Second Sunday of Advent, Morning Worship, December 7, 2025
Sermon: In Days to Come…Peace
Accompanying Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10

In Days to Come…Peace

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
I was in seventh grade when I first learned this poem by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow. I knew nothing about the background, but I fell in love with
the poem immediately. In fact we sang this song in our Christmas
Program that year.
At times I thought it was too simple. And then, one day, I read the entire
poem. Not just the words printed in a song book and it took on a new
meaning for me.
Our scripture passage today is, like last week, from the prophet Isaiah.
There’s a lot of bad news in the very large book of Isaiah, but he does
manage to provide some hope. And this week, he brings peace.
“The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the
kid…” The very definition of Peace. Wild animals are getting along with
those they’re used to killing and eating.
Longfellow knew about wolves and lambs. His first wife died after a
miscarriage. His second wife of eighteen years died in a freak fire that
started while she was sealing an envelope with sealing wax. He was
devastated for years.
He wrote this poem during the Civil War. Our nation split wide open
because we couldn’t agree on slavery. Longfellow struggled with this

issue while still grieving the loss of his wife. You can feel the pain in these
verses that we don’t sing in the song:
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
An earthquake has rent our nation. Not geographically, as much as
politically. Regardless of your opinion, our peace is lost. Hate has taken
over, and we’re angry.
Anger comes out in various ways. A word is spoken, and someone else
feels the need to vent. We feel pent-up with frustration and hurt. We
want to express our opinion and need a chance to explain our stance,
whether right or left. I suspect that on some days we can’t hear the
Christmas Bells.
So, what do we do this year when peace seems so unattainable? After
much prayer, I realized that peace may not find me this year. Not until I
begin giving peace. Can peace become a verb? Can we give peace to
others?
We need and want to be heard. We aren’t being heard. The bombshells
of anger and discontent ring out in the atmosphere, and we’re either
fighting or shutting down. And that’s not working out for any of us.
In the Advent Season of 2001, Rev. Tony Campolo, a now-retired American
Baptist Minister, preached in Tulsa. We were still grieving the 9/11
bombing, and New York was still digging out the remains at the ruins of
the World Trade Center. Rev. Campolo soothed our hurt and even made
us laugh a few times. Then he shared a story with us.

He was walking across the bridge that led to the college campus where he
worked. He was used to seeing the homeless and often nodded at them,
yet he also failed to see them. One day, he dropped something on the
bridge, and a homeless woman came up to help him pick it up. He
thanked her and caught her eye. He said, “In that moment, I saw Jesus in
the eyes of a homeless woman.”
He challenged us to see Jesus in the eyes of those we know and don’t
know; in the eyes of those we like and those we don’t respect.
We need to be seen. Really seen. We need to be heard. Really heard.
And we can do that for others. We can see and hear those who are
invisible to us. We can see Jesus in the eyes of the stranger. That’s how
we begin to bring peace into the world.
It may feel as if an earthquake has rent the hearthstones of our continent.
The lamb and the wolf may not be lying together just yet. But, turn your
eye to the beginning of our reading. “A shoot shall come out from the
stump of Jesse…” Jesse was the father of David. Eventually, Jesus, born
in the line of David, would be born and would produce earthquakes of his
own founded in peace.
In the words of Longfellow, God isn’t dead, and God doesn’t sleep.
Throughout history, we have seen the wrong fail and the right prevail.
Recently, I read about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth holding monthly
prayer meetings for his staff. His prayer is for God’s will to be done. You
can’t do better than that.
Say yes to seeing Jesus in the eyes of those we see. Allow that to bring
peace to the hearts of many and to yours as well.
All glory and honor be to God.
Amen.