Advent Like Mary: Week 2 Meditations on Peace

Second week of Advent already?

I encourage you to go to your advent wreath (buy or make one).  Each year for the last 10 years or so, we light the candle each week and sing to this tune: “Light one candle for peace one bright candle for peace, He brings peace to every heart, he comes, he comes.”

Week 2: Peace

So, I have 6 children, and my youngest are boy girl twins who we named Pax (which is latin for peace) and Joy. My boy and girl could not be more different. In fact, in the womb I could pick up their personalities which stayed true on the other side of the womb. Pax was baby A and sat lower. During his whole life in utero, Pax was being jumped on and kicked by Joy (baby B who was situated much closer to my ribs (ask me how I remember that…)

Pax lives up to his name as he is a calm source of peace to many. No wonder he is a source of peace as he spent his initial formation making room for the other, and in his case, his loud, active and sometimes bossy other. Pax loves rules and is slow, intentional, and obedient. Pax is calm, content, and lets things come to him. 

Joy is built differently. Joy was always up, wanting to learn new things. She taught herself to ride a bike without training wheels and swim without floaties when she was four. She is confident, adventurous, and although sensitive, she isn’t easily afraid. She is a force, a beautiful and intelligent, and emotional force. 

We even had theme songs for each twin.

Joy’s song was always, “I’ve got that joy joy joy joy down in my heart, WHERE?...” High energy, interactive, fun, loud, which so matches her bright personality. 

Pax’s song was slow, meditative, deep and meaningful. “Peace is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me, flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.”

I’ve learned a lot in recent years about what the world thinks peace is, and what peace actually is. The world tells us peace is an absence of chaos, or war, of stressors. Many of us eagerly await the day when life isn’t so stressful! But are we holding our breath for no reason? Is a chaos or stress-less life even possible? We will always have something potentially stressful in our lives, but God gives us access to share in His peace through it all.

There is this incredible book, Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Jaques Phillipe where he said peace was not an absence of stress or chaos, but more, “living each day with confidence and trust in God.”

The Christmas season can be stressful! We’ve got long to-do lists and several obligations. It’s almost as if the tasks of the season have taken us captive. Yet, Christ’s peace is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me. Peace is flowing like a river, SETTING ALL THE CAPTIVES FREE. 

To have a peaceful advent doesn't mean these stressors disappear, it means that we invite the presence of Christ to reside with us during the ride.

Mary Shows Us Peace

So how do we seek true peace in this world? Let’s see how Mary did, taking the nativity to meditate on.

Let’s put ourselves into Mary’s shoes for a sec. Her life has been recently flipped upside down. She unexpectedly found herself expecting the savior of the world, but then toward the end of her pregnancy, her husband is commanded to bring the whole family about 100 miles to Bethlehem. Needless to say, nothing was really going according to Mary’s plan.

How many of you all had birthplans? I did with my first, and after that, I gave up having a birthplan because births rarely follow your plan. And when I didn't have a plan, I wasn’t disappointed, I could just go with the flow, the flow of the river of peace. 

I can imagine Mary in all the chaos of not having a room, being in active labor and not knowing if her child would be safe and comfortable, yet trusting God had her. I think of all the stress happening around her. 

Then I let my mind and heart meditate on the time just after the birth, laying on the floor of a barn, holding a sleeping, warm and content baby on your chest, listening to him inhaling and exhaling slowly. And the gratitude that must have welled up inside her. 

To enter into this scene more fully, I invite you to slowly close your eyes, and sing the first verse of silent night to yourself. If you don’t know the words, follow along with these lyrics:

“Silent night. Holy night. All is calm. All is bright, Round yon virgin Mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.”

The world would tell her she has every excuse to be bitter and stressed and overwhelmed and sad and angry, yet, Mary must have felt so much peace with the Christ child laying in her arms, a loving and attentive husband at her side. God showed up for her, in a way I’m sure she had no idea. But he provided. Especially with such rich symbolism. Christ was laid in a manger, a feeding trough, an instrument meant for feeding. 

Jaques Phillipe tells us, "We can make our heart into an oratory, into which we withdraw from time to time, to spend time talking with him". No matter how busy and stressful our life can be, always take time each day to withdraw and find one on one time with God in prayer, and if it helps to imagine the Christ child asleep, breathing in and out on your chest, then do that when you feel the tension rising. 

Have Peace Like Mary

Mary gives us a recipe or tips to follow in order to have access to true peace. 

1. Don’t cling so tightly to plans and expectations.

2. Hold Jesus close to your heart, cling to him. Mary teaches us that when we hold Jesus close to our hearts, we can find peace in the midst of stress or things not going according to plan. 

3. Let God unfold the plan in his timing, and look for ways that his plan draws others closer to him.

REMEMBER: 

Peace is not the absence of stress, but an unshakable awareness of Christ with you through it all.

ACT:

Peace is up for grabs if we can withdraw from the chaos and hold Christ close, aligning our breath this his.

SONG:

Listen to Silent Night and reflect on Mary holding a sleeping Christchild on her chest.