Peace when there are too many pieces

 

You’re sailing along on a good day. Coffee’s good. The donut is even better.

The weather is decent. You’re in no rush.

Oh, yes, it’s good.

And then there’s that headline. That bit of news.

We are too familiar with headlines that make our hearts hurt. I won’t list a single one of them here, but they could—and seriously should—grind us to a stop.

Life is too hard sometimes. It hurts. We seek to live in peace but experience unavoidable pieces in or around us that are sharp, shattering or sorrowful.

And it’s Christmastime. Sure, we can sing or listen to Silent Night but all isn’t calm. All isn’t necessarily bright.

Shouldn’t life be better, brighter?

The question I just asked can lead us into conversations with God. Specifically, I hope this question you have asked at some point or place in your life leads you into conversations with God.

These conversations can lead you to scripture. One contributor to scripture is the Prophet Jeremiah. In his Old Testament text, Jeremiah proclaims God’s swift and decisive judgment is coming upon Jerusalem, his home of origin. Another way of saying this is Jeremiah forecasts the playing field will be leveled. God will show up. The bad guys—and all those bad situations—will be cleaned up and cleared out.

Prophets deliver these types of messages. Jeremiah, however, runs into opposition by the ruling king and the powerhouse priests because his message, like a good number of our headlines today, is grim. He says neighboring Babylon will conquer Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s message is unsettling if not all-out upsetting. He shares with the people who will listen that bloodshed, destruction and judgment will fall upon them when they’re conquered.

If you know your history, you know Babylon actually does conquer Jerusalem in 586 BC.

There is no calm. There is no bright.

The bad guys here actually win.

We can feel conquered. For example, I just read a private message from someone in my congregation. I can’t share the details of course, but the words were painful because, as his story goes, the bad guys win here, too.

But if we listen to all of Jeremiah and hold a lens to the New Testament, we know our story isn’t over. Our God isn’t done.

Someone is coming.

And this Someone does what Jeremiah and other prophets predict. We are heard. We are held. We are helped.

Sure, there are messes. Jesus Christ Himself, as a newborn, entered the mess. In fact, the mess is a part of His message. We have peace when there are pieces because we know Jesus enters our situations just as He entered the world.

As we look at His birth story in the Gospel of Luke, we see inconvenience. That’s putting it mildly! Stretches and strains are woven into the story of Bethlehem. They are not taken out of it.

Joseph had his challenges, for example. His goal in returning to Bethlehem with Mary in the final days of her pregnancy did not include a beeline to a barn. As he knocked on doors, he imagined something better, something sanitary.

More than one innkeeper turned him away.

“This seems like a good place, Mary,” is something he likely never said when he stood face to face with cows, sheep, and other animals.

Like the displaced people conquered by Babylon, like Mary and Joseph, and like the one who shared the private message with me, the pieces are what lead us to peace. The pains and the problems around us can lead us away from God, if we choose.

But there’s another option, a better option. Let what hurts you be what brings you to God.

Scripture never says what Joseph heard from God when his options dissolved, disappoint rose, and door after door closed in his face.

But I imagine God said to Joseph (and to Jeremiah) what God says to you.

“Keep on. I’ve got you.”