Advent Reflections: Peace
Advent is the Christian season in which we wait expectantly for the Lord. While the weeks leading up to Christmas can be busy and loud, remembering Advent encourages us to be still and wait on God. This is the second of four posts on Advent, each focusing on one of the season’s four traditional themes (hope, peace, joy, love). In them will be a smattering of reflections in the form of devotions, poems, prayers, images, and/or songs. This week’s theme is peace.
A Prayer
The Peace Prayer, traditionally attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
A Resource
Our friends at Fuller Youth Institute have produced this helpful article: “5 Practices to Help You Prioritize Peace in the Busiest Time of Year.”
“Remember God has promised that same Spirit—the one which rested on Christ in life and raised him from the dead—will live in us too. When you are feeling the weight of your to-do list, remind yourself of the ministry to which you were called. Was it to find perfectly color-coordinated Christmas cards? No. It was to reach out and help those God has placed in your life to feel known and loved.” Read the full article here.
A Song
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWew49MRRGY]
