Scripture:
Imagine a young girl, unmarried and pregnant 2000 years ago
in Judea. The gospel says she left her hometown in haste to go to her cousin
Elizabeth’s home. Why? How was she met and received? And how did Mary respond?
What a blessing we have in this week’s gospel. Mary, surely
anxious and in what her countrymen would say is a shameful condition, is met
with joy, and gives us her Magnificat. She is received with joy, and thanks
God, declares her lowliness in humility, and shows us how the glory of God
finds favor in the lowly and lays out for us God’s merciful plan of salvation
in the baby she carries. The mighty and powerful will be brought down, the
prideful will be scattered, and the hungry will be filled with good things.
Shame and anxiety will be no more as God in his mercy has given us his Son to
bear and remove all sin and that which separates us from God and each other. Mary’s
heart is bursting with joy and love and hope. And if we receive those who are
ashamed or have anxiety with joy, and love, Christ, in his love, comes again,
and give them strength and hope.
We light the fourth candle in this last Sunday of
Advent, with hope, joy and love. Reflect on this as Elizabeth receives Mary,
and Christ is born in Bethlehem, and in our hearts this Christmas.
Our readings this week are: Fr. Rick Morley's remarks about Elizabeth in "from shame to blessing with haste," Dan Clendenin's "Blessed is the Child You Will Bear - Advent and Anxiety," and The Rev. Anna Tew's " A Song of Hope."
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