The lanterns are easy to make, fun to use, and helps us to remember this great truth.  Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. It all begins on December 9th at 6:00pm.  We will be in the parish hall to make the Lanterns and then upstairs in the church for our Advent Worship at 7:00 pm.  Hope to see you there.

The child whose birth we celebrate as the prince of peace is a child whose life is marked with a cross, with suffering, and with sacrifice.  Jesus came to bring about peace between God and man through the cross.  It is a peace that is greater than family gatherings without conflict, full employment, and being out of debt.  The peace that this little child brings to the world and to each and every one of us by faith is a peace that lasts into all eternity.  It is a peace that lasts because it comes from the blessing of sins forgiven and a restored relationship with God.

But what does this have to do with growing the fruit of peace?  When we have received the peace of Christ into our lives by faith we can then be at peace with the world around us.  It is taking the peace that this little child, this prince of peace, brings to us and applying it to all the other situations around us.  We can bring the peace of the Christ child, and Christ the savior, into our family gatherings by forgiving one another just as we have been forgiven.  If God can be reconciled to the world and to us, how can we not be reconciled with our family and friends?

We can bring and grow this peace that passes all understanding to how we look at our finances, our job, our health, our whole world.  Our prince of peace has said, “do not be afraid, I have overcome the world.”  The peace of Christ helps us to see that all these things happen, all these things come to pass but they do not change our relationship with God.  They do not change the fact that through this Jesus we have a place in the peace and rest of God for all eternity.  It is because of this we can cope with the fact that not everything works out the way that we wanted, not everything works out the way we had planned, but God’s plan has been fulfilled for us and we can be at peace and be a person of peace.

One of the most peaceful times of the year comes as we dim the lights in church, pass the candle flame from one person to another and sing, “Silent Night.”  In that moment we are again reminded of the peace that God has sent into our world, born of a virgin, born to die, born to rise again, born to set us at peace with God, born to enable us to be at peace with those around us, and at peace with a world that longs for His return.

The Peace of God be with you all.