By Charlie Fuller
I have a set of people in my life who bring me peace. These are people I always look forward to being with. People with whom I share many common bonds. When I’m with them I always dread saying goodbye. But when I leave their presence, I’m always the better for having been with them. There’s a sweet aroma of companionship that lingers long after we part.
That sweet aroma is the scent of peace, a peace that goes to the core of my being, a peace I get from few other people.
When I read today’s Scripture passage from the book of Philippians, I sense that Paul had that kind of relationship with the people he knew in Philippi. They had a shared history, shared suffering, shared sacrifice. They had been through much together, and I sense from Paul’s letter to them that being together with them was one of Paul’s favorite things.
How about God? What if God feels the same way about us? What if being with us somehow brings peace to the heart of God? What if what God wanted more than anything else was to be with us, to join us in our lives, our triumphs, our struggles, our suffering? What if God wanted to be with us so much that God became one of us, joined us here and walked through life the same way we do? So that God could share in the lived experience of our lives, like our closest friends?
What if sharing our lives together meant so much to God that God became like us? What if God wanted to be with us so much that God actually became one of us? To share in what it’s like to be frustrated, to have skinned knees and broken hearts, to be disappointed and excited, to know the joy of companionship and the hurt of separation … even to become a baby?
What if that’s what the peace of Christmas is all about? Being present — God with us and us with God? Peace to us and peace to God? What if the Advent season is about remembering that we bring peace to ourselves when we bring ourselves into the presence of God? And that God longed for the same kind of peace when God became one of us? So that God could spend time with the ones who brought God the most peace of all? Us.
How about you? Where will you find peace during this season? In the commercialism of gift-giving? The crazy busyness of the season? Or in the presence of the Holy One, who longed so much for the peace of community with us that God became one of us? Just so God could hang out with us.
May we remember this season that the best peace, the deepest peace, the most lasting peace comes from hanging out with the one who came here to hang out with us.