Monday, December 21, 2009

Luke 1:39-56

39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 46And Mary said,

47“My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has looked with favor 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 forever.”

56And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

    
Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, new life within her leaped.

Our Advent call is to listen to a greeting from the universe to us. We pay attention to the events of the day that we might see beyond them.

Our Advent response is to leap to new life on behalf of the universe. We engage our courage to act on what we see beyond and to live as though it were already present.

New life is ready to leap within us as individuals and as humanity. As we care for one another we send beckoning greetings to one another to come forth; come forth.

Are you ready to give birth to a new you, to a next generation? Well, ready or not, a call has gone out, is going out, will continue to go out. The only question before us is how far along we have come in being ready to claim a greeting of peace from those near and from those afar. We know that acting on that claim will lead us to new territory with one another and with all others.

In all this we are claiming to fill the on-going place of Baptizer John - clarifying and calling others to stop slacking off and be the peace we desire (if you want to say this is “G*D’s desire”, that’s alright, too, as we are in this business of life together).

While we are usually looking forward to the starring role of Mary wherein we might shine (you have been practicing the Magnificat, have you not, because it is one of the important job descriptions common to us?), for this time consider reprising the role of Elizabeth.

How do you handle such life-changing surprises as pregnancy in old age? As we model grace in the midst of G*D surprises, we draw other surprised people together. In some sense we might drop the overused term “Christian” as too many people think they have a lock on what that means. Imagine identifying yourself as one who is “Graced by Surprises”. You can still use all your “Christian” heritage, but in creative new ways. A new name reflects a new reality. We who are graced by surprises know this is a source of new life for us and we encourage one another to embrace life in all its fullness.