#advent3

Holy One,

You hide us in the Shelter of your wings. You give us courage to face the feelings of doubt, the enemies of our self-worth.

Give us hearts that warm to your Voice first above all others. Confirm your Calling on our lives before the opinions of the world sway us. There are many who need our hearts of compassion, our presence of faithful love, our joy in service.

Focus our minds on you, Holy One, and for the Promise of Peace that surpasses all understanding and circumstances. Make us beacons of your Spirit, flames of love for all who wander and worry.

Blessed be –

Amen.

As posted at https://revgalblogpals.org/2020/12/12/saturday-prayer-44/

The Readings for this Week: Advent 3

Image: "Resisting the Empire" by Jeremy Collins

"My soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

This is my favorite line from the Magnificat, from the poem/song Luke gives us in the first chapter of his Gospel.  It is Mary's response to an encounter with her sister, an encounter that confirms what an angel told her about the Son in her womb.  The whole song is powerful, and tells the story of what God is doing, what drama is unfolding in which she has a part.  But the first line is what grabs me, Mary is responding to this phrase by Elizabeth: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

This response from Mary seems in tune with the answers John the Baptist gives to the questions asked of him in the Gospel reading.  Both Mary and John have a clear sense of themselves, their roles in this story.  God is redeeming, and they have been invited into the story.  They aren't the main attraction, but instead are essential pieces of the  supporting cast.  Mary's souls is enlarged, made full with the joy of God's  salvation.  John is a witness, he baptizes with water, knowing that one would follow him who would complete his work.

This seems like advent work, to know our roles in the salvation history.  Not to strive to be who we aren't, but to see clearly who we are, as God does.  Beloved, messy, over-scheduled and under-achieving, spent by the demands of the world, as in need of healing and forgiveness as the next person. Just like Mary, and just like John - "I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals."  Neither Mary nor John were super-heroes, they were simply faithful, they believed that God would be faithful too.

Most of us spend a lot of time this year worrying about "curating" a Christmas for our families, or our children or grandchildren.  We stress about gifts and plans and responsibilities for all those communities we are committed to, church, school, work, ball teams and civic groups. We have five places to be and still more shopping to do. If we are not intentional we will forget all together the purpose of this festival.

We are not giving Christmas, we are receiving it. Imperfectly, and with a wild frantic pace, we still receive this gift.  Whoever we are, and however well or poorly we respond to it, the gift remains.  Like John and Mary, we don't earn it or deserve it, or even get much of a choice. God's love works like that.  We are being called into this same story, made a part of the salvation of the world.  If we can manage to stop long enough to reflect on that, we might find our hearts enlarged, our perspective widened.

That is the spirit of Christmas: the purpose of all these parties and gifts in the first place - to respond to this extravagant gift of grace in kind, in a way that expresses our gratitude.  My prayer for all of us, is that we might steal a few moments in the next 10 days to remember that. To be kind to ourselves for that which we don't get done, to appreciate that which we do. That we might let this mystery work on us, well up in us, and when the time is right that we might be able like John to point it out to those around us.   Happy third week of advent!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.....