Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me

“...the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace”—Numbers 6:25-26 (NIV).

Songs, both traditional and contemporary, are one of my treasured things about the Christmas season. I have so many favorites it’s hard to choose just one. However, one that is resonating with me right now is “Let there be Peace on Earth.” 

Penned in 1955 by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller, the song was composed to reflect the feelings of Jill, who had been suicidal after the failure of a marriage. Jill said the song was written after she discovered what she called the “life-saving joy of God’s peace and unconditional love.”

According to my research, in the summer of 1955, 180 teenagers of all races and religions, who were at a workshop in the California mountains, locked arms, formed a circle and sang this song of peace. Hoping to help create a climate for world peace and understanding, the group embraced the simple but powerful lyrics. When they left the mountain, the inspired young people started sharing the song which made its way around the world as young campers took it back to their schools, churches and clubs. It has been sung all over the world since it was first sung almost 60 years ago.

Here are the first lines of this beautiful song:

                                           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 as our father

                                           Brothers all are we.

                                           Let me walk with my brother

                                           In perfect harmony.

Harmony is missing in our world today. Global wars, widespread slaughter, racial and religious tension, human trafficking and homelessness, as well as division in our families, have led to a lack of peace. 

In President Calvin Coolidge’s Christmas message to our nation in 1927, he said, “Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.”

"Peace begins with each of us."

Peace begins with each of us. Where can we find this life-altering peace that no man can destroy? Look to Bethlehem where, on a star-filled night over 2,000 years ago, a baby was born in a stable. This baby, the Son of God, came to bring understanding, joy, peace and eternal life to all who would accept Him. 

Corrie Ten Boom, a Nazi death camp survivor, once said, “Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.”

Peace on earth. Let it begin with each of us.

 

This is the Christmas

The Timeless Gift of a Baby

All very tiny humans are, as far as I’m concerned, adorable. The description fits some a bit more than others. Occasionally a baby comes along who is, well, not exactly the acceptable version of cute. But pick him and squeeze him, and it doesn’t matter. Wrapping your arms around a wiggling, cooing baby makes the day much better, and it doesn’t matter if he, or she, looks like Winston Churchill. But the little beings emit strange noises and odors, and sometime they cover their helplessly awestruck fans in stuff no one could describe as adorable. They’re like a little piece of Heaven. Then they remind us where we really are—a world where things get messy.

The baby boy who came by divine design must have had the same effect on his earthly family. Even though he didn’t get the sterile birthing environment we demand when we welcome a baby, his mother must have adored him. Joseph must have been mesmerized by the sight of him. Maybe his grandparents coddled him. He was not just a piece of Heaven. Whether they knew it or not, this baby was their ticket to Heaven.

The savior of the world came as one completely helpless. And undeniably wonderful. But some were willing to destroy a generation of precious innocence to keep one baby from fulfilling prophecy. As if anyone could put an end to God’s plan. The prophet Isaiah tells us about the baby:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us).  Isaiah 7:14

Three decades later, the baby was not someone to coddle. His family was probably long over their fascination with the little man. To most people, he was nothing special. He was just a carpenter from Nazareth. But a few recognized Jesus for who he really was. And then the sweet story we celebrate of the baby born in a manger became the bitter, bloody event Isaiah wrote about seven hundred years before it happened. The Son perfectly submitted his Father’s perfect plan. The plan was not one any earthly father would consider for his newborn son’s future. But God, considering our future, did the unthinkable.

God’s message through Isaiah doesn’t tell as much of the baby as it does of the wounded, dying man. Nobody found him adorable then. They all turned away.

He was despised and rejected by men; 
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:1-6

Not exactly a Christmas card greeting. But without this, the story of the little baby born in Bethlehem means nothing. Isaiah tells of the event in past tense, though he wrote it long before it happened. With God there is no past or future. There is only the happening. This is the day, the minute, the millisecond. It’s history. It’s right now. It’s our future. It changes everything.

This Christmas is the one God remembered when He left Mary’s baby boy hanging on a cross. He saw you hanging your stockings and arranging the little glass wise men and shepherds around the newborn gift to the world. He watched you, long before you did it, sign your name to the card with the Nativity scene on the front. Picture that blessed moment with the cross on a hill in the background. Because when the baby was born, that’s what his Father saw.

Do You Want to Have a Real Christmas?

 “John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same’”—Luke 3:11 (NIV).

“Church members each get $500 to do good for world.” The headline grabbed my attention. I wanted to know more. A church pastor in Chicago surprised her congregation recently by giving each regular attendee a check for $500 to do something positive. The funds came from a real estate deal worth $1.6 million. Taking 10 percent or $160,000, which is a typical tithe, she divided it among the 320 members.

The church has always been involved in social causes, from feeding homeless people to buying an ambulance for a medical clinic in Niger. With their $500, members of the non-denominational congregation chose to help others as far away as Tanzania and as close to home as their next door neighbors. 

How easy it is to forget the true meaning of this season during the hustle and bustle of striving for the perfect Christmas. However, when we recall the circumstances in which the Christ child was born, it’s much easier to remember that it’s not about expensive gifts like electronic games, computer gadgets and other gizmos that will eventually become obsolete or today’s latest fashions that will be out-of-style by the end of next year.

Do you want to celebrate a Christmas that honors our Savior and teaches your children and grandchildren the real value of a Christ-centered holiday?

Do you want to celebrate a Christmas that honors our Savior and teaches your children and grandchildren the real value of a Christ-centered holiday? Start at home with some of the following suggestions:

• Write a letter to family members revealing your favorite Christmas memory from the past. I always loved hearing my parents share about growing up during the Depression years and the simple times of Christmases past without the pressure to spend more than you earn by putting it on a credit card.
• Adopt a family at Christmas and anonymously provide everything they need to make their holiday a memorable one, including the meal and the gifts.
• Go caroling with your family, neighbors or church members at a local nursing home or veterans’ center. I’ve done this and it’s a delight to see the expressions on the faces of the residents.
• Purchase nice toys that don’t require batteries and donate them to Toys for Tots or some other worthy cause. Let your children or grandchildren select the toys.
• Find an Angel Tree in your area and select a child or adult in need. Purchase from their list what has been requested. Don’t be stingy either. Buy the best you can afford. Again, involve your children.

      Each year, over $600 million is spent on Christmas, while billions have yet to hear the name of Jesus. The Christ child is the reason we should be celebrating this season. Many have forgotten this, getting caught up in the web of commercialization and the desire to keep up with their neighbors and friends. We live in a nation—and a world—of haves and have-nots. If you are blessed, then Luke 3:11 tells us we should share what we have. 

     That’s what Christmas is really all about.