Where is the Prince of Peace?

Elizabeth M. Hoster
Christmas Eve 2006

Once again, tonight is here. Once again, HE is here. Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, The Redeemer, the Prince of Peace: All of those names for one tiny baby.

What are you feeling tonight? Joy? Expectation? Sadness? Hope? Maybe you are feeling all of those emotions together–as indeed this is the time when all of those emotions do come together, and yet in the midst of them we are called upon to feel some hope.

A few years ago this night a friend sat down next to me at a Christmas dinner. I was feeling warm and cozy from the early service and was looking forward to the later service. I was feeling all full of joy and expectation and hope. He was not. Instead, he was distraught about the violence in the Middle East. There we were, with all of the emotions of Christmas. "Well," he said, "Where is the Prince of Peace?"

I had no idea how to answer. Contradicting answers swarmed in my head: Look all around you! Look at this room full of people who love you! He’s in each of them. But He’s not where he is needed most. Where did you see Him last? Where is He, indeed?

I bit my tongue. But one answer would not go away: Where did you see Him last?

Where did we see Him last?

We may see Him and hear Him in places we do not expect to find Him tonight. Last week I was listening to the public radio show Speaking of Faith (http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/nomore). The two guests were an Israeli Woman and a Palestinian man. Both had family members killed in the ongoing conflict in that region. They had worked together through an organization called Parents Circle Families Forum, a group which seeks honest dialogue between people of the two countries. They believe that peace will come only when enough people get together from each side to determine that they want a different way. Both agree that they must quit striving to be right and instead struggle to be honest. Their organization has set up a phone bank so that Israelis and Palestinians can talk one-to-one. There is no script, no politicians, no agenda, but rather a dedicated phone line so that two people may speak. The line has received over a million calls.

Somewhere along the way, these two unlikely peace-bearers, and a million more like them, realized they had to stop violence and replace it with a peace that passeth all understanding. And so, in the arms of an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, the prince of peace is being carried this night.

Where is the Prince of Peace? He might be hard to see as He arrives tonight. Usually, He does not arrive with angels and fanfare and a light in the sky. The first time He did; the last time He will. But for all the times in between, over two thousand and counting, He arrives quietly. We have a small bundle of eternal life dropped off at the back doors of our hearts. He is there, at the feet of each one of us, waiting to be welcomed in. He is in each one of us, waiting to be born again.

Christ arrives when we say "No" to suffering and violence. But He does not arrive only when two or three are gathered to stop nations from war. He arrives when we forgive another person. He arrives when we mend the family quarrel. He arrives when we finally put down our need to be right and instead struggle to be honest. He arrives when we finally get what His first arrival meant: that we were and are and will be so beloved of God that God broke down all barriers to live among us, and that He became more like us so that we could become more like Him.

Where is the Prince of Peace? Wherever we last saw peace, and wherever we last saw hope. He needs us now to find Him where we saw Him last, pick Him up, and take Him where He can be fed and grow. Will you pick Him up? He doesn’t weight that much–he is only a baby. Your arms are more than big enough, more than strong enough, to carry that promise of God anywhere where hope and joy and promise are needed.

God has created the Prince of Peace. But He is asking us to carry Him for awhile.

May Emmanuel, God-with-Us, be with you tonight and always. May you carry the one who brings us all new life. And may the Prince of Peace, born this night, be born in you, over and over and over again.