God at work

Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:46b-55; Luke 1:39-45

Finally, our Advent waiting is almost over. At last, we are talking about Mary and Jesus. And our fourth week of Advent is short, just a couple days this year.

We could say the focus this week is on the little things. Bethlehem is a little town, and a little clan. Mary is a little – meaning young and unimportant – woman, at this time. Although Elizabeth is the female descendant of a high-ranking family, because she was barren until 6 months ago she is also a person of little importance. Mary’s song highlights God’s power to uplift the little and lowly people. And the babies in the women’s wombs are little creatures, at the moment.

Yet this moment in the lives of Mary and Elizabeth is anything but little. Elizabeth is 6 months pregnant by this time, and Mary is pregnant, but maybe just a month or two. By now, Elizabeth has begun to feel baby John move within her. As he grows, she can feel some shifts in position, maybe an elbow or a knee pushing against her insides. Those who have born babies know these feelings will grow stronger and stronger until the baby is born.

Today, as Mary approaches the home of her kinswoman, Elizabeth moves quickly to greet her. Within her, she feels more than a knee or elbow moving. She feels the child leap as she is filled with the Holy Spirit. I was trying to imagine what that felt like, since the womb is such a limited space. Maybe John stretched out to his full length, or shoved arms wide to the sides, or maybe he did a somersault. Yeah, probably a somersault.  

Elizabeth shouts loudly, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She continues celebrating the moment, praising God for the future they see before their eyes. I notice that Elizabeth, the mother of John the Forerunner to Jesus, points to Jesus, just as John will later.

And Mary responds with the song we call the Magnificat. It begins, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” The images in Mary’s song are anything but gentle and sweet. They are not little. … Mary first praises God, just as Elizabeth does, then she puts some power behind her words. She stands with fist raised, as Ben Wildflower imagines her. And declares that the coming of her son means justice for all who are oppressed in any way. … Can you imagine Mary teaching this song to her son Jesus as he grew to manhood?

… Today, we are still singing the Magnificat, and wishing and hoping all its promises were already fulfilled. But we are far from that, because we are all still human, and both saint and sinner.

The people of the city of Bethlehem, Palestine, know all too well how broken the world still is. A year ago, when the war in Gaza was new, Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem posted this image, along with the message that Christmas services were cancelled.

The nativity has Baby Jesus wrapped in a black and white checked keffiyeh – a Palestinian scarf – lying in a pile of rubble. Surrounding him are the usual creche figurines: shepherds and sheep, magi and gifts.

Unfortunately, this year, Christ is still in the rubble. There are still no visitors, no Christmas pilgrims, in Jerusalem or Bethlehem. It could just as easily be 2,000 years ago! However, there is still hope in Bethlehem. On Friday evening, there was a sumud service, in which many Palestinians gathered to pray for peace and justice, which is just the promise Jesus made to us so long ago. Bishop Sani-Ibrahim Azar preached. Here is the Sermon PDF .

… God is as active today in healing the world as God was 2,000, 4,000, 6,000, 4.5 billion (the approximate age of the earth), and 13.7 billion years ago (the estimated age of the universe).

In our day-to-day lives, we will see God’s activity if we pay attention. Gloria Dei’s quilters send their offerings to Lutheran World Relief, where people around the world make creative use of the quilts they make. Of course, God is present in the quilters’ time together, as they begin with prayer and study, and we send the quilts off with a blessing.

We also see God’s activity in the people around us – our biological families and our in-law families and our church families and our chosen people families. Here’s a chosen family story, which highlights the way God works.

This picture is of Mike and me with our friends Ned and Joyce on a cruise on the upper Mississippi in 2022. When Joyce and Ned and I (and my now ex-husband) were much younger, we knew each other at Saron Lutheran Church, St Joseph, MI. Our children were about the same age. Ned and Joyce and their daughter moved away after a few years and we lost touch with each other.

Our children grew up. I got a divorce and went to seminary. I got remarried. I had just started serving Hope in Citrus Springs as their pastor and went to talk with some inquiring visitors, which turned out to be Ned and Joyce! We get together often these days for a meal and conversation. Certainly, they are God’s gift to us, and I hope, we are to them. One of our favorite God-incidences!

… This week, I hope you pay attention to how God is present in your lives. And I hope you will tell me the story of what you discovered. Amen