Many of us are familiar with the concept of Advent as the period of watching and waiting before Christmas and Epiphany. This is a time we remember and celebrate our forebearers, the Judeans and Galileans, watching and waiting for a savior amidst Roman occupation and oppression AND a time of reflection and celebration as we watch and wait for Christ to come again in the midst of our own broken systems and world. But Advent is more than a time of watching and waiting… it is also a time of everyday people, people like you and I, committing to the call of the Spirit with a holy “yes” and then re-orienting their lives around that holy yes, working with God to labor and birth Christ anew in and for the sake of this world. Many of us are familiar with the advent stories of these regular people, people like Elizabeth and Zechariah, their son John the Baptist, Joseph and of course Mary, the mother of God, the quintessential Godbearer.
This Advent season we are going to take a closer look at this invitation from the Holy Spirit to be a Godbearer through the eyes of Mary, an unwed, teenage, brown-skinned young woman who would become a refuge; a young woman who intimately knew the brokenness of her world and who committed with a holy yes when called by the Holy Spirit to work with God to birth a new creation. This attention to Mary may be new to some of us but is an approach taken by many around the world, especially by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and many Episcopalians. This young woman offered a holy yes and then reoriented her life to laboring and birthing the Christ-child, her son, supporting his ministry and ultimately surrendering him to the most gruesome death so that God could renew the entire world through his resurrection. This young woman became a mother to the young Christian movement when Jesus gave his beloved disciple to her as a son from the Cross ((John 19:26-27) and across the centuries, marginalized communities have sought comfort and encouragement from the witness, commitment, and love of Jesus’ mother, who often appeared to them in the form of visions. The Florida-Bahamas synod Just Love team is also approaching Advent from Mary’s perspective with attention to how Latin Americans watch, wait and respond to God’s call inspired by Mary’s witness. There will be a link to the Just Love weekly devotions in our Friday email and they will inspire the video devotion I will post on the ASLC facebook page each Wednesday of Advent.
Even as a young woman, Mary had a sense of how her very personal yes to the Spirit was political and that God could and would take her personal commitment and bless it to be used in the eternal work of renewing the entire world with God’s justice and peace. Mary’s witness invites us not only to watch and wait this Advent season for the overshadowing and calling of the Holy Spirit, but also for preparing our hearts so that we too can respond with a holy and resounding yes, hopefully expecting God to bless our commitment, and the impending labor and birth, and use it, as only God can, to renew and reshape our world. We are invited to reflect on Mary’s song, the Magnificat, as we prepare our hearts, minds and lives for the Godbearing work the Spirit calls us to.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his child Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” ~Luke 1:46-55
In the Justice and peace of. Christ,
Pastor Kari