{"id":29680,"date":"2025-12-01T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/?p=29680"},"modified":"2025-11-29T11:55:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T11:55:57","slug":"letter-from-revd-andrea-colbrook-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/?p=29680","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Revd. Andrea Colbrook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Shalom: The Peace Christ Brings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At Christmas we hear the word&nbsp;<em>peace<\/em>&nbsp;everywhere. It\u2019s written on cards, sung in carols, and used as a greeting. But in the Bible, peace means far more than just \u201cquiet\u201d or \u201cno fighting.\u201d It speaks of a deep, rich kind of life\u2014a life made whole.<\/p>\n<p>The biblical word&nbsp;<em>shalom<\/em>&nbsp;describes peace as&nbsp;<strong>wholeness, well-being, and everything being put right again<\/strong>. It is the peace that comes when broken things are mended, when relationships are healed, and when people are cared for and safe. Shalom is God\u2019s dream for the world.<\/p>\n<p>Peace also means&nbsp;<strong>calm in the middle of trouble<\/strong>\u2014the kind of steady, gentle presence that helps us breathe again even when life feels overwhelming. And it means&nbsp;<strong>rest<\/strong>: the kind of inner stillness that comes from knowing God is with us.<\/p>\n<p>When Jesus said,&nbsp;<em>\u201cMy peace I give to you,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;He was offering this deep, restoring peace. A peace that doesn\u2019t depend on everything being perfect. A peace that holds us in fear, sits with us in pain, and strengthens us in uncertainty. His peace brings us back together\u2014back to God, back to one another, and even back to ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>So, what might peace look like this Christmas, here in our homes and villages?<\/p>\n<p>Peace looks like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>listening kindly to someone who is struggling<\/li>\n<li>forgiving where there has been hurt<\/li>\n<li>making sure neighbours are not hungry or alone<\/li>\n<li>choosing gentleness in difficult moments<\/li>\n<li>offering a warm presence to someone who is anxious or grieving<\/li>\n<li>bringing calm where there is tension<\/li>\n<li>praying for those who wake each day to fear, pain, or worry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Peace grows whenever we choose compassion, patience, and understanding. Shalom begins in small acts of love.<\/p>\n<p>This Christmas, may we not only speak of peace but&nbsp;<strong>live it<\/strong>.<br \/>\nMay we be people who mend, restore, and encourage.<br \/>\nMay Christ\u2019s peace rest upon all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit.<br \/>\nAnd may His shalom fill our community with hope, healing, and light.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shalom, and the peace of Christ be with you this Christmas.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shalom: The Peace Christ Brings At Christmas we hear the word&nbsp;peace&nbsp;everywhere. It\u2019s written on cards, sung in carols, and used as a greeting. But in the Bible, peace means far more than just \u201cquiet\u201d or \u201cno fighting.\u201d It speaks of a deep, rich kind of life\u2014a life made whole. The biblical word&nbsp;shalom&nbsp;describes peace as&nbsp;wholeness, well-being,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[394,4,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent-and-christmas","category-community","category-news","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29681,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29680\/revisions\/29681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}