It\u2019s a season of joy, or so we\u2019re told. The holiday we imagine might look like commercials and Christmas movies: giggling children decorating cookies and running down the stairs, a family gathering around a sumptuously set table, or a young couple falling in love under softly falling snow. But for far too many of us, the real world tells a different story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We live in an epidemic of loneliness that won\u2019t pause for the most wonderful time of the year. Recent studies suggest more than half of us expect to feel lonely at Christmas. It may be the first Christmas without a beloved parent, a painful reminder of friends who have moved far away, or a time when estranged relationships feel extra heightened. In the middle of these feelings, Advent has more than enough room to hold our longings for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, we light the peace candle and remember that reconciliation is the heart of the Christmas story\u2014God crossing great distances to make us whole again. It stretches back to prophets like Jeremiah, who clearly saw and named the rift between us and God and each other. Paul\u2019s letters to the early church frequently remind his readers (Jew and Gentile alike) who they used to be. Put together, they read like a litany of shame: dead in sin, helpless, sinners, enemies, alienated, hostile, dead, excluded, foreigners, without hope, without God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is good news in the midst of the darkness. In the center of a book about everything wrong, Jeremiah proclaimed that God would draw near, near enough so that they would know Him like a friend. \u201cNo longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, \u2018Know the LORD,\u2019 for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them\u201d….\u201dI will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin\u201d (Jeremiah 31:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Centuries later, Paul echoed this message of peace: \u201cBut now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ\u201d (Ephesians 2:13). All of those labels from before fall away in the light of Jesus\u2019s life, death, and resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy and Paul\u2019s proclamation is Jesus\u2019s life of peacemaking and love, of coming to earth and being \u201cthe good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near\u201d (v.17). This is how God does what He promised through Jeremiah so long ago. By taking on human flesh and walking alongside His creation and by showing us what God is like and adopting us into His family: \u201cSo, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God\u2019s household\u201d (v.19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe this message won\u2019t light up every blue Christmas this year. In our imperfect world, we still have empty seats and broken hearts. But even then, we can look to hope. We can take steps toward making peace in our own world and trust God with the work of reconciliation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a season of joy, or so we\u2019re told. The holiday we imagine might look like commercials and Christmas movies: giggling children decorating cookies and running down the stairs, a family gathering around a sumptuously set table, or a young couple falling in love under softly falling snow. But for far too many of us, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":71561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent2024"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71574],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PEOPLE THROUGH RECONCILIATION<\/b>
\r\nby Jen Yokel<\/i>
\r\n
It\u2019s a season of joy, or so we\u2019re told. The holiday we imagine might look like commercials and Christmas movies: giggling children decorating cookies and running down the stairs, a family gathering around a sumptuously set table, or a young couple falling in love under softly falling snow. But for far too many of us, the real world tells a different story.<\/p>
\r\n
We live in an epidemic of loneliness that won\u2019t pause for the most wonderful time of the year. Recent studies suggest more than half of us expect to feel lonely at Christmas. It may be the first Christmas without a beloved parent, a painful reminder of friends who have moved far away, or a time when estranged relationships feel extra heightened. In the middle of these feelings, Advent has more than enough room to hold our longings for peace.<\/p>
\r\n
This week, we light the peace candle and remember that reconciliation is the heart of the Christmas story\u2014God crossing great distances to make us whole again. It stretches back to prophets like Jeremiah, who clearly saw and named the rift between us and God and each other. Paul\u2019s letters to the early church frequently remind his readers (Jew and Gentile alike) who they used to be. Put together, they read like a litany of shame: dead in sin, helpless, sinners, enemies, alienated, hostile, dead, excluded, foreigners, without hope, without God.<\/p>
\r\n
But there is good news in the midst of the darkness. In the center of a book about everything wrong, Jeremiah proclaimed that God would draw near, near enough so that they would know Him like a friend. \u201cNo longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, \u2018Know the LORD,\u2019 for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them\u201d....\u201dI will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin\u201d (Jeremiah 31:34).<\/p>
\r\n
Centuries later, Paul echoed this message of peace: \u201cBut now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ\u201d (Ephesians 2:13). All of those labels from before fall away in the light of Jesus\u2019s life, death, and resurrection.<\/p>
\r\n
Between Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy and Paul\u2019s proclamation is Jesus\u2019s life of peacemaking and love, of coming to earth and being \u201cthe good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near\u201d (v.17). This is how God does what He promised through Jeremiah so long ago. By taking on human flesh and walking alongside His creation and by showing us what God is like and adopting us into His family: \u201cSo, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God\u2019s household\u201d (v.19).<\/p>
\r\n
Maybe this message won\u2019t light up every blue Christmas this year. In our imperfect world, we still have empty seats and broken hearts. But even then, we can look to hope. We can take steps toward making peace in our own world and trust God with the work of reconciliation.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"10","scripture":"Jeremiah 31:10-11, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ephesians 2:1-22, Romans 5:6-11, Colossians 1:21-23","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}