In Irish poet WB Yeats’ famous poem, “The Second Coming’”, he writes: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”

It’s a pretty dark picture that paints the reality of a lack of peace, a lack of societal foundations and a falling apart of peace and harmony.

This disharmony and discord that Yeats wrote about is still existent in society today. It is a disharmony and discord that we are constantly trying in our own strength to address, to deal with, and to appease. 

Yet no matter how hard we try, we always seem to come up a little bit short.

Interestingly, the Bible tells us that when we try to search for this peace or try and address disharmony in our own strength, our “pursuit turns into bitterness because we throw righteousness to the ground”. (Amos 5:7)

What does that mean? It sounds a little bit harsh. 

Peace before harmony

What it’s really saying is that the reason we struggle to find peace in the world is because we have forgotten about the need to first find inner peace.

Inner peace has to come first if we want to find peace and harmony in society.

Incredibly and wonderfully, this is the exact brand of peace that came into the world that very first Christmas.

In fact, after Jesus was born, some of the first people to be told of his birth were shepherds out in the field. They were told that God has come into the world as a baby not to bring peace amongst all people, but to bring peace to all people.

That’s the exact inner peace that Yeats writes about the need for. 

Saint Augustine, the great Christian thinker and follower of Jesus, put it powerfully when he wrote: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

This is the peace that brings together this Advent season and gives us pause for reflection and excitement.

Let’s embrace this Christmas season with the peace that God offers to us. My hope and prayer is that you will find that peace this season.

This is part of RZIM Asia-Pacific’s Advent film series by Max Jeganathan, where he explores the Advent themes of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace and how we can experience these in their fullest this Christmas. This was posted online by RZIM Asia-Pacific here. Republished with permission.

For more resources on this topic and others from the RZIM Asia-Pacific speaking team, visit the RZIM Asia-Pacific website www.rzim.asia.

MORE FROM THIS ADVENT SERIES:

Advent Week 1: Hoping in a hope-worthy God

Advent Week 1: Hoping in a hope-worthy God

Advent Week 1: Hoping in a hope-worthy God