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Advent Devotional for Monday, December 6
Christmas cards. About the time Advent begins, they start to arrive. Every year, like clockwork, they come delivering Christmas wishes. We wish you joy. We wish you love. We wish you hope. We wish you peace — peace to you who are far off and peace to you who are near.
The cards represent beautiful snapshots of our Christmas wishes. Yet, when we pull back the lens from these captured moments, we can see the lives beyond the edges of the photos. Children growing up and leaving home. Families falling apart and joining together. Jobs lost and found. Loved ones dying and being born. We can see people both near and far situated in a world of division, discord, and disease. And still, in the midst of the messiness, a message is proclaimed—peace to you who are far off and peace to you who are near.
If a Christmas card had been sent from that holy night in Bethlehem, it would be much the same: a beautiful, newborn baby, swaddled in cloths, lying in a manger, Mary and Joseph at his side, stars shining and angels singing. But just beyond that scene, the reality of life is visible. A wider shot shows us a dirty, crowded stall; scared parents who at the worst possible moment had to leave those closest to them; two young individuals, rejected and turned away, doubting, hungry, and hurting through a long, tiring night.
This is the scene into which Christ is born. In the midst of the messiness of this world, divided into haves and havenots, overflowing with hostility and hatred, Christ, who IS peace, comes. Emmanuel, God-with-us, comes to reconcile and unify. Christ comes proclaiming peace — peace to you who are far off and peace to you who are near. May it be so.
God, who is nearer than we can imagine, in the midst of the messiness of it all, we pray for joy; we pray for love; we pray for hope; we pray for peace — peace to those who are far off and peace to those who are near. Amen.
Laura Walters
Senior MDiv student from Austin, Texas
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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