Peace: Heralds of Kingdom Come

Peace: The Whole World

The second candle or the angel candle is also called the peace candle.

explain celebrating advent....light, story, scripture, song, tradition

embed the story into the season and it will never leave them.

each year as the weather turns, the story will come to life in dark nights and candle lights. Christmas eve and grandkids

When we imagine the word peace, it’s a strange word that conjures so much in our world.

-the end of war

-good feelings

-free from disturbance

-being home alone

-a greeting

-a goodbye

-an order to be still

and Christmas has all of this language about peace....how Jesus is the prince of peace,

Luke 2:13-14 “Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.””

John 14:27 ““I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

What is this peace of mind and heart, this gift from God? What is this peace on earth that was proclaimed by the prophets about Jesus and proclaimed by the angels about Jesus?

First, Jesus and the angels didn’t use the word peace or eirene in greek…they spoke Aramaic, an ancient semitic/hebrew hybrid…and they would have said Shalom.....and shalom means so much more than all those other words.

lets look at Luke 1 and the visit of the angel to Mary to get some keen insite into the kind of peace that was being proclaimed by the angel to mary.

Luke 1:26–38 NLT

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail.” Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Heralds…newsmen....the servants of kings....the voice of the people

News release from heaven to a very narrow release…the people who were needed and paying attention

Heralds work for kings....hype men…preparing the way.

Prince of Peace-always connected

King of Peace-peace comes from rule....from adherence to the rules of the king who brings peace and prosperity…the kind of shalom we are looking for.

The kingdom is coming....the messiah is on the way

Peace:

-not pastoral or idyllic

-not quaint or grandmotherly smaltz

-comes only through violence---evil has to be vanquished

-comes only through power---evil has to be restrained

-comes only through sacrifice---evil has to be transformed through love

It is so much more than we imagine.

Shalom:

-complete flourishing

-every part of society is afflicted by warfare

-food, oil, metals, labor, disease (Ukraine)

-war is costly…war is destruction, war is evil incarnate wreaking havoc on creation....destruction is evil---treats God’s creation like trash, treats God’s children like objects.

Shalom is the total complete flourishing of all things....not just absence of conflict but harmony between God, creation and mankind.

Advent: towards....to come

there is direction…of connection.

Presence

And the good news of the prince of peace coming is that evil will be vanquished in the powers and principalities out there

evil will be restrained when the kingdom comes in fullness

evil will be transformed by the kingdom coming.

But...Why didn’t it come when Jesus came?

Now but not yet

Kingdom is in exile.....loyal to the king who is winning the empire one person at a time

The kingdom isn’t about dominion or conquest…but rather people being transformed and participating in small, tangible ways for the world around them.

The peace…shalom of God’s kingdom is proclaimed by us this Christmas. The king who brings lasting peace is here.

Pledge loyalty and join the work of seeing the shalom, the flourishing of creation, one person, one family, one neighborhood at a time.

what does this mean for us?

-Christmas is about proclaiming the kingdom. What if you found a way to tell the people around you that you have found the shalom of God?

-tell your story, invite them to Christmas eve, write a long form story and picture on social media that tells a story of experiencing the shalom of God’s kingdom

-Our Micro churches look around our world and ask…what is good news to our neighborhoods, our work places, our schools and our extended families?

-this is a step we need to take is to bring the shalom of God through acts of restorative justice.....housing, connection, freedom, food, clothing

-take some time in your micro church and talk about where your spheres of influence need the kingdom of God to come…and how could you in creative ways be a tangible taste of the kingdom. (HS is a foretaste through our lives)

-The kingdom gains power as we link arms....what can we do together that we couldn’t do alone?

-How is your Micro Church going to take action in the next two months to pursue one of these opportunities. Doesn’t need to be perfect, just choose one and do it....this is about practicign and building our muscles of kingdom justice and hospitality.

-This is our expectation for all of our MC’s this next few months. tell us a story of how you pursued and expanded God’s kingdom through proclamation or service.

-See discussion questions at redemptionboise.org/advent in this weeks page or on youtube or facebook with this video.

Let’s pray.