Peace. Today is the second Sunday of Advent — the day that we focus on peace, be it the peace the Christ child brings or the peace that will be ushered in when Christ returns. Peace is one of those catch-words: we use it quite a bit in the church, but we rarely reflect on its deeper meaning. I’m not suggesting that we break out the Oxford English Dictionary to check the etymology of the word. I am simply suggesting that we reflect upon this word at the spiritual level. What does peace really mean?

I recently read an article by Dr. Tod Bolsinger, who is the Vice President for Vocation and Formation at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California. In this piece, entitled “Formed, Not Found,” Dr. Bolsinger discusses the whole concept of calling — how we are called into a ministry by virtue of God’s grace. This is one of those articles that is filled with all kinds of gems, but at the heart of it all, Dr. Bolsinger claims that being called as a Christian means that whatever you do as a living is your ministry. You do not have to be an ordained pastor or a priest or a Christian educator. You can be a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, a plumber — it doesn’t matter. As long as you nurture the gifts that God has placed within your heart by applying those gifts to a specific field, you are responding to your calling.

Okay, that’s all well and good, but how is being an accountant or a plumber a calling? Clearly, it is a vocation — something you do for a living — but is it a calling? Dr. Bolsinger would say absolutely, because it isn’t what you do, it is how you do it. In other words, we think of the job of a minister or a priest as someone whose vocation involves spreading the Word of God, but all professions are calls to do that. How? Again, it is not about what you do, but how you do it.

At the end of the day, it is not about the words you say, it is about the way you live your life. Bolsinger claims that ministry is simply about loving others. Reflecting on the writings of the great Reformation theologian Martin Luther, Bolsinger says, “Christian vocation is expressed primarily through one command: To love our neighbor.” We know that loving our neighbors is central to Christianity, but Luther interpreted this command to mean that we are to love others the way God loves them. That’s a whole lot different, no? “Our vocation then,” Bolsinger writes, “is to participate in God’s own ministry to the world that he loved so much that he sent his son.”

Let that sink in for a moment. We are to love the world the way God does. That is a tall order, but it is something we can strive for.

Christian spiritual formation is about developing a heart that is filled with divine love. We have those moments…sometimes. Moments of spiritual enlightenment. We often call them “mountaintop experiences.” This is when we get a glimpse of the sacred and everything makes sense. Sometimes it is an incredible, burning bush experience. Sometimes it is very simple. When we are in those moments, we feel the presence of God filling every corpuscle of our being. When those moments arise, we don’t want them to end. We want to bask in the glow of God permanently. In those moments, we can totally relate to Peter, James, and John at the Transfiguration — how they wanted to build huts for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and remain on the mountain forever.

Like the disciples, we descend the mountain eventually. They do so, because they have to join Jesus in his ministry. We descend and get inundated with the demands of our everyday lives: cooking, cleaning, shopping, working, driving the kids to soccer, paying the bills, getting the oil changed in the car, raking the leaves…painting the shed (don’t even look at me Nancy Kobs or Susan James). There are many things that draw us away from the mountain. The peace that the Christ child brings, however, is a spirit of shalom that he plants in our hearts. That seed appeared in a manger. We water and care for it with love. When we do, something amazing happens. Something grows inside. It flourishes.

This love has already been given to us. As Paul told the Romans, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (5:5). It’s there. All that is required is for us to be cognizant of this and to live into this love. In an anonymous online article entitled, “Be Filled with the Fullness of God,” the author makes it plain:

“You were created for love. You are made in the image of the God of love. Your purpose is to give love and receive love. God made you in His image so that you could experience His love. God desires to have the most intimate relationship with you possible. That is, you in God and God in you, united in love. This is why Jesus came to earth so that He could restore our ultimate purpose of a holy relationship with God.”

This is what Tod Bolsinger was saying earlier. Our lives are not measured by what we do, but how we do it. Is our work filled with love? Do people have a sense of the sacred when they meet us in the grocery store or at Starbucks? Does the love of God seem to drip from your pores?

If it doesn’t, then think of this season as an opportunity — an opportunity to cultivate such a spirit of peace. I could tell you that you can develop such a spirit through prayer and reading the Scriptures. I could direct you to donate your time, talent, and treasure to the church and any number of charitable organizations. But there is no magic formula. The development of a spirit of peace probably varies with each individual.

It begins, however, with you looking deep within and reflecting. The Spirit of the Living God surrounds you and it infuses you. God created you out of love to love. Keeping the fact ever before you — as if it was written on a placard and placed right in front of your eyes — is how will see all of life through a sacred lens.

Believe me, my friends, I am working on this, too. If you can attain it, which I do sometimes, there is no greater blessings. The peace of Christ is not just the opposite of violence. It doesn’t just mean to be still and placid. It is a way of being. It is holistic. It began with a baby who was born a humble birth 2000 years ago. That child was to grow and show us the way to God. Matt Woodley writes, “God has done something in Christ that changes everything.” That is true — and that change, my friends, is the peace that God offers us all. May it grow in you this Advent. Amen.

© 2019, Dr. Tamilio