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Advent 3 - Wednesday
By srlee | December 19, 2007
Psalm 24
Isaiah 7:10-17
Luke 1:26-38.
O Branch of Jesse, standing as a sign among all nations, all kings will keep silence before you and all peoples will summon you to their aid: Come, set us free and delay no more.
O key of David and sceptre of the house of Israel, you open and none can shut; you shut and none can open: come and free the prisoners from prison. . (Prayers for Advent–Book of Alternative Services page 119-120)
At the heart of our faith is the reality that God’s entry into our human condition through the birth of Jesus is simultaneously about all that was, all that is and all that is yet to be. At Christmas we celebrate the historical fact that the eternal, timeless God entered into our finite human time through the birth of a baby and forever changed it.
Jesus taught us that the Kingdom of God is here now and also not yet. When he spoke about it in parables he said, “the kingdom is like…” It is here now. When he taught his followers how to pray, he prayed for “thy kingdom come.” It is not yet. As we move through this Advent season and into the coming new year, we do so as members of that Kingdom. Whenever we worship God, we do so from a perspective outside of linear time. Worship is always about simultaneously remembering as Christ’s Body–the church-the Kingdom of God as Jesus taught about it in the past, participating in it as Christ’s Body–the church–in the present and helping God as Christ’s Body–the church-create it for the future.
Mary got all this right (though she surely would not have expressed it that way) at a very young age. For that she is to be admired while we might at the same time wonder how she did it. How did she deal with a society that limited her options and saw her as less than she could be without giving in to resignation, resentment and other destructive feelings? How did she keep her heart focused on what is true while dealing with the pains of her life? How did she manage to stay true to God, to say “yes” regardless of what was happening all around her?
We can learn from Mary. Even though we often fall short, we can strive always to do our best and to say “yes” even when it scares us.
Prayer: When He humbled himself to come among us as a human being, Jesus fulfilled the plan you formed long ago and opened for us the way to salvation. Now we watch for the day, hoping
that the salvation promised us will be ours when Christ our Lord will come in His glory.
Topics: Advent |
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