Peace on Earth

Conflict broke out this week in Denver, Colorado when resident Lisa Jensen hung up a red and green Christmas wreath on the front of her house. As we near the Christmas season, a wreath is something that is seen time and again and is generally regarded as a risk-free ornament. That is until you put a peace sign in the middle of the circular wreath. "Some residents believed the wreath was a symbol of Satan", says Bob Kearns, president of the Homeowners Association of nearby Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

The Kearn's led homeowners' association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine Jensen $25 a day until she removes the Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest. Lisa Jensen said she wasn't thinking of the current Iraq war (mess) when she hung the wreath. She said, "Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing."

This is a refreshing story to me. In fact, it is beautiful. I don't know Jensen, but I commend her, and wish that I could be as bold in my stance as a person who strives (and often stumbles) to bring peace on Earth. As Kearns and many from the community threatened to fine her what would have been $1,000 by December 25, she said simply that peace is part of her spirituality. By publicly displaying her wreath, she proclaimed simple good news to the world.

As the Christmas season is upon us, it is bittersweet. It has not been a peaceful year, and solemnly it's hard to have hope for next year. In a country in the middle of several conflicts, it is not a good sign when its people hardly recognize a basic peace sign. Let alone believing it's a sign of Satan.

It's my hope that this Christmas season we remember just why we are celebrating. When our consumer culture rushes to the local mega mall, possibly armed in case of a PS3 riot, we should remember that the best gift we can give and receive is peace. In Luke it says, on the night Jesus was born, the angels joined together and praised God singing, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on Earth to all." This is what Jesus meant to them and it should be what Jesus means to us today, even if Bob Kearns doesn't think so.