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Christmas Day: Good news of great joy

12/24/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  As you light all the Advent candles, let these words prepare you to hear God’s Word: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 2:8-20
8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  10But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’  13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
14‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’  16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.  17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.  19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.  20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
As the global pandemic persists, political polarization widens, lies about the U.S. election take hold, violence around the world increases, let alone our own personal difficulties, we all could do with an angel announcing, “good news of great joy for all people.”
 
The sign the angel gave the shepherds as proof of the good news might, however, disappoint us.  An infant wrapped in bands of cloth lying in a manger is nothing unusual, even among the poor.  Every mother wraps her newborn baby in cloth and lays it down somewhere!  How would we know which infant was meant to be the good news?  Would the manger be sufficient clue?  Maybe; maybe not.
 
More problematic is that the angel’s sign is an infant “born this day.”  What good is an infant when we need good news now?  Infants are helpless, entirely dependent on others for protection and nurture.  It will take years before the infant can do anything that will be good news to all people.  We want/need the good news now.  God sends a helpless infant.  But, just as Ruth’s son gave Naomi a sure hope, so too does the infant Jesus.  The shepherds never saw the new thing Jesus came to inaugurate, but they were filled with hope and rejoiced.
 
Decades passed before Mary’s infant began his work that ultimately changed the course of history, started a revolution against world rulers that continues to this day.  God’s promise to make all things new isn’t a pipe dream.  It’s a sure hope because of Jesus’ birth.  Like the shepherds of old, we live in this hope as we wait and long for the day when the good news is fully realized for all people, around the world.  Meanwhile we can live in ways that will be good news, giving hope to all people.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
In what ways do you think you can live so that you’re good news to those you meet this Christmas Day?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord Jesus your birth was and continues to be good news of great joy.  May we, your followers, live in ways that truly are good news, not just to those around us, but to all people.  Amen.
 
Live obediently. Be good news of great joy to others.  Be Christian to the end.

May you experience peace and joy as you celebrate the Advent of Jesus our Lord.

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Friday, Christmas Eve:  Instruments of God’s will

12/23/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light all the Advent candles, including the white one, the symbol of Christ.  Set aside what you know about this very familiar story and read it as if for the first time.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 2:1-7
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.  2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  3All went to their own towns to be registered.  4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.  5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.  6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
The birth of Jesus Messiah, Savior of the world, couldn’t have been more simply told: “the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger.”  Nothing miraculous; nothing unusual; an ordinary, common birth among the poor.  As Fred Craddock notes, “Luke has kept the story clean of any decoration that would remove it from the lowly, the poor, the marginal of the earth.”[1]  Jesus began life the way he lived it—in solidarity with the poor, weak, marginalized.
 
Too often we miss the identification with the world’s lowliest, getting sidetracked with the historical details given in the first two verses.  Luke mentions two Roman rulers and a decree for all peoples to register.  It’s easy to assume Luke was merely setting the historical stage.  But this is a mistake.  Augustus and Quirinius had no influence on Jesus’ birth.  Luke names them to underscore “his basic conviction that emperors, governments, and laws serve the purpose of God, often without knowing it.”[2]  The ruling elite were nothing more than instruments of God’s eternal plan.
 
There are days when I despair at what our political rulers are doing.  Jesus’ birth story reminds us that God is still at work, unseen, behind the scenes, using world rulers for God’s purposes.  They are instruments, albeit unwittingly, in accomplishing God’s plan.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What was noteworthy this time for you in this story?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord Jesus, as we prepare to celebrate your birth, help us remember that you sided with the least in society and yet controlled the powerful so that God’s will gets done.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Be like Jesus and side with the weak and lowly.

[1]Fred Craddock.  Luke.  Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.  1990, p. 35.
[2]Ibid, p. 34.

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4th Thursday in Advent (December 23) His name is John

12/22/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the 4 colored candles and let these words prepare your heart to listen: The Lord has shown great mercy, therefore rejoice.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 1:57-66
57Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.  58Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.  59On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father.  60But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’  61They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’  62Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him.  63He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’  And all of them were amazed.  64Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.  65Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea.  66All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’  For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
I often heard this story when I was a child.  Since then, not so much.  It seems it’s mostly ignored today.  And yet, Luke says more about the birth of John than the birth of Jesus.  John’s miraculous birth attracted more attention than Jesus’ birth.  Only the shepherds heard about that.  John’s birth was broadcast “throughout the entire hill country of Judea.”  What amazed the people the most was the name his aged parents gave him.
 
Just as when Ruth gave birth to her son (Ruth 4:17), the neighbors came to name the child. The chose Zechariah, after his father.  It was a good name.  Zechariah descended from a long line of priests and was a righteous man (Lk 1:5).  His only mistake was not believing the angel Gabriel’s message that his aged and barren wife, Elizabeth would have a son.  But Elizabeth stopped her neighbors, insisting, “No; he is to be called John.”  She learned this from her husband’s story of his encounter with Gabriel.  Since there were no Johns in the family or among the great prophets, the neighbors assumed Zechariah would correct his wife.  He didn’t.  Shocking the neighbors, he supported her.  Immediately his speech returned and, this aged new father could finally praise God out loud, in speech, for his miracle son, John.
 
The neighbors were filled with fear, wondering what this child would become.  They had no idea, but that didn’t stop them telling the story of John’s birth and his name throughout their territory.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
Ponder why the neighbors were so intrigued with John’s birth, and name.
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord, give me the courage of Elizabeth who did not give in to popular opinion.  Like her, I desire to follow your word today.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Follow Jesus even when that’s unpopular.
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4th Wednesday in Advent (December 22)  A restorer of life

12/21/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the four colored candles as these words prepare your heart to listen: I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
 
Prayerfully Read Ruth 4:13-17
13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.  When they came together, the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son.  14Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel!  15He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.’  16Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse.  17The women of the neighbourhood gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi.’  They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
As a teenager I assumed Ruth was a romance story about Ruth and Boaz.  But in the climax (these verses), both Ruth and Boaz appear as incidental, not main characters.  The story is about Naomi, her pain and suffering and its reversal in the birth of Ruth’s son, the ‘next-of-kin’ to protect Naomi.  The bitterness she felt when she returned to Bethlehem after years of exile in Moab was gone, as the neighborhood women recognized.  They attribute the transformation to Yahweh and give thanks (the meaning of ‘blessed be the LORD’).  They also see Ruth’s part, as the daughter-in-law who loved her and was “more to you than seven sons.”  Naomi claimed Ruth’s son as her own, naming and nursing him.  Ruth’s son is no longer her’s but Naomi’s.
 
The neighborhood women, with great insight, declare that the infant will restore Naomi’s life and nourish her in old age.  Ruth isn’t considered and the story ends with a brief genealogy, one Matthew uses.  But his genealogy of Jesus gives Obed back to Ruth.  He writes, “…Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David” (Matthew 1:5-6).  Ruth is one of four women named in Jesus’ genealogy.  All four women are outcasts in some way and yet included in God’s expansive salvation.  Ruth was a poor, homeless alien who became a direct ancestor of Jesus.  God gave Obed, the restorer of life, back to Ruth and she, no Naomi, now lives on in Jesus’ genealogy.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
Where do you see God doing a new thing in this story?  How can you be a restorer of life to others today?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord Jesus you came as a restorer of life so that I might live.  Use me today to be a restorer of life to others.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Be a restorer of life to others today.

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4th Tuesday in Advent (December 21) There is a new creation

12/20/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the four colored candles as these words prepare your heart to listen: Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
 
Prayerfully Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.  20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
“There is a new creation.”  This sentence can be read in two different ways.  First way: There is a new creation.  Not there will be.   We’re not waiting for it to come.  It’s now, in this moment in time.  Second way: There is a new creation.  Not somewhere hidden and out of sight, but right there in front of you; open your eyes and you will see it.  Both ways speak volumes, and both build on the ancient prophet Isaiah’s words about God doing a new thing.  Isaiah’s vision was expansive and general, including all nations, and all creation.[1]  Paul is more particular, with a narrower focus: “If anyone is in Christ.”  That’s where to look for the new creation today, a person in Christ.
 
A new creation doesn’t mean that those in Christ have their ticket to heaven and can forget about everything else.  Neither does it mean that they will be exempt from the troubles and sufferings in this world.  They won’t look or feel any different.  Being a new creation means seeing the world in a different light and responding to its troubles and sufferings in a different way.  It means no longer seeking to earn God’s approval because in Christ we become the righteousness of God, reconciled, restored back into fellowship with God.  In Christ we’re free because he came to reconcile us to God, regardless of our transgression, and then gave us this ministry of reconciliation.  We’re ambassadors for Christ, messengers of reconciliation, not alienation, not only with God but also with the world.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
Since God no longer counts our transgressions against, should we hold another’s sin against them?  Think about that today.
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord Jesus, help me live today in such a way that others look at me and say, ‘There is a new creation.’  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Be that new creation today.
[1] Read the biblical texts and meditations for 1st Monday (Nov 29) and 4th Sunday (Dec 19).

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4th Monday in Advent (December 20)  For the sake of God’s holy name

12/19/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the four colored candles as these words prepare your heart: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.
 
Prayerfully Read Ezekiel 36:22-28
22Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  23I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes.  24I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.  25I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  26A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  27I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.  28Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
It would be easy to read these words of judgment and deem them irrelevant today.  After all, Ezekiel addressed Israel and their problem, not us.  But these words got me thinking about so-called ‘Christian’ nationalism.  It’s popular today to assume that ‘my nation’ is God’s chosen nation, to the exclusion of all other nations.  Ezekiel’s message, it seems, is timeless, as relevant today as it was then.  We’re the ones who must ask whether we’re in danger of profaning the name of Jesus by our behavior.  God will act, not for our sake, not for our pet causes, no matter how righteous we think them.  God says to us, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.”
 
Despite our allegiance to Jesus, we often end up behaving like ancient Israel.  We too need to be made clean so that we can be a light to the nations, not for our sake, but for the sake of God’s holy name.  Just because we’re Christians, with a new heart, doesn’t mean we can be smug.  We too need God to put a new spirit within; remove the heart of stone that makes us indifferent, lacking compassion for the poor, the alien, the widow, the orphan.  We need a heart of flesh to live for the sake of God’s holy name as Jesus commanded, “Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36 REB).
 
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What can you do today for the sake of God’s holy name?
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord, give me a new heart of flesh so that I live in ways that don’t profane your holy name before the world.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Display God’s holy name to the nations.

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4th Sunday in Advent (December 19)  Doing a new thing

12/18/2021

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Theme for this final week:  In this final week, God’s new thing is reflected upon in passages that describe what God has done in us and also in passages focused on the birth of special people—Ruth’s son, Obed (the ancestor of Jesus), John the Baptizer and concluding with the birth of Jesus the Messiah.
 
Prepare to Listen.  In this 4th week of Advent, the four colored candles are lit.  As you light them, let these words prepare your heart: I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
 
Prayerfully Read Isaiah 43:15-21
15I am the LORD, your Holy One,
    the Creator of Israel, your King.
16Thus says the LORD,
    who makes a way in the sea,
    a path in the mighty waters,
17who brings out chariot and horse,
    army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
    they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18Do not remember the former things,
    or consider the things of old.
19I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
20The wild animals will honour me,
    the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
    21the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  Once upon a time I was at decision-making moment.  I longed to see the new way clearly.  As I read these words from Isaiah, instead of comforting me, they frustrated me.  ‘No,’ I yelled at God, ‘I can’t perceive your new thing!’  Of course, I was missing the point.
 
The prophet had a good understanding of human nature and knew humans like to hold onto “former things.”  We idealize the past as ‘the good old days’ and long to go back there, especially when the present and future frighten us.  We need to hear the prophet’s warning, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.”  ‘The good old days’ weren’t as good as we think, and we can’t go back to them.  Israel wanted to go back to an idealized past.  They needed, as one writer suggests, to be shaken out of a faith that was no longer open to learning new things about God’s activity and what is possible with God.  The writer goes on to suggest that when faith becomes locked into set ways and dogmatism about beliefs and morals, it “has ceased to be able to expect anything really new from” God.[1]
 
If we’re going to see God’s new thing, God’s transforming all creation into worshipping and praising God, we must let go of our attachment to the old.  Even the wild animals get it, says Isaiah, and they honor God.  How much more shouldn’t we?
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What caught our attention in these verses?  Live with that today.
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord, forgive me when I get stuck in a longing for ‘the good old days,’ and fail to step out into your new ways that seem unperceived to me until I make that step.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Step into the new, even though it’s unseen.

[1]Clause Westermann in Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  1998, p. 59.

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3rd Saturday in Advent (December 18) Called to love

12/17/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the pink candle and the first 2 purple candles.  Be still with this reminder: The Lord’s mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
 
Prayerfully Read 1 John 5:1-5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.  2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.  3For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.  And his commandments are not burdensome, 4for whatever is born of God conquers the world.  And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.  5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Sandwiched between verses on belief in Jesus (1, 5), the writer gives instruction about one command: Love.  The word is used five times as it’s the essential filling in the sandwich the essential filling in the sandwich, underlining Jesus’ teaching that our most important task is to love God with all we are and have, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40).  John writes, “We know we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.”
 
I didn’t grow up with this commandment as central to the Christian life, even though it was taught to me.  Instead, I was given numerous other commandments related to living a moral life.  We still focus too much on morality, such as no sex outside of marriage, no abortion, no homosexuality, and the like.  Funny thing, Jesus never taught us to focus on moral principles.  He taught us to love God and one another.  John’s epistle emphasizes Jesus’ teaching on love.  Not only does love make the world go round, love is all God asks of us.  Not a soppy sentimental love, but a love that extends itself for the other, regardless.  A love that begins with love for God that naturally pours out into love for others in obedience to God’s command.  To love God is keeping his commandments.  This kind of love is only possible through faith in Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.  Learning to love God and love our neighbor will keep us busy the rest of our lives.  This is God’s call to us today and every day.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
In what ways can you live in love today?
 
Respond to Jesus
Forgive us, Lord, for putting our moral agendas before your command to love you and our neighbors.  Enlarge my faith in you so that I love more like you.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Love God; love one another.

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3rd Friday in Advent (December 17) I have come to do your will, O God

12/16/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the pink candle and the first 2 purple candles.  Be still with this reminder: The Lord’s mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
 
Prayerfully Read Hebrews 10:5-10
5Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body you have prepared for me;
6in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings
    you have taken no pleasure.
7Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God”
    (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’
8When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), 9then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’  He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.  10And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
We conclude this week’s ‘call stories’ with two reflections on the kind of life we, as Christians, have been called to, beginning with Jesus’ example of obedience to the Father. 
 
The book of Hebrews shows the inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood and the superiority of Christ’s, using different parts of the Hebrew Bible for support.  These verses are an almost exact quotation of Psalm 40:6-8.  The writer imagines Christ, at his incarnation, “taking the words of this psalm upon his own lips as the expression of his mission.”[1]  They highlight Jesus’ awareness that his only task was to do God’s will.  In the brief interpretation that follows the quotation, key phrases are repeated, accentuating the importance of doing God’s will.  The Levitical sacrificial system (note the 4 terms used for sacrifices), as essential as it once was, was never sufficient.  Obedience to God’s will was and still is the essential ingredient.  Jesus exemplifies this obedience, offering his human body once for all.  His most important words were, “See, I have come to do your will.”
 
Obedience to God’s will to the point of offering himself is what makes Jesus’ priesthood far better than the old way of sacrifices and offerings.  This, he says, is why he came.  During Advent we prepare once again to gratefully worship this Christ who came to fulfill God’s will so we can fully live.  But that’s not where it should stop for us.  We know that we’re to follow Jesus’ example and to say with him, “See, I have come to do your will, O God.”
 
Prayerfully Reflect
Read Psalm 40:6-8 and wonder about the minor changes the writer of Hebrews made.
 
Respond to Jesus
Lord Jesus you came to do God’s will, offering yourself in human flesh once and for all.  Thank you and give me the wisdom and courage to live your way of obedience to God.  Amen.
 
Live obediently by practicing obedience in the little things today.

[1]Donald Guthrie.  The Letter to the Hebrews.  Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.  1983, p. 203.

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3rd Thursday in Advent (December 16) All generations will call her blessed

12/15/2021

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Prepare to Listen.  Light the pink candle and the first 2 purple candles.  Be still with this reminder: The Lord’s mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 1:46-55 The Magnificat
46And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
     47and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
    and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
“Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed,” except generations of Protestant Christians!  We’ve avoided stories of Mary, except at Christmas in the children’s nativity play, where Mary stands as a mute statue holding the baby Jesus.  We rarely hear sermons on Mary even though she appears in many stories in all four Gospels.  We, and I mean Protestant Christians, no longer call Mary “blessed” and thus fail to pay adequate attention to her song here in Luke.
 
It’s a courageous song, and would have gotten Mary into trouble with the ruling elite, both Roman and Jew.  As Taylor observed, she sang “about God’s defense of the defenseless, God’s rescue of the lowly, God’s upheaval of the proud and overthrow of those in power.”[1]  She sang that salvation through her son, Jesus, would bring deliverance to the most vulnerable, reversing the world order of power and weakness.  No political or religious leader wanted to hear that then, and I’m not sure they want to hear it today.  Mary knew that God was as committed as ever to God’s creation and about to do a new and shocking thing.  But we rarely hear Mary’s words and fail to teach them to our children, keeping Mary a mute, obedient statue.  It’s time we Protestants changed our view of Mary and called her blessed.  After all, as the mother of our Lord, she is, by extension, also our mother.[2]
 
Prayerfully Reflect
Reread Mary’s song and notice her emphasis on God’s upside-down world, reversing the order of rich and poor, powerful and powerless.
 
Respond to Jesus
Thank you, Lord, for Mary and her deep insight into the scope of your salvation.  Give me her courage today to speak up for the weak and powerless.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Be a blessing to the weak and vulnerable today.

[1] B. B. Taylor.  Always a Guest.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  2020, p. 129.
[2] Ibid. 
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