Opinion

When heaven’s peace broke the silence

As Christmas approaches, Hannah Hammond offers advice for finding some peace in this increasingly busy and bustling time of year.

I often find the weeks before Christmas full of noise. In every shop, Andy Williams promises me it’s the “most wonderful time of the year,” while Wizzard insists it should be Christmas every day. Delivery vans rumble through streets, loaded with enough sugary delicacies to keep the nation in a festive frenzy for weeks. Deadlines loom even as we juggle school concerts and work parties. My mind begins to hum with endless to-do lists and an uneasy feeling takes hold that perhaps Andy Williams wasn’t quite right after all. Amid all the sparkle and bustle, peace seems like something only available on a greeting card.
 
Yet the first Christmas was anything but calm. Bethlehem was crowded and chaotic, and the stable where Jesus was born was no sedate nativity scene. It held the bleating of sheep, the stomp of hooves, and the agonising cries of a woman in labour. But it was there, in that noisy, ordinary place, that heaven’s peace broke the silence and entered the world — through the fragile cry of a newborn child.
 
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (John 14:27). His peace doesn’t depend on quiet surroundings or perfect conditions. It’s the deep stillness that comes from knowing we are loved and forgiven and not alone.
 
Perhaps this Christmas we can seek peace, not by shutting out the noise, but by noticing God’s presence within it — in the ordinary moments of compassion, in the laughter that softens weariness, and the messy, dissonant rhythm of everyday life.
 
If the world feels loud this Christmas, take heart. The same God who brought peace to a noisy Bethlehem still draws near, gently offering His stillness, hope, and love.
 
This article first appeared in the Good News for Norwich and Norfolk paper.

The picture is courtesy of pixabay.com.
 

Hannah Hammond is a theology graduate with a passion for writing and anything creative. She currently works for St Mary Magdalen Church in Gorleston but is about to join East Coast College as a success coach. See rootedtheology.com

The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich and Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users. 

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