As I write, the US government has been partially shut down. Hundreds of thousands of government workers have been impacted, as well those who utilize governmental agencies deemed “unessential”. I find myself pondering all this in light of Sunday morning’s reading from Luke. Known as the Magnificat, it is the song Mary sings as she responds to God’s plans for her to bear God’s Son. She sings to her cousin Elizabeth: “I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God,” is how Eugene Peterson interprets it in The Message. The words leap from the page just as Elizabeth’s child leapt in her womb when Mary sang.
But it is not just the joy felt at the anticipation of a child. There is so much more that Mary will bring into the world. She describes the fullness of God’s mercy and righteousness that will be brought into the world through Jesus.
“His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.”
Into a world of oppressive governments, poverty, and warring factions, God came. Through Christ, the Hope of World, God helps us imagine a world of justice, of equity, of healing, restorative love.
Alan Brehm writes "In Advent we sing because we look forward to something better than the violence and suffering and injustice all around us. We look forward to the kindness and generosity and compassion of our God being fulfilled for all the peoples of the world."
We are called to continue to birth into our world God’s love in such tangible ways that the world is changed as it is infused with God’s grace and justice. In these days we are living, may you look for signs of Christ’s coming, may you allow God’s love to be born in you, and may you respond as Mary responded, offering your whole self in joy.
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