By John Birch —
Luke 1:39-45 “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
As a mother, the narrative of Mary during the Christmas season seems to come more alive. Imagine you are Mary. You just got the news that you are the lucky one to carry the Son of God and have the privilege to raise him. Plus, with all the cultural implications behind not being married, looking like an adulterer, etc this is no small task! So what would you do after hearing this?
I think I would do exactly what Mary did.
Run quickly to my closest kin who the angel mentioned as part of the story anyways and talk about what just happened even though she agreed with such faith. I don’t think I could contain that incident. Just imagine the thoughts going through her head… “I JUST SAW A FREAKING ANGEL! THE MESSIAH IS COMING! And I get to be his mother?!” Like most women, I would just need to process that out loud with trusted friend.
So after Mary greeted Elizabeth, she was rewarded with such assurance from her step of obedience and faith. The baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit that led her to shout with a joyful message. I am positive this message encouraged Mary with her faithfulness and reassured her that the Lord is true to His promises. I am sure she was probably expecting a much different greeting and reaction!
Yet, Elizabeth spoke a prophetic word to her that Mary can hold onto even when things will get tough for her in the future. She didn’t tell her she was nuts, believe the worst in her, but gave her a gift of encouragement from the Lord.
How often do we need someone to shout a joyful assurance to us? When the going gets tough we often can find ourselves isolated, believing we need to figure it out on our own. But God puts people like Elizabeth in our lives to spur us on.
Like Mary, we try not to doubt, but rejoice and be assured that God keeps his promises to what he speaks to us. And often, we need to not hide those promises or bury them because we lack faith or assurance that they will come forth. But to speak them out to our community so they can encourage us in them. Not only this, but to encourage others in their promises with a joyful prophetic word. Trust and joy are two vital aspects of walking with God and often we need community to help us confirm those promises. To give us joyful assurances.
This season I am hoping to bring the joy, peace and love of Jesus to my community. When people have dreams, to not be a doubter but a cheerleader. When people are down, to help lift them up. Maybe it’s through encouragement, speaking truth and reassurance in their life. Let us be people like Elizabeth who speak truth and hope over people’s lives when they are in hard times, good times or stale times. May the message of Jesus be heard all around us in word and deed this Christmas.
By Britni D’Eliso —
Luke 1:11-17: “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
At the age of 7, I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I often spent my free time playing “classroom” with my stuffed animals, spent every Sunday of my middle school years working with the children’s church classes and sought out a University with a reputable education program.
Though my desire to teach remained steadfast throughout my childhood and adolescent years, God pulled some strings my sophomore year of college and sent me on an entirely different career journey… and I must say that I am extremely grateful for his intervention and beyond satisfied with where I’m headed now.
Now John the Baptist had his “career” choice established for him, prior to his very conception. His life was to be set apart, with fairly strict guidelines given by Gabriel himself, and they didn’t seem to leave much wiggle room. Though his calling to continue the message of Ezekiel in preparing the people of that day for the coming of the Messiah was of the highest honor for him and his family, we don’t read of how he may have wrestled through a life of probable seclusion and questioning. John was a 14 year old boy at some point…what did he think of his set apart life then?
We read later in Luke that John grew and became strong in spirit and fulfilled his distinct purpose with fervor as he devoted his life to preparing the way for the Lord. His message of repentance and reconciliation could not have been an easy one to convey, but he did so valiantly, and as a result, the story of Jesus was made possible.
Though our calling may not be as direct or as unique as John’s, we have been invited to continue in his message. It’s a message that will alter our current course in life and will arrive in an inconvenient fashion and will require committed sacrifice; but let us not lose sight of the beautiful fact that when we engage in preparing the way for our Lord, we join a Kingdom-wide movement of restoration.
How lovely on the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace
And brings good news of happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:7
by Christine Sine
Last week I set up a circle of candles around my sacred space where I do my devotions each morning. As I light them each day, a sense a special connection to the people, places and things that I feel God’s circle of light, revealed in the coming of Christ at this season, embraces for me. As I light the candle in front of a family photo I thank God for the light that surrounds my family and friends. I progress from there to a candle surrounded by air plants. That connects me to the circle of God’s creation without which there would be no life on this plant. Then the candle on my altar, reminding me that God’s circle of light embraces all that is sacred and special in our world. From there to my office desk – God’s light embraces my work, and last but not least my “I choose joy” Advent garden where I sense to divine presence in all the inhabitants of our planet.
I sit in the middle of this circle, surrounded by the wonder of God’s love. I thank God for the circle of divine presence which embraces not just me and my family but my neighbours near and far. In fact it embraces all the peoples of the earth past, present and future. It embraces those who have lost homes to hurricanes, floods and fires this year. It embraces those who have fled from war and conflict and violence. It embraces those of us who have warm and comfortable homes to dwell in and abundant food to eat. It embraces those who live in poverty and in wealth. People from every race and nation and strata of society.
What I love about the circle of God’s light is that excludes no one and no thing. God’s light, the Christ child who comes to us at Christmas welcomes all of us into the circle of God’s family inviting us to surrender not just to the loving embrace of our God but also to the embrace of each other. God’s circle of light invites us to find unity and learn to care for each other as one global family.
Lord I sit in this circle of light,
surrounded by your love,
embraced by your peace,
infused with your joy.
Lord I sit in this circle of light,
with all the people of this world
secure in the wonder of your presence.
by Christine Sine
As Christmas rapidly approaches and I survey our world with its pain and suffering I was reminded of this prayer that I wrote a couple of years ago. How do we make room at this season for all the marginalized people in our society and our world? How do we reach out to bring peace and not violence, healing and disease, wholeness and not destruction?
By Lilly Lewin
Read Luke 1:26-38 THE MESSAGE
26-28 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean
village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.
29-33 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.
He will be great,
be called ‘Son of the Highest.’
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob’s house forever—
no end, ever, to his kingdom.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”
35 The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.
36-38 “And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”
And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now:
I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me
just as you say.
Then the angel left her.
I cannot stand interruptions! I like being in control of my time and my day. I like having a plan and seeing it through. But honestly, most of us have lives filled with interruptions. Filled with texts and emails that change our day because someone needs something or someone has forgotten their lunch, gym bag or their instrument. Or someone gets sick and needs a ride to the doctor. Or the puppy poops on the floor. Sometimes bigger things happen like you find out that your test results were bad or your job is being terminated. Can we see even these interruptions as Gifts?
Mary was planning a wedding, just enjoying being engaged when the Angel showed up and told her she was going to be the mother of Jesus. Mary was shocked but she didn’t shy away from what was ahead. Mary allowed God to totally interrupt her life.
The entire Christmas story is about Interruptions….and how people responded to these God gifts of Interruption. Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, the Magi, they all were interrupted by the arrival of Jesus.
Think about the interruptions you’ve had in your life ….
Today, This Week, This Month, This Year….
Are you willing to receive the gift of interruption?
Are you wiling to allow God to interrupt your plans, your ways, your hopes?
And even your dreams? Are you willing to allow Jesus to interrupt you and your plans?
Are you willing to be willing?
Consider how God has interrupted you this past year. How has this changed/affected your life? Take some time today or this weekend to consider the Gifts of Interruption. And as you are interrupted today, this week, this month, instead of freaking out, ask God to help you receive the Gift of Interruption and see where it leads.
“Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, in your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily newspapers. The Lord is coming, always coming. Be alert to his coming. When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life. Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord… ” Henri Nouwen
by James Amadon
The news hangs from my shoulders these days like a heavy backpack, each story another stone to carry. I am tired of paying attention but afraid to stop, and it is taking a toll. My wife, Emily, says she can tell I am carrying the weight of the world when my shoulders start to slump forward. It is hard to stand up straight when each day brings new revelations of the terrible things that happen when selfishness and fear is wedded to power. Even now, as I write this in my local coffee shop, a young, white man with a shaved head is loudly pontificating to his companion about genetics and Martin Luther King Jr. I cannot tell for sure if he is part of the increasingly vocal ethno-nationalist movement in our nation, but it is a sad sign that this is my first guess.
One of the significant victims of our current cultural moment is joy, the deep sense that, come what may, the heart of the world contains an unshakeable goodness. This is what Jews and Christians hear in the opening poetry of Genesis, when God declares again and again and again, “It is good” (Gen. 1). Joy is rooted in memory and sustained by hope; neither comes as naturally to me as I would like. I take it as a great grace that, despite my inclination to forget the past and focus on all that is currently wrong with the world, hope wedges into my days like seeds in a cracked sidewalk, unexpectedly shooting up and blessing me with life-giving joy. This was true the other day as I watched the literal sidewalk in my neighborhood shimmer in the post-rain sunshine underneath a vibrant sky awash in greys and blues. It was a moment that transcended the moment, and it filled me with enough joy to lift my shoulders, shed my burdens, and open my eyes to something deeper.
Joy also came unexpectedly a few months ago when I was given the opportunity to become the Executive Director of Mustard Seed Associates, the non-profit from which Godspace was birthed. I am filled with hope as I help shape Circlewood, the name we have given to the new ministry focus of MSA. We will be working with Christ-followers, the Church as a whole, and any other friends who want to join in, to put care for creation at the center of who we are and what we do. To me, this is an absolute necessity if we are going to be faithful to Scripture and more aligned with God’s heart for the whole world. It is also, I believe, a gateway to joy, being rooted in the hope that all of creation is woven into God’s redemptive love and grace.
It is this hope that keeps me from allowing the news of the day to overshadow the good news of Jesus. This good news burst into the world two millennia ago, dazzling lowly shepherds in the Palestinian countryside with a message that reaches through time to speak the truth we need to hear this Advent: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10).
Great joy such as this often only comes after great sorrow, and those who follow Jesus know that the child in the manger becomes the outlaw on the cross, shoulders slumped in death from carrying the weight of the world. But Jesus, “who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the Cross” (Heb. 12:2), was buried like a seed in the cracked earth and burst forth as a sign of God’s new creation.
It is tempting this Advent to see only leafless trees, falling sunlight, and a darkening cultural horizon. But this is God’s pattern: death to life, bad news to good, sorrow to joy. Lift up your shoulders, shed your burdens, and open your eyes; joy springs up in unlikely places.
James Amadon is the new executive director of Mustard Seed Associates. He comes after serving for 10 years as the Senior Pastor of Highland Covenant Church in Bellevue, WA. In addition to his leadership skills and experience, he brings a passion for helping people see the personal, social, and ecological dimensions of faith and developing ways to integrate these dimensions into an integrated whole, an area he is also working on in his doctoral studies at Duke Divinity School. Feel free to reach out to James at jamadon316@gmail.com.
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