Peace on Earth

Holding on to God's Promises this Christmas

It was a great honour to be invited by Rev. Michael Fredericks to contribute to the Perth-Andover Baptist online Advent calendar.

You can view the congregations short nativity videos throughout their website -- they are a lot of fun and feature reflections from many different contributors. Below is my reflection from this past week.

Perth-Andover Advent Calendar 2018

DECEMBER 18

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

Luke 2:13-14 (NLT)

Bisereo, Rwanda

The sun drops low as we near the top of the steep cliff-side memorial. Looking back, I watch the winding stone path below us weaving between the memorial houses of the Bisesero Genocide site in Western Rwanda. 

This once peaceful forested mountainside was the last stand of the genocide of the Tutsi people in 1994. Remote and inaccessible, this was the last refuge where Western Tutsis fled. Their hope was to hide in the old forest deep in these high hills. But even here, peace would be destroyed. In each of the houses below us rest their bones. Nearly 50,000 people died in this area, and here they lie.

We climb this path with Christian leaders from across Africa, men and women who hold on to the hope of the angels' song this Advent – “Peace on Earth!” They live in areas of conflict and division, desperate for peace.

The forest has largely vanished in Bisesero, but what remains are old pines that soar into the alpine sky. I whisper to a pastor next to me that these trees are a powerful symbol of Christmas in Canada -- "When the cold days of winter come to Canada their evergreen needles remind us that the promises of God never die."

The promise of the coming of the Prince of Peace is for now, it is for Africa, and it is for all of us.