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Righteous Peace, Godly Glory

December 8, 2024

Baruch 5:1-9 | Philippians 1:3-11| Luke 3:1-6

1 Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
   and put on for ever the beauty of the glory from God.
2 Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;
   put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;
3 for God will show your splendour everywhere under heaven.
4 For God will give you evermore the name,
   ‘Righteous Peace, Godly Glory’.

My six-year-old daughter loves, in a word, being “fancy.” In the age of Taylor Swift and Disney princesses, who can blame her? My endlessly kind, generous, loving, and introverted girl finds outlets of creativity, self-expression, freedom, confidence, and joy through bling, crowns, dresses, and, most of all, sparkly boots. Each box, bag, and bucket in our house overflows with some shiny necklace, ring, or charm. Playing dress-up is an act of transformation and purpose.  

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we read an indigenous perspective on the first Thanksgiving, then a retelling for children of the biblical Christmas story. We talked about the limitations of “fancy” if it’s limited to empty, soulless greed. We explored how love, peace, and simplicity are, in actuality, the sparkliest and shiniest things of all. We learned about different traditions of spirituality and faith, and of rebirth through belief and a focus on goodness. 

I know my daughter can merge these two worlds; her love for all things sparkly isn’t born of superficiality. My wish for her as she grows is that she can remain her bedazzled, bejeweled self while knowing that, as today’s Old Testament reading teaches, God’s kingdom of righteousness bestows the ultimate crowning glory. This, I think, is the joy we find in church at Christmastime. Church is our time to balance the inherently me-first, “stuff”-minded mentality of “what are you asking Santa for?” with the good news of God’s peace. The Christmas story we read as a family taught us it’s a time of hope and humility – a time when migrants in a manger were bestowed with the ultimate gifts. I saw from our time reading that even for children exposed to the glitz and glamor of the modern world, that story holds such power. If awareness of God’s love and Jesus’ message will help my daughter shine from within, and a set of clip-on Moana earrings helps her shine from without, I’ll celebrate that balance. Thanks be to God!

(A quick post-script: My son is two. His takeaway: he likes that Jesus is a baby and that He was friends with sheep (“sheep say ‘baa.'”). Beyond this, I see that at the earliest beginning of his faith journey, he knows the spirit of God’s peace from the smiles and music of “Mr. Wodney” and his choir. “Splendor…under heaven” indeed!)

Katie Anderson