Advent: Peace in the Wild
December 3| DNA Guide
Be Real Together:
Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.
Advent is a season where we look back at the Incarnation, the coming of God as a little baby, but also at the same time we look forward to the second Advent, the second coming of Christ. So, this is a season of holy, expectant tension. It was prophesied that Christ would be the Prince of Peace. Isaiah in this passage describes the peace the messiah will bring and in Ephesians 2, Paul tells us Jesus is our peace.
Jesus’ peace is not like the world gives. It is not the absence of suffering. It is something greater. It is the presence of the Prince of Peace in the midst of suffering. In Jesus' mind, peace and suffering are not mutually exclusive. What does peace look like? It looks like relational wholeness with God. Peace between our conscience, our shame, and our ever present anxiety. And peace between us and God! Jesus himself is the embodiment, fulfillment, and manifestation of Shalom.
In the first Advent, Jesus freed us from the kingdom of darkness. In the second Advent, he’s coming back for his church in victory. While we wait for his return, we are in the wild. But we can have peace in the wild, if we are with the Prince of Peace himself.
Jesus’ peace is not like the world gives. It is not the absence of suffering. It is something greater. It is the presence of the Prince of Peace in the midst of suffering. In Jesus' mind, peace and suffering are not mutually exclusive. What does peace look like? It looks like relational wholeness with God. Peace between our conscience, our shame, and our ever present anxiety. And peace between us and God! Jesus himself is the embodiment, fulfillment, and manifestation of Shalom.
In the first Advent, Jesus freed us from the kingdom of darkness. In the second Advent, he’s coming back for his church in victory. While we wait for his return, we are in the wild. But we can have peace in the wild, if we are with the Prince of Peace himself.
The One Question:
Ask this question at your family meal or DNA.
Discuss the connection between the Prince of Peace, a title given to Jesus in Isaiah 9:6, and the peace that individuals can experience during the time anticipating the second Advent.
Grow Together:
1. How does the presence of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18) contribute to peace among believers?
2. Discuss what it means to have peace in the midst of suffering.
3. In what ways can the Advent season serve as a reminder of a future world to come, that is characterized by peace, justice, and harmony?
4. How do the events surrounding the birth of Christ in the Gospels contribute to the anticipation of the second coming of Jesus?
2. Discuss what it means to have peace in the midst of suffering.
3. In what ways can the Advent season serve as a reminder of a future world to come, that is characterized by peace, justice, and harmony?
4. How do the events surrounding the birth of Christ in the Gospels contribute to the anticipation of the second coming of Jesus?
Pray Together:
Take time to pray with and for each other.
Deeper Study:
Enduring Word Commentary: Isaiah 9
Enduring Word Commentary: Ephesians 2