Author: Erin Newton

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The Stillness of Holidays — Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezra 4 Listen: (4:27)
Read: Revelation 3 Listen: (3:53)

Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 14:33

33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace…

Reflection: The Stillness of Holidays — Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

The blanketing of snow on our rare winter days brings the most sought-after stillness and silence in the world. The commotion of daily busyness ceases. Men, women, and children are confined to their houses (hopefully) bundled together by the warmth of the fire. The animals too retreat into the warmth of their nests, holes, hives, or burrows. Stillness falls on the earth. Even the vibrancy of all the colors of creation is hushed with the covering of white. Plans stall. Calendars pause. It is, at least for me, the most peaceful day of the year—and extremely rare.

After we have tasted the peace of Christ that makes us whole, after we have seen conflict resolve and justice reign, the peace that falls on our lives and souls is the stillness from life’s unquietness. We have so many words to describe it: contentment, calmness, stillness, quietness, serenity. There is beauty in the lack of hustle just like there is beauty in a world covered in snow.

The Christmas hymns we sing portray the birth of our Savior in this quiet, peaceful atmosphere. “All is calm, all is bright.” “The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.” It is the presence of God among humanity that brings this divine calmness, at least as we imagine that fateful night.

With ceaseless wars and continual injustices, the calmness of peace does not describe our world today. Chaos continues and the waves come crashing down around us.

We’ve explored the ways in which we can wait expectantly for the peace of Christ during Advent. What about stillness? What about calm?

We should continue to look within our souls, to be reminded of the wholeness granted to us by his peace and ask Christ to create calmness in our hearts. (As someone diagnosed with chronic anxiety, I know this is harder than it sounds.)

The blankets of snow in winter have the effect of absorbing sounds. Snow fills potholes and evens the horizon. It envelopes the world and with it the loud, hectic movement that defines our typical weeks. That is like this divine peace we wait for expectantly.

The peace of Advent grants us the hope of bringing stillness to our lives, or at least within our souls. Peace comes through the surety of who Christ is and the inability of anything to dethrone him.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church

O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace.

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about The Lowly and the Lofty — Peace of Advent

Will you put your shoulder to the work or abstain? Will you put your faith into action?

The Lowly and the Lofty — Peace of Advent

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Truth, Justice, and the Holidays — Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezra 3 Listen: (3:01)

Read: Revelation 2 Listen: (4:59)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 9.6-7

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

Reflection: Truth, Justice, and the Holidays — Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

Peace does not come without change. If it did, it would be a false peace—a mere pacification. It’s not that we only long for the cessation of war, we want things to be made right. The peace promised through Christ is the peace of truth and justice.

Isaiah speaks of this child, Prince of Peace, who will reign forever, establishing and upholding justice and righteousness. If peace was merely stopping war, there would be no need to establish something new. Not only is the current situation of conflict and strife not good, but the system that allows and perpetuates such conflict is not good.

The prophet speaks to a community that is riddled with injustices—affliction of the weak, oppression of the poor, corruption of the greedy, and the immunity of the wicked. Peace could not come to them without the removal of their power and establishment of someone who would rule in righteousness.

How could a child be the bearer of such great change? The promised peace through justice and truth was coming, but it was beginning in infancy. Peace was going to take time.

Waiting for the peace of Advent looks very similar to how it did thousands of years ago. The part of peace that brings the removal of conflict and the establishment of justice seems to be happening slowly. And I think that’s hard to handle sometimes.

Swift justice is probably not good justice. Immediate peace is probably empty pacification.

But just as the child is promised to reign in truth and justice upon King David’s throne, his peace is promised to last forever. Peace is slow to come but eternal in its stay. That gives us some footholds of hope to cling to.

Looking at peace reveals many layers. We have seen the spiritual layer of peace as wholeness within our souls. We have seen the promise of peace that removes all conflict and strife. In many ways, we’ve been able to see these firsthand when we experience salvation and when fractured relationships are repaired.

But some peace is still yet to come. We wait for wrongs to be made right and for justice to be the law of the land. Advent is an exercise in waiting. Let us look for the peace that calls into account all that has been done wrong.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. — Matthew 5.6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about A Time of Peace and Favor — Peace of Advent

Now the manger holds him
Now the child sleeps
The cross will one day hold him. There he will make peace.

A Time of Peace and Favor — Peace of Advent

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Conflict-Free Holidays — Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezra 2 Listen: (5:25)
Read: Revelation 1 Listen: (3:43)

Scripture Focus: John 14.26-27

26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Reflection: Conflict-Free Holidays – Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

Jesus was born during the Pax Romana—the peace of Rome. It was a period between wars and a time of relative prosperity. Peace is nearly always thought of as the antithesis to conflict or war. And the Bible refers to peace as the future hope during the midst of pain and suffering.

When we think about God coming to dwell among us, the peace of Advent usually includes the vision of a conflict-free eternity. It is this Prince of Peace who brings the promise to eliminate combat and end all struggles.

We long for the days without strife and without war. It is an age-old plea. The psalmist cries out, “Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war” (Ps. 120.6-7).  

Not only does peace bring us wholeness, it is meant to bring us freedom from conflict. But that is far from reality. We enter this Advent season with wars raging across the oceans, conflicts brewing among friends and family, war and strife growing between neighbors—we are a far cry from peace it seems.

The baby lying in a manger would become a man who warned that peace would not always be reality. The cost of following Christ may mean division among friends, families, and neighbors. It is the sword that He warned was coming to disrupt so-called peace. Sometimes the conflict we face is because we have chosen to follow Christ, and the so-called peace of our world was simply a dishonest harmony.

So how do we wait this week meditating on the peace of Advent? I think we look to Christ’s birth as the inauguration of the future peace. It is the “already but not yet” peace we are promised. The gears are set in motion even when the grinding clamor of war reverberates worldwide. The first peace to be won was that within our souls. And it continues to win the war of souls.

And then we see the peace he has left with us. The peace he promised would be with us is a non-earthly peace, peace mediated through the Holy Spirit. Yes, national wars and domestic battles continue today. But peace is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is by His power we can seek peace, and sometimes, win peace. Let us seek peace and wait expectantly.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Look upon your covenant; the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence. — Psalm 74.19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Wholeness for the Holidays — Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Ezra 1 Listen: (2:03)
Read: 3 John Listen: (1:51)

Scripture Focus: Isaiah 9.2, 6

2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.

6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Reflection: Wholeness for the Holidays — Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

The thing about Advent is that it is just a waiting game. We know to wait with hope for Jesus’s birth. We know that we will receive love through him. We know that joy will follow this grand event. But what does the peace of Advent offer us?

What are we hoping to find in peace? The feeling of hopelessness, that’s familiar. The heartache of being unloved, we know what that’s like. The weight of sadness and lack of joy is a regular routine. What is life without peace? It is chaotic, broken, raging, tumultuous, scary, fear-driven, uncertain.

Peace is a noun and, within the original Hebrew context, it came from a verb meaning “wholeness” or “complete.” Peace also carries other connotations such as calmness or freedom from conflict. But in the most basic essence of the term—peace is that which fills all voids.

So when Isaiah proclaims the coming child who is a counselor, deity, and father—he is also a prince of wholeness.

The gift of the season is Someone who makes things whole. He mends tears. He binds wounds. He fills chasms. He makes all that is insufficient sufficient.

There is a Japanese technique for mending broken pottery—kintsugi. Many have seen the beautiful pieces that were formerly broken shards of bowls or plates, delicately repaired using golden lacquer. The gold seams not only repair that which was broken but reinvent the beauty of the vessel. The bowl, albeit beautiful as it was before it was broken, becomes an exquisite piece of artistry in kintsugi.

The peace of Advent is like these mended pots. The peace of God is a promise of mending, repairing, and completing all that was broken or lacking. But it is more than just taking the pieces of our lives and putting them back into working order. The peace of God is reinventing our lives, binding the pieces that make us who we are and then shining the golden rays of Himself amongst the pieces.

Isaiah speaks of the people walking in the darkness, living in deep darkness. But the light breaks through. The radiance of Christ, an infant born in a lowly place, illuminates all that they could not see. It is the wholeness of life and light that overcomes the darkness here.

With the Holy Spirit, we no longer lack anything. The pieces have been spiritually mended. The golden seams are already there.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

For who is God, but the Lord? Who is the Rock, except our God? — Psalm 18.32

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Is the Future Rendering Us Speechless?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Daniel 10 Listen: (4:39)
Read: Hebrews 8 Listen: (2:58)

Links for Thursday’s readings:

Read: Daniel 11 Listen: (4:39), Read: Hebrews 9 Listen: (2:58)

Scripture Focus: Daniel 10:15-17

15 While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. 16 Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. 17 How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

Reflection: Is the Future Rendering Us Speechless?

By Erin Newton

Battles and cosmic warfare! A spiritual delay and enigmatic excuses! This chapter presents more questions than answers. The details of the identity of Michael and what exactly is going on are beyond the space we have here.

Daniel is an apocalyptic text. The word apocalypse has become associated with catastrophic end times. Movies in post-apocalyptic settings are often filled with scenes of cities razed to the ground, nature and agriculture ruined, and sometimes warring factions of people (or in speculative fiction—robots and AI).

Apocalypse within the context of the Bible is similar but not quite the same. The term has a broad use and encompasses biblical texts such as Revelation and books excluded from the Protestant canon such as 1 Enoch. The general concept is that these texts are simply divine “revelations” (a basic definition of the Greek word from which we get our English apocalypse).

Daniel’s visions are revelations from God and apocalyptic in nature. They include imagery that extends beyond the scope of what is easily explained. The creatures and events defy explanation. The future vision looks chaotic. The battles between Michael and princes of Persia and Greece echo this typical apocalyptic imagery.

Despite the “out of this world” imagery depicted here, we see the same tried-and-true reality that speaking truth is scary. The forecasted future—whether the picture is presented to us on social media, the news, or through discernment of the times—needs truth more now than ever.

Daniel saw a vision of a “great war.” Many “great wars” have occurred since this vision. Wars continue to escalate even now. Like Daniel, how do we find the strength to speak? We might find the future (and the present) so foreboding that we are rendered speechless.

Praise God that we do not speak alone. The angelic being touched Daniel and bestowed strength to him. Likewise, we are given strength through the Spirit.

But like Daniel, our fear and our weakness does not excuse us from the call to speak. God did not find another prophet when Daniel was afraid. God did not find another leader when Moses stuttered. God did not find another woman when Esther faced the threat of the king’s rage.

Look at the world around us. What can we do? What can we say? As God places the words on your heart, know that he will give you the strength to utter them.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

I will bear witness that the Lord is righteous; I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. — Psalm 7.18

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Quelling conflict must never come at the cost of the truth. The person the Lord hates is the villain, not the victim.

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