Dec 8th: Peace in Unexpected Places, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.
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Rev. Dr. Steven Koski
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The Irrational Season of Peace
One of my favorite moments of the year is Christmas Eve. In the stillness of that sacred night, we light the Christ candle, celebrating the arrival of God’s love into a darkened world through the birth of Jesus. We sing Silent Night, passing the flame of a single candle from one person to the next, as if the light itself whispers a promise: the darkness will never overcome it.
In that brief, luminous moment, the world feels as though it stops. As we sing, it’s easy to imagine the angelic voices from Luke’s Gospel proclaiming, “Peace on earth, goodwill to all.” For just a moment, we dare to believe that peace isn’t an impossible dream.
This daring belief is what poet Madeleine L’Engle so beautifully called “the irrational season.” She wrote,
“This is the irrational season when Love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason, there’d have been no room for the child.”
This Advent, we lit the candle of peace—a fragile yet fierce reminder that peace isn’t born of logic or evidence, but of hope and love.
A Story of Peace in the Trenches
One of the most profound stories of this irrational peace unfolded during the first Christmas of World War I, in 1914. Two massive armies, British and German, faced each other in trenches stretching across France and Belgium. These trenches were muddy, cold, and surrounded by despair—a space known as “no man’s land.” Death seemed omnipresent, and the hope of peace must have felt impossibly distant.
Yet something unimaginable happened that Christmas Eve.
As the day wore on, the relentless sound of gunfire fell silent. Without any formal truce or orders, both sides simply stopped shooting. As darkness settled, British soldiers saw something astonishing: German troops lighting Christmas trees at the edges of their trenches. The glow of those small, flickering lights pierced the darkness in a way no one could have foreseen.
Then, a German voice called out, “A gift is coming now!” The British soldiers braced for an attack, but instead of grenades, a boot filled with sausages and chocolate landed in their trench. The British replied with a Princess Mary tin filled with plum pudding and a greeting card. And then, as if on cue, the singing began.
What started as patriotic songs on both sides shifted into something more holy. A German soldier began to sing “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht”—“Silent night, holy night.” The British joined in, and soon, the two languages merged into one universal song of peace.
By Christmas morning, soldiers from both sides cautiously emerged from their trenches, unarmed. They met in no man’s land, shook hands, exchanged gifts, and even played soccer. For a fleeting moment, the violence of war was replaced by the spirit of peace and goodwill.
This remarkable event, often called the Christmas Truce, didn’t last. Within days, the soldiers were ordered back to the trenches, and the war resumed its horrific pace. Yet for those brief hours, the impossible became reality. As one soldier later wrote, “I could never have imagined such a godforsaken place could become so holy.”
Making Room for Peace
This story challenges us to ask: What might happen if we dared to step out of our own trenches—our cynicism, despair, and fear—and choose peace?
The irrational season invites us to light a candle in defiance of the darkness. It calls us to hold that fragile flame against the wind, trusting it will spread and grow. It asks us to make room—not just in our homes, but in our hearts—for the Prince of Peace.
As we sing Silent Night, may we remember the soldiers in those trenches, awakening to something holy amidst unimaginable despair. May their story inspire us to believe in the improbable and to act with hope, no matter how small or fragile our efforts might seem.
This Advent season, let us choose to believe that peace is possible—not because it’s easy or logical, but because it’s what the world most desperately needs.
Let’s make room for peace. Let’s make room for the child.
If this story inspires you, consider reading Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub for a deeper exploration of this moment in history. And as you light a candle this week, take a moment to reflect on how you can bring light into the world around you.
Peace be with you.
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