When the angels came and proclaimed the good news to the shepherds, they proclaimed “peace on earth”. The angels were proclaiming a tiding of peace to the shepherds and the world, but much the same as with the announcement of the arrival of any king, they were also announcing the defining attribute of the King’s reign. That is to say that His reign would be defined by peace above all. This is the call of the Prince of Peace. We are granted peace with God through Christ Jesus our King, but it was never meant to stay there. We are to live at peace with everyone, as far as it depends on us (Romans 12:18). Add to this that we are given “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, [that] will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7), and you get a people that is to have peace with God, man, and in their selves.

However, life happens.

The truth is that we get busy and peace flies out the window like my son’s food cruising across the room. We get busy, stressed, worried, and all of that for normal daily life. Now, enter the holidays, enter Christmas, the time we are supposed to be celebrating the birth of the King who brought us peace.

Thinking on all of this is an odd experience when someone asks, “are you ready for Christmas?” My response generally goes something like this: “If you mean the celebration of Christ, you bet, but if you mean what we have created around this celebration, not at all.” I’m relatively certain that Jesus had no intention for us to cause ourselves to have a coronary as we try to take care of the many additional things that have been tacked on to this season of glorious news. Thus, I am calling everyone who ventures to read this to bring the Shalom. Help people remember that the reason for our jubilance is peace, for Christ came that we should have peace. Let us remember that in the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, and make it a season of Shalom.