never be local peace and there will certainly never be global peace until there is first inner peace and for some reason, we live in a world where lots of people lack inner peace. Why is that the case? Why are so many people unhappy, unsatisfied, and restless? There are obvious answers to this question – increased anxiety, fear, regret, jealousy, envy, dissatisfaction, addiction, disease, mental illness, despair, grief, loneliness, insecurity, financial struggles – the list is very long and often overwhelming. All of these problems ultimately need spiritual answers. For Christians, Christ is the answer.

Jesus says, “My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

In the Bible, the ancient Hebrew word for peace is “shalom.” And shalom never means the absence of trouble. It means that which makes for our highest good. The peace that the world offers to us is very different from the peace that Christ offers us. The peace that the world offers to us is an escape, an avoidance of trouble and difficult times. It’s a vacation, a day off, or a visit to the spa. But the peace that Christ offers to us is the peace of conquest – the peace that allows us to deal with anything that may come our way in life. Nothing can take this peace away from us once we have it. It is an inner peace that is completely independent of outward circumstances and situations. It is a peace that we find in God and it allows us to cope with all our worries and fears, all our trials and tribulations, all our uncertainty and insecurity, all of our doubts and uneasiness.

This world will throw many things at us. Things that will test us. Things that will hurt us. Things that will knock us down. Things that will set us back. But if we have the peace of Christ in our hearts, this world does not have control over us, because it is a peace that we find deep within and it cannot be taken away. Once we find it, we are called to spread it to others. May we all find and maintain that inner peace this Christmas season!

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