Prince of Peace

The crush of Christmas is closing in.  The feeling of too many tasks yet to be done, so much I don’t know how it will be all get accomplished.  As a mom I have found myself overwhelmed at Christmas in the past few years.  Overwhelmed by the sheer number of things that I feel I must get done and feeling as though I am missing the pure joy that fills this season.  My type A personality wants to do, do, and do some more to create this perfect Christmas experience for those around me.  And in all this doing I run myself ragged and find exhaustion instead of joy.

In reality there is no need for this pursuit of perfection – God has already cornered the market on sending the perfect Christmas gift.  He sent His only Son to us as a baby boy, who was born into obscurity so long ago.  He sent His love wrapped in skin and came into our broken world to bring an end to brokenness.

In the beautiful words from Handel’s Messiah taken from the prophet Isaiah,

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,
and the government shall be upon His shoulder:
and His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

As I sang these words this past Sunday God’s Spirit ministered to my soul of His love, peace, grace and mercy.  God is a wonderful counselor – He desires to hear our heart’s cries of sorrow and hurt.  He desires to sooth our brokenness and as the Prince of Peace, He has the ability to sooth us and fill us with His peace.

He loved us so much that He took on those sorrows and was bruised, beaten, and ultimately died in order to bring us peace.  Later in Handel’s Messiah we sang:

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows;
He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities;
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.”

 This gripping chorus, written by Handel in a minor key with rich textures and dissonances is one of my favorite sections of this powerful work.  The word chastisement means “a severe criticism, a rebuke, or a strong reprimand.”  We are offered peace as a result of Christ’s stepping in to receive the punishment we deserved for our sins.  How often I forgo that peace in my life; I buy into the lies of the Enemy that I am unworthy of forgiveness and I walk through life feeling defeated by my sin.  But this need not be – Christ came to carry our sorrows, to take the wounds we rightly desire for our transgressions and to give us peace.

Peace – is that not ultimately what we are yearning for during this Christmas season and all through the year?  We yearn to feel at peace with God and our fellow man.  To feel at peace with the pressure of performance and producing that our world screams is necessary.  But maybe, just maybe the most important thing during this season is not making one more batch of cookies (or the first batch in my case), stressing about wrapping each present just so, or writing and formatting the Christmas letter to perfection;  maybe the most important thing is taking time to consider the love, grace, mercy and peace that our Savior come as a babe offers us.

And ultimately to remember that Jesus who came as babe born in a manger, who then died on the cross to take on the chastisement of all our sins will return one day and He will reign forever as the words of the powerful Hallelujah Chorus remind us.

“Hallelujah!  for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord,
and of His Christ:  and He shall reign for ever and ever.
King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,  Hallelujah!”