Peace on Earth

Preliminary:

Invite you to look at three short verses of scripture: First in Isaiah 9, Luke 2, Romans 5.

Thanks...

Isaiah 9, Luke 2, Romans 5...

If there’s any season that exposes how little peace we actually have, it’s this one.

We call it the “peaceful” time of year, but:

Our calendars are jammed.

Our minds are racing with lists.

Our hearts are weighed down with worries—about money, about family tension, about health, about the future.

And yet, here we are on the Second Sunday of Advent, with its theme of Peace reading Scriptures that speak of a “Prince of Peace” and a “peace of God, which passeth all understanding.”

There is a gap, isn’t there?

Between the peace we sing about and the anxiety we actually feel.

Between the calm manger scenes on our Christmas cards and the restless hearts sitting here in these pews.

Just like hope, or joy - Peace is one of those words of Advent that seems to disappear into the background of Christmas like white noise.

P-E-A-C-E: its everywhere this time of year.

printed on cards in artistic calligraphy on beautiful backgrounds - or on the paper that wraps our carefully selected Christmas gifts

Stitched on the throw pillows placed strategically on our sofa’s and easy chairs

Whispered nervously in children’s programs

repeated often in sermons

Dangling from our wreaths and Christmas trees in gold or silver lettering

We hear it so often, that if we are honest, the word begins to lose its weight. It becomes sentimental chatter, sweet but shallow, warm but thin - almost two dimensional.

I am here to tell you … to remind youthat the Biblical idea of peace is anything but flat.

Our generation is starving for a peace that has depth—a peace that is guttural, tangible, and visceral.

A peace you can feel in your bones.

A peace that holds you steady when the world shakes.

A peace that doesn’t melt like snowflakes the moment trouble comes.

To understand that kind of peace-the peace Advent so adamantly declares - we have to admit something - we must come to the clear understanding:

Our longing for peace doesn’t rise out of comfort, but out of heartache, anxiety, and unresolved pain.

Peace is most precious when we need it most.

It is not the vocabulary of a perfect world; it is the cry of people living in a broken one.

Advent meets us right there—in the tension between what we feel and what God promises,

between the anxieties we carry and the peace Christ brings.

“Before the angels ever sang “peace on earth,” there was a world full of unrest, a people full of longing, and a God preparing to step into the chaos with a peace strong enough to hold the human soul.”

This is God’s gracious way of saying:

“I know your world is noisy. I know your heart is anxious. Let Me speak peace into it again.”

The first Sunday of Advent points us to hope—God’s promises are sure. The second Sunday invites us into peace—God’s presence is near.

Big Idea (Sermon Thesis)

Because Christ has come and is coming again, God offers us a peace grounded not in circumstances, but on His presence and His promises— a deep, real and lasting three-dimensional peace that reaches every part of our life: our distress, our despair, and our daily demands.

The scriptures abound with examples and truths about the reality and existence of peace - true peace - the peace that only Christ can give.

There are three of those I want to emphasize as we begin our message about peace.

Isaiah 9:6 KJV 1900

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

We can understand Biblically why we can have peace partly because Isaiah prophecies roughly 700 years before the birth of Christ - identifies the Messiah as the “Prince of Peace”

Turning to Luke 2:14

Luke 2:14 KJV 1900

14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.

We understand Biblically why we can have peace - because the angels announced, “peace on earth”

Moving on over to Romans 5:1

Romans 5:1 KJV 1900

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

We understand Biblically why we can have peace - Christ came to bring peace with God.

This peace is far more than the absence of war or conflict. It is as one has said, “hope’s ‘calming byproduct’, a transformative experience that inspires us to believe and follow Christ.”

There is a longing for peace in the human heart- that is just as wide, just as deep, just as tall, just as big as the peace that God gives.

So often, we must confess that peace is like Gerard Hopkins wrote in his beautiful poem PEACE;

When will you ever, Peace, wild wood dove, shy wings shut, You round me roaming end, and under be my boughs? When, when, Peace, will you, Peace?—I’ll not play hypocrite

I love how Hopkins uses the wild wood dove as a metaphor for peace. A wild dove giving the image of a shy forest bird with its wings folded.

To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows Alarms of war, the daunting wars, the death of it?

Here Hopkins - who doesn’t want to play hypocrite, admits that at times there is a partial peace, or a temporary peace

O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu Some good! And so he does leave patience exquisite, That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo, He comes to brood and sit.

Oh this last stanza is my favorite -

In other words:

“When peace disappears, surely God must give me something in return.”

He is arguing with his own heartbreak. He feels the absence of peace deeply and looks for what God gives instead.

“And so he does leave patience exquisite,”**

Meaning:

God does leave something good behind when peace is gone: patience. Beautiful, refined, God-given patience.

“Patience exquisite” means:

a patience shaped by suffering,

a patience strengthened through waiting,

a patience that is spiritually precious.

“That plumes to Peace thereafter.”**

Here again is another beautiful dove/bird metaphor -

plumes = “grows feathers,” matures into a bird.

Patience “pluming” means:

patience grows,

matures,

develops “wings”

and eventually becomes peace itself.

Meaning:

God uses patience to grow peace in us.

Peace is not always given instantly or magically—it develops through patient endurance.

It is a fruit of the Spirit - fruit doesn’t just appear on the vine - it begins as a seed in the ground, that sprouts, and roots, and branches out, puts out leaves, then a bud, then through a process of fertilization and growth the fruit grows and ripens and then is ready to harvest

Here the poet says that Patience is like the flower - it holds all the promise of peace, all the peace that you need - waiting, depending, trusting in God.

And then Hopkins does his grandest work ever in the last few lines:

“And when Peace here does house

He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,

He comes to brood and sit.”

Peace does come - and it come sin transforming power, a beyond understanding peace,

But it doesn’t just come to sing, or coo,

Peace does not arrive to just make you feel warm or sentimental.

When true peace comes, it comes to work in you.

Peace has a job:

to reorder the heart,

to calm the soul,

to strengthen character,

to transform your inner world.

In plain words:

“Real peace doesn’t show up just to make pretty noises. It comes to work in your life.”

This is exactly the opposite of a flat two-dimensional “sentimental Christmas peace.”

When Peace comes HE comes to brood and sit

My brother Tim raises chickens and they will frequently gather the fertilized eggs and put them in an incubator to protect the eggs, and keep them at the right temperature, so they can grow and develop correctly

But in nature a hen will brood and sit over her eggs -

a bird broods over eggs, giving life warmth and development.

Hopkins says peace broods— it sits over the soul, warming it, shaping it, bringing new life, protecting fragile places.

This morning - we have a God who broods over His own - who is cultivating, developing, giving peace

Not a flat, sentimental Christmassy peace - but a 3-D peace if you will

The 3-D Peace Christ Brings

Peace for Our Distress (anxiety)

Peace for Our Despair (broken hearts)

Peace for Our Days (the everyday pressures of life)

1. Peace for Our Distress

When I speak of distress, I’m talking about our anxiety.

Did you know the Average Person Spends 138 Minutes Worrying Each Day?

Anxiety has become an unwelcome companion for many, creeping into everyday life with relentless persistence.

The most striking revelation is the pervasive nature of worry among younger Americans. An overwhelming 62% of Gen Z and millennial respondents report feeling constantly anxious, compared to 38% of older generations. On average, people spend two hours and 18 minutes each day caught in the grip of worrisome thoughts. This is a significant chunk of time that could otherwise fuel productivity, creativity, or personal growth.

The timing of these worry periods reveals interesting patterns. A third of respondents find themselves most anxious when alone. 30% are plagued by worries as they prepare to fall asleep. Another 17% are tormented by anxious thoughts upon waking. 12% experience peak worry while getting ready for bed.

When it comes to specific concerns:

53% of respondents cite money as their primary source of anxiety. 42% worry about their loved ones. 42% fret about pending tasks and to-do lists. 37% have health concerns 22% have sleep anxiety (22%), 19% are concerned by political uncertainties

For parents, the concerns extend far beyond personal anxieties. 77% express profound worry about the world their children are inheriting, with 34% specifically calling out climate change as a significant concern.

One parent’s raw emotion captures this generational anxiety: “Honestly, I worry that there won’t be a world for my child to grow up in.”

Staff, "Average American Spends 138 Minutes Mired in Worrisome Thoughts Every Day," Study Finds (3-31-25)

Properly speaking - Anxiety, worry, fear - is the opposite of peace

One has said,

God himself is not beset with anxieties, for he knows the end from the beginning and directs all things in accordance with his will.”66

The Letter to the Philippians (B. Rejoice in the Lord (4:4–9))

Philippians 4:4–7 and say:

Philippians 4:4–7 KJV 1900

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Paul is not writing these words from a cozy fireside with Christmas music in the background. He writes from prison. Not from comfort, but from confinement. And yet he dares to say:

Philippians 4:6 KJV 1900

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

“be careful” can be translated, “don’t worry about anything” or more clearly perhaps, “be anxious for nothing”

Shalom is everything in its right place under God.

That word “careful” is the Greek word merimnaó {merm-now} means “to be pulled in different directions

Its an anxiety, worry, care that divides or distracts (Matt. 6:25; 1 Pet. 5:7)

anxiety is one of the clearest and most relational opposites of peace.

A. Anxiety “divides” the heart

Peace gathers the heart into unity under God; Anxiety scatters the heart into fragments of fear and imagined futures.

B. Anxiety is rooted in self-dependence

When Jesus says, “Take no anxious thought” (Matt. 6:25–34), He contrasts kingdom-trusting peace with self-striving worry.

Anxiety says:

“It’s all on me.”

Peace says:

“It rests in Him.”

D. Peace guards; anxiety exposes

Philippians 4:6–7 reveals the contrast brilliantly:

“Be anxious for nothing…” (v.6)

“…and the peace of God shall KEEP or guard your hearts and minds.” (v.7)

This is a direct antithesis: anxiety vs. peace, the troubled heart vs. the guarded heart.

4. For Humanity Generally: Anxiety as the Universal Disruptor

Even outside Christian theology, human experience affirms:

Anxiety destabilizes relationships.

Anxiety clouds judgment.

Anxiety fractures emotional health.

Anxiety disrupts sleep, clarity, purpose, and vision.

Christians would say this is because humans were created for shalom. Without it, anxiety naturally fills the vacuum.

It is spiritually, emotionally, and relationally the disintegration of the soul where peace would bring integration.

5. Anxiety Is Not Sin in Itself—but It Is a Sign

Theologically, anxiety is not automatically a moral failure. Scripture treats it as:

a human weakness,

a burden God invites us to cast on Him (1 Pet. 5:7),

a place where grace meets fragility.

The sin is not the experience of anxiety but the refusal to entrust it to God.

But The Prince of Peace who brings the Peace of God wants to brood over your heart - and grow the peace that eases anxiety, that frees from worry, so we can even in emotional confinement experience peace.

Madame Jeanne Guyon knew something of that same confinement Paul lived in. She spent years imprisoned for her faith, locked away in dark, cold cells—including a long season in the Bastille. Yet from that place she wrote words that almost seem impossible for someone behind stone walls.

She said that in her prison cell “the very stones appeared to me as rubies” because Christ’s peace so filled her heart. She testified that “the place of my greatest suffering became the place of my greatest peace,” and that God taught her a patience that “grew into peace like a flower unfolding.”

She wrote that though her body was confined, “my heart was free, resting in God alone.” And she called her prison not a curse but “a place of divine delight,” because Christ brooded over her soul until peace took root and blossomed.

Her testimony echoes Paul’s: you can be confined on the outside and yet completely free on the inside— because the Prince of Peace can brood over a heart anywhere.

Haldor Lillenas put it this way:

 There the dove of sweet peace always sings, And my faith ever trustingly clings; And the chime of sweet happiness rings In the garden of my heart.

There is a peace for our distress, and there is also

2. Peace for Our Despair (broken hearts)

The Bible acknowledges that heartache and disappointments are inevitable. But we do not have to be defeated by the pain and perplexities of life.

Paul powerfully and articulately affirms, we can be ”afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Cor 4:8-9)

We know, and must understand that God doesn’t magically take away all of our pain and grief. We don’t face loss with a smile on our face or whooping with glee.

But it does mean we can trust that whatever has been brought into our lives has passed by the all seeing eye of God - and that we are not facing it alone - even when we feel alone

I love - it is one of my many favorite verses - John 16:33.

Yes we are told in Scripture that heartache and disappointment will befall us - that means its going to happen, we will have our bad weeks, bad months, bad years - but listen to this

John 16:33 KJV 1900

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

I want you to notice something very powerful - Jesus isn’t attempting to overcome the world, He isn’t trying to overcome the world, He is’nt going to overcome the world

JESUS told His disciples 2000 years ago - I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD

That ought to produce a peace in us the peace that is in Christ that the world can’t give and it certainly cannot take away!!!

I confess to you - the Gordon household has been through one of its roughest patches recently

But I personally have found out - that distress, grief, sadness, embarrassment - doesn’t magically disappear -

but underneath it all can be the PEACE THAT IS IN JESUS CHRIST

The PEACE of GOD - why because in my heart resides THE PRINCE of PEACE

One of my favorite Christmas Carols is “I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day”

It is from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called Christmas Bells and later turned into a song written in the heat of battle and heartache and loss

It wasn’t just something nonsensical scribble on paper - to say something had been written - but it is full and bursting with meaning and hope, and faith

Longfellow is an interesting character of Americana

“Longfellow is one of the monumental cultural figures of nineteenth-century America, the nation's preeminent poet in his era, whose verse is notable for its lyric beauty, its gentle moralizing, and its immense popularity.”

Born in Portland in 1807, he attended college at the age of 14, later became a professor at Harvard University.

He became one of the most widely known American poets in his day.

While many events transpired between that young 14 year old and the man who would write Christmas Bells

Some of the most notable are the death of his first wife Mary in 1835 due to complications of a miscarriage.

He later married Francis Appleton in 1843 to which were born six children.

While there are conflicting reports - we do know that somehow in 1861 Francis’ clothing caught fire and she succumbed to the fire and smoke inhalation.

This left a tragic hole in the poets heart and life -

Life seemed to stop - seemed to end

Some report that she passed just a day or two before their 18th wedding anniversary.

Too ill from his own burns and grief, Henry did not attend Franny’s funeral.

The Civil War was ramping up during this time and Charlie the oldest of the Longfellow children in a perhaps a misguided sense of duty, and out of rage to his father, forged his father’s signature as he was only 17 to join the Union Army.

During the war Charlie was severely wounded and became paralyzed.

All of these events lead Mr. Longfellow to question all of the things he had been told about God, about faith, about hope, about trust.

For three years, the man carried on at his trade... But his family could see the terrible effect of the grief that he had locked in his mind and soul.

He ceased to care for his appearance and let his beard grow long… mostly because the scars made shaving almost impossible.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's journal entries for December 25th during the years 1861-1865 reflect his deep personal grief and the impact of the American Civil War. Here are some key entries:

December 25, 1861: "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays! But the dear little girls had their Christmas-tree last night; and an unseen presence blessed the scene."

December 25, 1862: "A merry Christmas," say the children; but that is no more, for me. Last night the little girls had a pretty Christmas-tree."

December 25, 1863: Longfellow did not write in his journal on this day, no doubt his grief unbearable

He was the greatest American poet, a legend in his own time… but Henry Wadsworth Longfellow knew no joy in life.

Then came Christmas 1864, at the age of 57, Longfellow was sitting at his desk, trying to capture the joy of the season… the joy he saw in others.

These are the words he wrote…

I heard the bells on Christmas day.

Their old familiar carols play.

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Christmas can be a sad and lonely time for many people.

Those who are depressed… when all the world is cheerful and jolly

Those who are lonely…….. when the rest of the world is having family time

Those who are mourning….. when it seems that everyone else is celebrating

Those who are poor…….. when giving presents is the order of the day

Longfellow was one of those people…. Mourning, still mourning after three years.

There he sat in his office, missing his loved one, when he heard the carolers in the street. He heard the bells from the local church peeling out one of the favorite Christmas favorites.

The first verse of the song tells us that he heard them. He did not sing with them. He did not feel cheered by them. But he heard them.

In the second verse you can hear his response.

I thought how, as the day had come The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along the unbroken song Of peace on earth good will to men.

He reflected how all over the world, bells like those he was hearing, were singing out the same glorious song…. Peace on earth…. Good will to men.

But he had no peace, he felt no good will from God toward him.

The bells were a lie and the carols were a mockery of his tragic situation.

Then his thoughts took on a larger scale, he began to reflect on the situation in his world.

The year was 1864.

The country was living through it’s darkest day.

Mourning, pain, destruction and meaningless death was all around them.

In the words of their President…. They were “engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation, or any nation….. could long endure” such a terrible fate.

Where was joy?

It was nation against nation,

state against state,

brother against brother,

father against son.

At Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Shiloh and Fredericksburg the ground was covered in blood.

Young lives were wasted to gain a single inch that would be lost again within the hour.

The hatred and venom spewed from both sides. There was no peace on earth…. No good will towards anyone on the other side.

What would you guess is the hardest thing about training a seeing-eye dog? They are very smart dogs. Maybe it would be training them to come, or sit, or heal, or stop at a curb. Well the truth is, the hardest thing to train them to do is… LOOK UP! Dogs usually keep their eyes focused about 18 inches above the ground. They rarely look up unless they hear something.

Many dear hunters know deer are the same way. That is why so many use tree stands…. Deer hardly ever look up.

Well, the average blind person is about five to six feet tall. Thus, the dog has to be taught to look up and look out for things that could hurt the blind person.

If a dog can not be trained to look up he will not qualify as a seeing-eye dog. If he can be trained, the blind person will be blessed.

And so it is with Christmas. Like the blind person… we get in trouble if the focus is downward. We get in trouble because we focus at an earthly level. We focus on the pain, the loneliness, the troubles.

Peace doesn’t come by looking down or inward, it comes by looking UP to the Prince of Peace

This seems to be Longfellow’s struggle - He looks up for a moment and then he looks back down and trips into despair.

Listen to how he is looking up as he penned the third stanza

Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day,     A voice, a chime,     A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then he must have turned and looked at Charles laying there and his vision slipped back to despair as he writes in his poem - this was not included in the Carol that was later written from the poem - listen to this...

Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South,     And with the sound     The carols drowned Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent The hearth-stones of a continent,     And made forlorn     The households born Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head; "There is no peace on earth," I said;     "For hate is strong,     And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

But at that moment the Christmas Bells began to ring in the village church and it helped Longfellow look up - to hear the angels sing, “Glory to God in the Highest...”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;     The Wrong shall fail,     The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men."

He pivots from despair to hope:

Just a few moments ago he was sure that God either COULD NOT (as he was dead) or WOULD NOT (as he was asleep) help him, or hear his prayers.

But he looks up and just like that the world revolves from night to day

the bells could ring the louder, the fuller, the more joyfully

Luke 2:14 calls us to celebrate the birth of Jesus as the bringer of peace to a broken world.

Longfellow’s story is a modern echo of that angelic proclamation. Despite his personal grief and the chaos of war, he found hope through the message of Christmas—a hope that is meant for all of us.

The reason we sing Christmas carols is not because life is perfect or free from sorrow. We sing because the birth of Jesus brings a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7), a peace that is stronger than despair, division, or death.

The 3-D Peace Christ Brings

Peace for Our Distress (anxiety)

Peace for Our Despair (broken hearts)

3. Peace for Our Days (the everyday pressures of life)

So wherever you find yourself this Second Sunday of Advent— in distress, in despair, or just in the demands of everyday life— the Prince of Peace is here.

He is not offering a sentimental, seasonal peace… but a deep, real, lasting peace— peace that broods over you, peace that grows in you, peace that guards you.

The angels said it best:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

And Paul dared to say from a prison cell:

“The peace of God… shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

May that peace— His peace— fill your distress, heal your despair, and walk with you through all your days.

Amen.