December 4: Let There Be Peace on Earth

Second Week of Advent: Peace
December 4: Let There Be Peace on Earth (United States of America)

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all people. Luke 2:13-14

Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me…

It was an advent worship service in the 1960’s. I was in my teens. A young lady in a mini-skirt and knee-high boots was enthusiastically singing Let There Be Peace on Earth. I wondered how this could be possible. The headlines screamed of violence at home and abroad. People of peace, like Martin Luther King Jr., were assassinated. I felt as if the world was spinning into utter chaos. Where is peace?

In a new century, we are asking the same old questions, Where is peace? A war is fought in Europe while gun violence shatters the peace at home. Where is the peace the angels promised so long ago? Where is the peace that we so long for?

Dear Friends, peace takes hold of us when we come to know the Prince of Peace, the child born so long ago, who promised to bring us the ‘peace that passes all understanding’. Once we experience peace, we are enlisted to be ambassadors of peace. Let it begin with me! I cannot bring peace to bear on the world’s stage, but I can be an ambassador in the corner of the world in which I live. Is there a disruption in your family, in your community, in your close circle of friends that is calling for an ambassador of peace? The Prince of Peace calls us to be his agents, to speak peace to a troubled world. May we in this advent season, echo the angels’ song. Let peace begin with us.

Pastor Dawn Volpe
Ephraim Moravian 




Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let There Be Peace on Earth
The peace that was meant to be

With God our Creator
Family all are we
Let me walk with each other
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With ev'ry step I take
Let this be my solemn vow

To take each moment and live
Each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me

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