This second week of Advent is all about peace.

What is peace?

To most of us these days, peace is the absence of conflict. Or it’s stress-free tranquility and relaxation. A time without war is peaceful and a nap on a quiet Sunday afternoon is too.
But the ancient peace of scripture is much deeper and wider than ours.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. Shalom means complete, whole, and in the right place.

A shepherd’s flock was shalom if none of his sheep were missing or hurt. Altars built to worship God were shalom if they were made of stones without cracks.

City walls were shalom when there were no holes or gaps in them. Doctors brought broken bones back into shalom.

When something with lots of parts had no MISSING or BROKEN or OUT OF PLACE parts it was shalom.

You and I have lots of parts. When any of our parts are broken, missing, or out of place we don’t have peace.

The night Jesus was born, the whole world and all the people in it were broken; so many parts were missing or out of place…

Suddenly a great company of angels appeared praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the heavenly heights, and PEACE to everyone on earth who pleases God!”

Luke 2:13-14

What parts of you or your life are missing, broken, or out of place right now? Tell God all about it and ask God to bring you peace.