Unto Us a Child is Born: Prince of Peace

We are in the final days of the season of Advent, that has led up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth, a time to focus upon waiting, preparing and hoping, as we recall the historic birth of Jesus, and await the return of Christ in the fullness of time. We can also train our hearts and minds to look for and expect to see Christ entering our world in the here and now in between.
Each week we have focused upon one of the ways that Jesus, born a baby, brings into the world what we truly need. This week we focus upon Jesus as "Prince of Peace."
We can pause and reflect in our own seasons of waiting and hoping the world now, waiting for Jesus the Christ to return to bring heaven fully to earth and waiting to see glimpses of Christ among us now to sustain us.  "Unto Us a Child is Born"  is a four week series inspired by Isaiah 9:6 and made famous in Handel's "Messiah."
Led by Pastor Carolyn Hetrick and Pastor Scott Schul of Grace Lutheran Church, State College, PA, each week features breath prayer, music and reflection before sending you out with grace.

Today's music: "Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)
"Messiah" oratorio, HWV 56 (1741) [Edition of the 1752 version I]
Part 1 - chorus:  "For unto us a Child is born"
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Brandenburg Consort, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

" O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," John Carter. This reflective and peaceful setting of the 15th century French melody Veni Emmanuel is beautifully set by John Carter.  This was recorded by Laurel Sanders, flute and Cynthia Mills, piano for use by Grace Lutheran Church in State College, PA.  © 2010 by Beckenhorst Press, Inc., www.beckenhorstpress.com.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

To learn more about our ministries at Grace Lutheran Church, visit glcpa.org.

Transcript

“Unto Us a Child is Born” weekly podcast for Advent, 2024 Episode 4

PS: Welcome to Pocketful of Grace, a podcast of Grace Lutheran Church in State College, Pennsylvania. I’m Pastor Scott Schul and I’m joined by my colleague, Pastor Carolyn Hetrick.

PC: We are approaching the end of the season of Advent. It’s just four weeks long, and it can easily be overlooked as we rush toward Christmas. But we hope these podcasts have offered you an opportunity to slow this season down and to savor the many gifts Advent offers us as we focus upon waiting, preparing, and hoping. In Advent we recall the historic birth of Jesus, and we await his return in the fullness of time, even as we train our hearts and minds to look for and expect to see Christ entering our world in the here and now.

PS: Today we’ll conclude our look at what we’ve been calling Isaiah’s “birth announcement.” This is the well-known verse in which even as exile approaches and suffering increases, God promises to send a savior. Recall those comforting words: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

PC: As Christians, we believe that these words from Isaiah were a prophesy about Jesus. And so in our prior episodes we unpacked what it means for Jesus to be a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, and an Everlasting Father. If you missed any of those episodes, we invite you to go back and catch up. Today, we consider what it means that Jesus is promised to us as the “Prince of Peace.”

PS: But before we jump into that, let’s ground ourselves in a breath prayer based upon another part of Isaiah (55:12). As we breathe in, we’ll say, “We shall go out in joy ” and as we breathe out, we’ll say, “and be led back in peace.” Let’s do that three times.

Now, with that prayer resonating in our hearts and lungs, let’s consider what it means for Jesus to be a the “Prince of Peace.”

PC: “Peace” is one of those words that we use so often that we risk losing sight of the full scope and breadth of what it means. On the most fundamental and common level, we usually think of “peace” as a quiet time, when everyone is getting along, there’s no conflict, and we can just rest and take a deep breath. That might describe the feeling parents have when their very active toddler goes to bed, or the feeling the pastors have when all the Christmas Eve services are over and everyone has joyfully and contentedly gone back home, leaving us to sit and reflect in quiet silence.

But if we move from a personal sense of peace to a more global notion, we might think of peace as the end of war. This would have been a primary way that Isaiah’s people would have heard this promise. They would experience military defeat at the hands of the

Babylonian Empire and exile far from home. Hundreds of years later, they would still be clamoring for the end of warfare and conflict, because their Babylonian captors would be replaced by another domineering empire, the Romans.

PS: If you’ve studied history, you’ve probably heard of the “pax romana.” It’s a term that describes the era when the Roman Empire was at its most powerful. The broad reach of their empire and their overwhelming military might brought an end to conflict for people within the empire’s boundaries, which enabled many infrastructure improvements like roads and aquifers. But although the “pax romana” brought at least a temporary cessation to warfare, it wasn’t peace in the fullest sense, because the people in places like Jerusalem lived under military occupation. Their power, movements, voices, and liberties were all limited in stifling ways. That can hardly be thought of as “peace.”

PC: 2,000 years later, we find ourselves in a similar position today. Even though Jesus, our Prince of Peace, has come to earth, wars still rage across the globe. As of this moment, there are 56 armed conflicts raging in the world, the most since World War II. Within those conflicts, 92 separate countries are involved. If peace merely means an end to warfare, then this promise is a long, long way from being fulfilled.

But Jesus was clear that despite the victory he won at the cross for us and for all of creation, there would continue to be turmoil and suffering. Our faith assures us that ultimate, eternal peace, will indeed come, but for now we continue to live in that “in-between” time where victory has been achieved but the full fruits are yet to be realized. So does this mean that Jesus, our Prince of Peace, bears a gift for us that we can only unwrap and experience someday far, far in the future?

PS: Well, when it comes to the kind of ultimate peace you’ve just described, the answer is probably “yes.” But Christ’s peace is more than just an end to warfare. Look, we all know that conflicts sometimes rage in our lives and in our families. Jesus wants to bless us with a feeling of peace and serenity in those moments so they don’t overwhelm us. A good example from the Bible is in chapter 4 of Mark’s Gospel, a story we both love. Jesus and his disciples were in a boat, crossing the Sea of Galilee. A storm suddenly arose, and the disciples were terrified. They were sure that the boat would capsize and everyone would be lost. They looked to Jesus to provide a solution, only to find that he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. In fear and frustration, they confronted him. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He then woke up and brought an end to the storm. The disciples could do nothing but look at him with awe.

Ponder that story and the storms in your life as we hear some music for reflection.

MUSIC FOR REFLECTION

PC: As storms rage in our lives, we can easily feel like the disciples in that boat. We wonder where Jesus is. Is he sleeping on the job? Did we do something to make him mad or drive him away? Maybe I’m just not important enough for him to notice. All of these questions can arise in our hearts, and when they do, our inner peace is shattered. But be assured that Jesus loves you – always and eternally. Hold tightly to that marvelous promise from chapter 8 of Paul’s letter to the Romans. He writes, “ I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Whenever you feel afraid or alone, repeat that prayer and feel Christ’s peace.

PS: We encounter another wonderful Biblical example of Jesus’s peace in his first encounter with the disciples after his resurrection. Remember how they had abandoned him? They ran. Peter, the leader of the disciples, even denied knowing Jesus. On that first Easter, the disciples hid away behind locked doors, terrified that Jesus’s fate would soon be their own. Near the very end of Luke’s Gospel, we read that Jesus appeared to the disciples by passing through those locked doors. Do you remember the very first words he said to them? He might reasonably have scolded them for their cowardice or lack of faith. But he didn’t. His very first words were, “Peace be with you.” And then he showed them the scars on his hands and feet and invited them to touch the scars so that they could know that it was really him.

It was a transformational moment for the disciples. Those same followers who denied Jesus, abandoned Jesus, and ran and hid like timid mice would be energized by the peace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to boldly and bravely carry Jesus’s Good News of salvation, forgiveness, and new life all across the globe, regardless of the cost. That’s what the peace of Christ has the power to do. It gives us the ability to rise above those storms and to be Jesus’s agents of transformation in the lives of those around us.

PC: Each week in Sunday worship we are reminded of this pivotal moment. We reenact it after we say the Creed and pray the Prayers of the Church. One of the pastors says, “The peace of the Lord be with you all,” and the congregation responds, “and also with you.” Sometimes the familiarity of those words drains them of their significance for us. So the next time you are in worship, as we hear those words and then repeat them to our friends, imagine that you’re in that Upper Room with the disciples, paralyzed with fear and immobilized by hopelessness. Hear that greeting of peace as if it comes from Jesus himself, and be freed from everything that’s weighing you down. Experience the reality of Christ’s peace. It may not eliminate all the global, local, and personal struggles we face, but it offers us a way to rise above them.

PS: So you see, friends, our Prince of Peace is blessing us on many levels. We live in faith and hope that one day we will experience peace as the absence of war and conflict. But until that time, our Prince of Peace can give us rest and assurance in the midst of life’s storms. He is our safe haven who gives us rest and refills us so we can keep loving, serving, and persevering.

PC: We hope this time together over these past four weeks has been a blessing for you, and that it is has given you a deeper understanding of our Savior Jesus, who is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Let’s close our time together by praying our breath prayer again. As we breathe in, we’ll say, “We shall go out in joy ” and as we breathe out, we’ll say, “and be led back in peace.” Let’s do that three times.

OUTRO:

PS: Please plan to celebrate Jesus’s birth with us at Grace. On Tuesday, December 24th, Christmas Eve, we have three worship services. Our 4:30 family service features a live nativity as Santa comes to worship the baby Jesus. At 7 pm and 9 pm we will have our traditional candlelight Christmas Eve services, with Holy Communion. You can also listen to the 7 pm service live on Bigfoot Country Legends or watch our livestream at 7 or later by going to our website, glcpa.org. Just click the word “WATCH.”

On Wednesday, December 25th, Christmas Day, we will gather for worship is at 10:30 am. That service will be broadcast on radio but will not be livestreamed.

And then on Sunday, December 29th, we’ll gather for worship on the 1st Sunday of Christmas at our normal times of 8, 9 and 10:30. As usual, the 10:30 service will be on the radio and livestreamed.

PC: And so we close with our best wishes for a blessed Advent, and we look forward to greeting you at Christmas worship. In the meantime, no matter how we gather, friends, remember Christ is born for you. Take care, Beloveds.