Throughout the last year, the world has experienced the groanings of conflict. Peace is eroded by a culture of division, injustice, and destruction. We sing of peace on earth and goodwill once the holiday season approaches but seldom do we sing the same sentiments year round. Christmas is more than a temporary season of wonderment, peace, and festivities. Christmas is about the forever promise to this weary world that peace will be victorious and that darkness, the conflict of this world, is the true temporary season. Christ’s light prevails over the darkness every day, not just during Christmas.

The Angels filled the fields with a thunderous song, declaring Glory to God for such a momentous birth that would change the trajectory of all the world. That promise of peace is the praise song that the Angels proclaim to the shepherds on the night when Jesus was born. Shepherds—not royalty or high officials, but the shepherds, whom society deemed lowly and unclean. Shepherds, though rebuffed and uncouth, were met in the field, where they made their livelihood, where they spent their lives. An ordinary field, not a lavish court or concert hall. An open space that held no boundaries, no fencing of private property. The promise fulfilled by Jesus’ birth would not be withheld from anyone, anywhere.

The promise of peace meets us where we are, with no criteria to be met, no status needed. The song of the Angels is our praise song every day as we give Glory to God for peace that is given freely, even on the days when we feel we do not deserve it. Moreover, peace is freely given to others even when we feel they do not deserve it. We do not need a season of practiced merriment, of displayed joy, of decorated peace. Even if the darkness of this world threatens to close all around us, Jesus’ birth reminds us that God’s plans never fail. That, even when everything around us seems consumed by chaos, the peace of Jesus tethers us to the ultimate plan to restore everything back to God. We can rejoice even when we are weary. We can rejoice even when the decorations come down because Jesus’ birth is the triumph that promises good for all corners of the earth.

The Angels' song is a melody of praise for a plan fulfilled, and it is our song too. Our very redemption was interwoven throughout the lives of God’s people from the beginning, the plan to restore us, humanity, back to God. Jesus’ birth is more than the sign of peace to come, it is the converging of these threads of prophecy, of promise, throughout the scriptures and our lives. The final tapestry, the fullness and wholeness of shalom, will be on earth as it is in heaven. Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is the thrill of hope that we need for this weary world to rejoice.

Throughout the last year, the world has experienced the groanings of conflict. Peace is eroded by a culture of division, injustice, and destruction. We sing of peace on earth and goodwill once the holiday season approaches but seldom do we sing the same sentiments year round. Christmas is more than a temporary season of wonderment, peace, and festivities. Christmas is about the forever promise to this weary world that peace will be victorious and that darkness, the conflict of this world, is the true temporary season. Christ’s light prevails over the darkness every day, not just during Christmas.

The Angels filled the fields with a thunderous song, declaring Glory to God for such a momentous birth that would change the trajectory of all the world. That promise of peace is the praise song that the Angels proclaim to the shepherds on the night when Jesus was born. Shepherds—not royalty or high officials, but the shepherds, whom society deemed lowly and unclean. Shepherds, though rebuffed and uncouth, were met in the field, where they made their livelihood, where they spent their lives. An ordinary field, not a lavish court or concert hall. An open space that held no boundaries, no fencing of private property. The promise fulfilled by Jesus’ birth would not be withheld from anyone, anywhere.

The promise of peace meets us where we are, with no criteria to be met, no status needed. The song of the Angels is our praise song every day as we give Glory to God for peace that is given freely, even on the days when we feel we do not deserve it. Moreover, peace is freely given to others even when we feel they do not deserve it. We do not need a season of practiced merriment, of displayed joy, of decorated peace. Even if the darkness of this world threatens to close all around us, Jesus’ birth reminds us that God’s plans never fail. That, even when everything around us seems consumed by chaos, the peace of Jesus tethers us to the ultimate plan to restore everything back to God. We can rejoice even when we are weary. We can rejoice even when the decorations come down because Jesus’ birth is the triumph that promises good for all corners of the earth.

The Angels' song is a melody of praise for a plan fulfilled, and it is our song too. Our very redemption was interwoven throughout the lives of God’s people from the beginning, the plan to restore us, humanity, back to God. Jesus’ birth is more than the sign of peace to come, it is the converging of these threads of prophecy, of promise, throughout the scriptures and our lives. The final tapestry, the fullness and wholeness of shalom, will be on earth as it is in heaven. Christmas, the birth of Jesus, is the thrill of hope that we need for this weary world to rejoice.