Participating in Peace

Week 3: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

In the final stanza of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, writer Edmund Sears rouses from his restless midnight ruminations to look to the future. “The days are hastening on,” he says, when we will come to “the age of gold; When Peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling ….” This hopeful word comes from a man who is over-worked and discouraged. Somehow he hears hope from his place of restlessness, because he is willing to listen.

Peace is a hard thing to imagine today, but this carol encourages us to “give back the song which now the angels sing.”  What do we give? What does peace ask of us? It’s likely that it will require that we go into unfamiliar and uncomfortable places. Perhaps we will need to respect the dignity of other humans, to love the unlovable, or to give more of ourselves than we think we have to give. Maybe we’ll need to recognize the privilege of peace and remember our brothers and sisters who live in fear both in our country and in war-ravaged regions.

In “Invitation,” poet Mary Oliver writes:  

I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
‘You must change your life.’

After experiencing the angel chorus, the shepherds “went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:16) and then, they “…returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:20)  They did not passively receive the message from the heavenly host, they went.  They did not leave their visit unchanged by their encounter, they glorified and praised.  How will you be changed by the good news this Advent?

REFLECTION QUESTION(S):

1.What is peace asking of you? What hard things do you need to do to “give back the song?”

2.Are you willing to allow your life to be changed by the good news of Jesus’ coming?

Mural from the Church of the Shepherds, Bethlehem.  Personal photo.  Writers note: On a 2016 visit to this church with members of First Presbyterian, I was struck by the exuberance and looks of astonishment on the faces of the shepherds as they returned from their visit to see the baby Jesus.

WRITTEN BY

Garrell Keesler