This Advent season we have been looking at how we can have all we need for Christmas. The first week we heard that Christmas needs to be a time for reflection as we slow down the pace of the season and focus on God’s purpose in our lives. The second week we heard that this is a time for simplifying; the manger stood as God’s declaration that the plan of salvation shouldn’t be complicated; and that the path to Jesus must always be presented as being simple. Last week we heard that Christmas should be a time to serve others – to get outside of ourselves this year and to serve in the way Jesus served us. Today we come to the last purpose of Christmas and it’s something the world has never known and yet every heart and soul longs for – peace. That was the message the angels brought to the shepherds - and it was part of the prophesied titles of the Messiah, born to be the PRINCE OF PEACE.
Today I want you to see that, in order for us to receive all we need this year for Christmas, we must slow down, simplify, serve, and finally we must SEEK PEACE, for this above all identifies us as followers of that Prince of Peace born in Bethlehem.
