"Hail, the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris'n with healing in His wings;"
---Charles Wesley
If you have ever been ill, then received the appropriate treatment, and gotten well, you know the peace that can come with healing. Imagine the peace that might descend onto the earth were there some treatment or cure for the ills that plague our societies --- poverty, greed, unconcern, self-centeredness. homelessness, violence, enslavement, addiction. In what is perhaps Wesley's most widely-known text, he envisions Christ as a healer, bringing light and life to a dark and dead world, as Sun of Righteousness and Prince of Peace.
Sounds like magic, doesn't it? In those beautiful words, however, there is more than hypnotic power. Jesus, through his living and his dying, provided light, life, and healing; and through his example walking these streets, he provided a path for us to follow. There is peace to make; we've been called to the task, and empowered for it by the Prince of Peace.
Peace, Emmanuel, God with us.
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