Advent Season Week Two • A Lament to Peace

Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

Our world can feel anything but peaceful. Civil unrest, broken families, a world riddled with evidence of fallenness—calling evil good and good evil. And then we look within…any amount of honest self-reflection can reveal disordered loves, selfishness, discontentment, anger, a quick temper…How can we possibly have peace in the midst of chaos both within and out?

Often, we can be tempted to try to muster this peace up ourselves. Maybe through repressing the realities, or being ignorant to them or we hide, like our father and mother in the garden. But what if there’s a better way? What if because He was broken for all of the brokenness both in the world and within us, we are free to confess to Him who we are, the weight we feel, and allow Him to meet us there.

Augustine says, “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in you…” but how do we do that? How do we truly and actually rest in him? The only way toward peace is to come and behold the One who was crushed. He was crushed so we never had to be, He experienced separation from the Father that we may never know it. And it was through that act of carrying the whole weight of our sin, and in breaking himself for us, that he brought us peace. Not some pithy peace, but an immovable, unshakable security in his Kingdom where he reigns.

Because his body didn’t stay broken, the Father in his lovingkindness and immeasurable grace chose to take our rags and give us priestly garments. The garments of his own Son. And because of that we can come to Him as children. We can come out of hiding, we can confess every struggle, every brokenness to Him and know that our peace with him is not dependent upon our doing, but His finished work. When we don’t embrace the reality of our loving Father’s deep forgiveness through Jesus’ broken body, our vision can grow weak to the reality of our peace.

In our lament and confession, when we come before Him with a broken and contrite spirit, we can trust that He will do the healing as any gentle and loving Father would. And as we behold this gentle and loving Prince of Peace, we experience the healing balm our souls so deeply desire. When we are overwhelmed by our own sin, by the weight of the broken world, let it lead us to the Rock that is Higher (Psalm 61:1) to an immovable and unshakable hope. Let it remind us that the One who was broken will come again, and the Peace of His Kingdom will know no end. As we lament our own brokenness, let it, in the words of C.S. Lewis, lead us “further up and further in” to the Kingdom of our Prince of Peace.

CONFESSION TO PEACE:

Lord, we confess we often seek peace through means other than you.

We seek peace through material gain.

We seek peace through comforts this world has to offer.

We seek peace through avoidance and willful ignorance.

Cleanse us, Lord with hyssop and wash us whiter than snow.

We confess you are the only one that can bring lasting, meaningful peace.

In moments of fear, let us turn to your Shepherding care.

In moments of lust, let us turn to you, the Satisfier of our souls.

In moments of greed, let us remember your Kingdom is the only unshakable hope to which we cling.

We often seek fragments of your peace through temporal means. Forgive us.

We confess you are Peace.

We confess you are the Satisfier of our souls.

We long for the day our peace will be fully realized in You.