'Tis the season for pandemonium: the rushing here and there, to and fro, from wherever to whatever, all in the name of getting ready for Christmas, preparing for the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace. It's almost a contradiction in terms: peace among pandemonium.
And yet, when we think about it, when we get to the deep theological roots of what this season and what the Christmas celebration are all about, they are indeed about the finding of peace among pandemonium.
My dictionary tells me that "pandemonium" means uproar, and utter confusion. My Greek reminds me that the word means a place where all the devils live. My Literature Course reminds that it was the worst place in hell in Milton's Paradise Lost. Not a very pretty picture is it?
Sometimes, sad to say, the season almost seems like hell, what with all the demands we impose upon ourselves: we impose, not society, not the church, not anyone. We impose them upon ourselves. Yes, there are those temptations to listen to all those devils vying to get our time, our attention, our money, maybe even our soul. But we're not obliged to listen or give in.
So, amid all this uproar and utter confusion, we desperately search for peace, for quiet, for a semblance of sense. We don't have to look very far, of course. We only have to look beyond the pandemonium to the One who came to make sense of it all, to bring that peace which surpasses all our understanding: Jesus.
The peace of God is not the opposite of uproar and confusion. The peace of God is found among all the uproar and confusion; or, as Catherine Marshall reminds, "to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart."
No, finding peace among pandemonium is not and never will be easy. But it is not something that is found anyway. It is something that is made or discovered. If we go looking for peace, we'll never find it. We have to make the place and space in our lives for peace to become alive. Otherwise, all those devils that fill our lives will never stop their uproar and noise.
Advent is not simply a time for preparing for the celebration of the Birth of the Prince of Peace. It is also, and perhaps more importantly, a time for making room in our hearts and lives for that peace to become a reality, a daily reality. That won't be easy, as we have all discovered. But as we have all also discovered, when we make those moments for peace to reign, we begin to make sense of our lives even amid all the uproar.
How we use this Advent Season is up to us, as is all of our life. No one can live it for us and no one can take it from us. Hopefully it will be a time for finding peace among all the pandemonium.
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