“Glory to God in the highest,” the angels sang as they announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. “And peace to his people on earth.”
Over the years, I have heard many sermons about the Christmas story, but I don’t recall coming across any reflections on the meaning of “peace.”
So…what is peace, anyway?
A perusal of the on-line Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the Oxford (American English) dictionary yields the following definition:
Peace: Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts…..
Dear Michael Brown:
During the past couple of years, I have read several of your articles on Townhall.com addressing the conservative Christian-gay divide. One of the strategies you use is the “open letter” that is available on a site that caters to the views of conservative Christians encouraging gays, who rarely visit the site, to come around to your point of view. I circulated two of these letters to several of my gay friends, and they were less than impressed…..
“So what do you think of the Ferguson mess?” a man with a white male voice asked me cheerfully as he assisted my guide dog and me between gates at the Philadelphia airport on the Sunday prior to the release of the grand jury decision.
“It’s clear that the officer won’t be charged,” I said, “or else they wouldn’t have called out the National Guard.”
“Riots again?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
“Maybe not. This kind of thing…..