December 7, 2025

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT: PEACE

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives, however. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14.27)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

This is the twelfth time since 1941 that December 7 has fallen on a Sunday. For those of us in the United States, and perhaps in Japan as well, or for history buffs, this is significant because of the event which occurred on Sunday, December 7, 1941, at 7:48 a.m. local time in Hawaii. That event was the bombing of the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by the Japanese Imperial navy. The devastation was nearly catastrophic to the American plan of controlling the Pacific Ocean from foreign enemies. At that point, the United States had remained at peace as World War II raged across Europe, Africa and threatened Asia. It, however, was a day, as President Roosevelt declared to Congress, “A day that will live in infamy.” While we remember December 7, 1941, on a yearly basis (and should remember August 6 and 9, 1945, with equal measure as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States brought an end to the war against Japan), it is especially mindful when the day is actually on a Sunday as it was on that first Sunday in December 1941. According to the Advent Calendar, the second Sunday of Advent is recognized with the biblical concept of “peace.” That day in 1941 was anything but peaceful as 2,403 navy personnel were killed, some buried alive in sunken ships, along with the majority of the Pacific Fleet which was destroyed in the harbor.

On the east coast of the United States, Christian worship services would have been drawing to a close unaware of what was unfolding in Hawaii. Because of the war raging in Europe and Africa batting against the Nazi forces under the order of Adolf Hitler, peace in the United States and elsewhere would have been tenuous at best. What Christmas “hope” would there have been for those who were attempting to “live by faith” more than living by sight. The dark cloud of a world at war loomed on the horizon to the east. It darkened the parenthetical sky with the consequences of the bombings and attacks across Europe as the Nazi war machine ramped up its efforts to control Europe first and then move out from there. Persecution of the Jews in Germany was already in effect. One day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the first death camp at Chelmno became operational. It was the first of many that would be used for the systematic elimination of all Jews. In total, over six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany over the next four years.

What would make for “peace” on that day of December 7, 1941? Places of Christian worship across the Midwest, the Central Plains and the southern parts of the United States would be in the midst of worship services declaring the hope of the angel declarations to the shepherds “Peace on earth, goodwill to all men.” It was a fragile hope at best as military bases were already on alert for what was to inevitably come.

Across the Rocky Mountain States, worshippers would have been moving into their sanctuaries with Christmas songs such as “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “Silent Night.” That silence was nearing brokenness as the news would have interrupted services of worship with announcements of fear and dread. The world was changing in that very moment as Jesus was being remembered at the “Shalom of God” and “Prince of Peace.” How poignant would be His identification from Isaiah 9 where He would be known as “the one upon whose shoulder the governance of the world would rest.” For Isaiah, the prophesy foretold the burden of the cross which carried with it the forgiveness of sins by His sacrifice. What message would it hold now as the news crossed the Pacific coastline of the United States to speak of the horror of an attack on American soil. Hawaii could not be seen from the high mountains but it was America nonetheless.

It was not simply the U.S., it was now “US.” No one may have felt that shudder of impending fear more than the west coast of the United States. Those cities and communities from Alaska to San Diego would have been the next battleground if the enemy would have desired to press their battle so far from their own homeland. Sirens would have drowned out choirs preparing to lead worship and children gleefully doing crafts in their Sunday School classrooms pasting angels on colored paper flying over manger scenes with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads and the hope of Christmas presents piled under their trees already set in place. The echoes from Hawaii would have risen like a tsunami of sound rushing against the shoreline. The collective breath of those citizens in and out of worship centers would have been drawn out as are the waters before a tsunami hits. Nature abhors a vacuum and quickly fills it. What would come crashing back against them was the fear of annihilation and not the sense of peace and calm and rest.

Now, eighty-four years to the day, we must deal with the reality of the challenge of peace on earth and goodwill to all people. We may well be asking ourselves, “What does make for peace?” As we settle in our self-made sense of comfort, are we truly comfortable and at peace? There is a battle raging not simply against this nation but humanity. The enemy is attacking on all sides physically, fiscally, emotionally, politically, theologically, socially, sociologically and spiritually. We are presented by Jesus Himself on the night He was to be betrayed by one of His own in whom He had invested the spirit of truth and peace as He had the others, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid.” (John 14.27) There was already a war raging even against the Savior who was and is and will always be “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.” It was raging against the people of God just as much as it was raging against God’s people. It rages on as far as the east is from the west and the north is from the south. Are we simply sitting in our “places of worship” satisfied that all is well with our world knowing full well that the earth and the fullness thereof is not? Are we casting a blind eye to the east as the dark clouds are rising with the hopes of blocking out the Son as if He were the sun? Are we turning a deaf ear to the west as the sounds of war against humanity are building up to immerse us with terror as if we were merely sand on the beach? Mighty ones of God, we must address this Advent Season of 2025 with a fierce intensity of biblical proportions seeking to understand what Jesus meant by “I give you a peace unlike anything the world can give you.” Not only must we seek to understand but we must make it understood in word and deed. It isn’t about presents under the tree but God’s presence in the world on earth as it is in Heaven: Immanuel!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.