It is something I’d like to say I do every year, but I don’t. But I’m going to try this year. And that thing is to light a candle every Sunday during Advent Season. A virtual candle. Yes, but still a candle. So this week we are lighting the Peace Candle and using the text from the Advent Study Book we are using at Boone First United Methodist Church this year:
This week we light the candle of Peace. Peace, much lie the word past needs some qualifiers and context. Does being at peace mean that we are not fighting? Maybe things are peaceful because people are afraid to speak up out of fear? Maybe peace represents not raising your voice or entering a heated debate or everyone simply minding his or her own business, but this kind of peace looks more like apathy, which certainly isn’t why we light candles during Advent.
Many names are used throughout Scripture to describe the person and work of Jesus – Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) to name a few. Isaiah points to peace as one of the signs that God has offered the Messiah to God’s people; but interestingly Jesus says in Matthew 10:34, “Don’t think I’ve come to bring peace to the earth. I haven’t come to bring peace but a sword.” This offers us a clue as to what kind of peace God desires. A godly peace goes beyond lack of fighting or reservation or apathy. Peace is mentioned at Jesus’ birth when the angel said, “Don’t be afraid,… Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors” (Luke 2:10, 14). Jesus before his arrest and crucifixion, gathered his disciples together and said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). When Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to the disciples, who were hiding behind a locked door out of fear, and Jesus’ first words to them were, “Peace be with you.”
Peace is not lack of conflict. Following Jesus will result in quite a lot of conflict with the world. Jesus is the Prince of Peace because the peace he offers is the opposite of fear. We light the candle of Peace so that the light will burn away our fear of what follwoing Christ will mean.
Gracious God, Father of the Prince of Peace, help us to follow where you light sines. Hope is the destination of our faith, and peace gves us the courage to start the journey. In the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Redemption of Scrooge by Matt Rawle – Page 20
Okay this isn’t an image of a lit Peace Candle. But this image of back when we used to light Advent Candles at Youth Group will work as a space saver until I get the right candle image taken.
Happy Advent Season!
I make a “bucket list” of sorts every year for things I definitely want to do that year. In Iowa. And the list isn’t very ambitious, but every year I fail to do much more than 40% of the list. Sometimes it is laziness. But usually life just gets in the way. The focus of today’s post was very high on the list. I wanted to visit a pizza farm. There are technically 3 pizza farms in Iowa, but when you parse them down, there is only one true pizza farm, by my highly arbitrary standards. That is Luna Valley Farm near Decorah.
I made plans with Jesse, Jay, and Willy to go to it. But the week we went, Jay had to bow out after his father passed away. Then Willy bowed out because he was nursing a stomach injury. So it ended up being just me and Jesse and three pizzas.
Luna Valley Farm requires reservations and when you make your reservation you order your pizza. It is a pretty slick system so that when you show up, your pizza is ready for you at the time you made your reservation.
Here are the pictures:
The peach pizza! So freaking good!
It has been too long to do a detailed break down of my experience at Luna Valley Farm. But to do the most important question… Would I eat there again? Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! It is an over 3 hour drive from my house to Luna Valley Farm and I want to make it a yearly tradition to go there. Not only is the food fantastic, it just a really cool experience! And very unique. Maybe I’d be willing to give one of the other pizza “farms” a chance, but I definitely will be efforting to go back again next year!
Next Sunday’s food adventure will be from the same trip and in Decorah proper. It wasn’t as grand and there definitely are only a fraction of the pictures, but it deserves its own entry.