Theme:  Jesus comes to bring us peace.

Object:  A newspaper and an Advent Wreath.  (You might also want to make a "bumper sticker" that says, "Know Jesus, Know Peace - No Jesus, No Peace.")

Scripture:  "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Luke 2:14  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

Reading the newspaper can surely be disturbing at times.  It seems that the newspapers are full of stories about war and violence.  Since September 11th, the papers are full of articles about the war against terrorism, but that's not the only war being fought. There are wars all around the world. Even in the land that we call the Holy Land, there is fighting between Arabs and Jews.  It seems as if there is no peace anywhere on earth.

The paper is full of stories about violence in our homes.  "Domestic violence" is what they call it.  Even in our own homes there is no peace.

You can hardly pick up a newspaper or magazine these days without reading an article about violence in our schools.  Just last week there was an article in the paper about some students who were arrested.  They were planning to sneak guns into their school and kill teachers and students.  Even in our schools there is no peace.

On the night Jesus was born, the angels said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Where can we find this peace that the angels were talking about?  Can we really find "peace on earth?"  I saw a bumper sticker on a car one day that said, "Know Jesus, Know Peace - No Jesus, No Peace."  That really says it all!  If we want to know peace, we can only know that peace when we know Jesus, the Prince of Peace.  If we don't know Jesus, we can have no peace.

Today we light the candle of peace.  It reminds us that we can only know real peace when we know Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Dear Jesus, we thank you that we really can know peace when we know you, and invite you into our hearts.  Amen.