Advent day 19- Lowly lifting

And Mary sang:  "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
      for he has looked with favor on the lowliness 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.  
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 thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly..."  Luke 1:46-52.

In the previous posts I spoke about my own proud thoughts and negative powers that God is gradually scattering and bringing down in my life.  By hearing these words of Mary in personal terms, I don't mean to trivialize the radical, universal nature of what Mary is claiming here.  As has been so evident in the last week with the Newtown tragedy, we need Christ to come and set things right.  That's the promise.  Nevertheless in the meantime God seems to be carrying out this promise in a behind-the-scenes way, changing individuals and calling groups to be salt and light in the world.

And so today we hear that God has "lifted up the lowly."

I see God's "lifting" work being done in so many ways, in so many places.  A few simple examples:  people in our congregation arranged an afternoon of hospitality to take family Christmas portraits in a troubled neighborhood of the city.  Another team drove to NJ and spent a day helping with Sandy clean-up.  Next week over Christmas break some are volunteering to staff the church-sponsored shelter for the homeless.  This to me is God working through us to lift up the lowly.

Bear with me as I go personal with this text again.  Today I am sitting in my study hoping to crank out three messages for the coming week.  I never feel more lowly than when I face this task of what to say to the people of God.  I'm an introvert and would rather not speak; to do so drains me.  But the idea that I must speak words that perhaps God can use to nurture and challenge God's people (or perhaps not) is daunting.  And I am aware of my lowliness.  That God's word does come through is a great testament to God's grace in my lowly work and the congregation's great patience.

So here I am, sitting wordless in my lowliness and not feeling the least bit lifted up yet.  Except I keep remembering my morning walk where about a half hour before sunrise there was an amazing flush of rose fire in one quarter of the sky.  For a few minutes only the clouds were vivid.  The browned grass wore a pink, frosty wash.  The dark flowing water of Trout Run became a racing maroon current.  By the time I had hurried up cemetery hill, everything was fading back to a slate gray and cloud cover was closing the slim  sky opening, preventing sunlight from being seen today.

What does that have to do with the scripture text or my task of the day?  Only this and only tangentially: any lowly one who is homeless, any lowly one who faces yet another day of flood clean-up, any lowly one who was unable to sleep last night because of grief over the death of a child, any of these lowly ones might have glimpsed the incredible beauty of God's creation.  While God will lift up all lowly one day in amazing ways, today God offered us free beauty as we plow ahead into our day of lowly and perhaps painful tasks.  A few may have seen it and been lifted up.  That's my prayer anyway.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly...

Advent day 18- Down from thrones

And Mary sang:  "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
      for he has looked with favor on the lowliness 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.  
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 thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones..."  Luke 1:46-52.

There are a number of things to which I grant power that only belongs to God.  Other peoples' opinion and, related to that, making a good impression.  Letting the waster of free time have more power than doing some more "productive" things that I sincerely want to do.  My introvert self digging in its heels and yelling:  not another phone call!  Coveting what I use to go out and buy or the traveling I use to do before the economic downturn affected our family. Justifying every little thing I do rather than admitting I am not perfect.   None of these things is worth the power I give them.

Here's the good news:  the fact that I am aware that I give these things power which they don't deserve indicates that God is beginning to bring them down off of the thrones  in my life. I think that God seems to be dismantling the powers from the inside out in a quietly, subversive way.  It's a slow process.  Of course, it has been a long process for the Church which has been singing this song for about 2000 years and waiting for God to come and put things right once and for all.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones.....
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Advent day 17- The great scattering

And Mary sang:  "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
      for he has looked with favor on the lowliness 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.  
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 thoughts of their hearts...."  Luke 1:46-51.

The popular polls would have picked someone else as the mother of Israel's messiah, but God chose to come to simple and sincere Mary instead of the proud and politically powerful.   It was a slap in the face to the influential....an affront to the demented King Herod who couldn't stand, as it turns out, thought of a messiah taking over his throne.  So Herod resorted to the murder of the innocent children in the town Jesus was born to prevent such a messiah from surviving.  Herod died shortly thereafter, perhaps even thinking he had managed to snuff out the upstart messiah's life, but he had failed.  The holy family had escaped to Egypt for a time.   God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 

According to Mathew's gospel, Mary's betrothed husband, gentle Joseph, was figuring out how to quietly divorce her after he had received the news she was pregnant.  Joseph knew the child wasn't his.  His plan was justified; he could only assume Mary had been unfaithful.  And I will assume (reading between the lines) that Joseph's pride, both in terms of his righteous morals and his personal affection for Mary, had been bruised.  But those plans were dispersed by angel Gabriel's arrival with a message from God.  The message changed Joseph's mind.  God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 

Jesus bent down and wrote in the sandy dirt.  A woman caught in adultery had been dragged over to stand near Jesus.  The arresting religious leaders pretended to want Jesus to judge the case.  If he did not condemn her, he would obviously be breaking the Jewish law.  If he did condemn her, he would lose the following of the ragtag masses.  Either way, the religious leaders would win...they thought.  Jesus looked up and said, "Let the one without sin cast the first stone."  He then went back to writing in the sand and waited them out.  One by one, the accusers walked away, and Jesus then absolved and instructed the woman who had been their pawn.  He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

Whether a ruthless king, or a confused and loving fiancee, or the judgmental, self-righteous elite, or whether it is me....He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  Week after week, God works in my heart and in the hearts of all of God's children, transforming us, changing us, teaching us.  Teaching us to think of others rather than pursuing only our own welfare.  Teaching us that surface appearances are indeed deceiving.  Teaching us that our self-righteousness can blind us.  Teaching us not to be controlled by our pride.  Teaching us to wash feet when necessary.  Sometimes it takes a lifetime, but Jesus comes into our lives to scatter the proud thoughts of our hearts so that love will ultimately win.   

Advent day 16- Metaphors

And Mary sang:  "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness 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.  His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm...."  Luke 1:46-51.

I love metaphors and use them all the time.  Spirit is wind.  Christ is light.  My granddaughter is sunshine. Books are a retreat.  Uncertainty is a dense fog.  A listening friend is a cup of cold water in a desert.

Mary uses a metaphor:  God has shown strength with his arm.  I managed to disconcert a few people in bible study the other week when I suggested that I don't believe God (as Creator/Father/ first person of the Trinity) has a body as we know it.  God is not literally showing strength by something God is doing with an arm: wielding a sword in battle, tossing bolts of lightening, shaping humans from dust or holding back the sea.

It seems to me that "strength of his arm" used here and other times in Hebrew scriptures is a metaphor for the powerful ways God works to defend and care for God's people.  And that's how Mary, pregnant with Jesus, is using the metaphor, especially if we read the verses that follow (which we will over the next few days.).

But wait!  Once Jesus enters the picture, the metaphor melts into reality.  Jesus actually has an arm, two of them,in fact.  What exactly do we see Jesus doing with the strength of his arm?  Jesus pointing to the other side of the boat for the disciples to throw their fishing nets.  Jesus picking up a child to bless.  Jesus spreading mud on a blind man's eyes.  Jesus taking a whip to the tables of money changers in the temple.  Jesus writing on the ground to divert a group of self-righteous leaders and protect a needy woman.  Jesus carrying a basin of water to wash dirty disciples' feet.  Jesus blessing and breaking bread with "tax-collectors and sinners."  Jesus with arms outstretched on the cross. Jesus uses his arms to defend and care for God's people.  Actually, he uses his arms to save all of humankind.  And that is not a metaphor!

A hymn for advent day 15, for tragedy day 4

Today, on what should be the most joyful Sunday in advent, we acknowledged the grief and prayers we hold for those who have lost their children, family members and teachers in Connecticut this past week.  The following words are from the hymn we sang at the lighting of the advent wreath this week.  It is all about Emmanuel, God with us in the sorrow.  It is about the promise (heard loudly in advent) that he will come again to make right what is unbearably broken.  Although it was hard to do any rejoicing, the words are a call, a plea, for Christ to come into the darkness.....

O come, O Branch of Jesse, free your own from Satan's tyranny;
     from depths of hell your people save, and give them victory o'er the grave.



O come, O key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home;
     make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery.

 

O come, O Dayspring, come and cheer;  O sun of justice, now draw near
     Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadow put to flight.

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

Tomorrow we go back to Mary's song.....

Advent Day 14- How to see a mercy

And Mary sang:  "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness 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.  His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

Somewhere in our confirmation class of 7th to 8th graders, there is usually a discussion about what "fear" of God means. Something about a revealing of God's presence must be fear producing, because angels are forever telling their visitees not to be afraid.  (Gabriel's words to Mary, in fact.)  Eventually, however, our class discussion gets around to a fear of God that equals honor, awe, respect, worship...even obedience. I don't doubt that a healthy respect and awe of God might produce some trepidation at times.  However, Jesus talked about God as "father" in loving relationship with God's children.

Mary says, "His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation."  At first hearing it seems that God's mercy is available to those who honor/worship (fear) God, which may lead one to conjecture that God's mercy is not available to those who do not honor (fear) God.  I would not go for that assumption.  "The sun shines on the good and the bad" as the saying goes.  The whole world benefits daily from the grace and mercy of our Creator and Sustainer.  It we are breathing at all, God's mercy touches us, believer or not.

But I can say this.  If  one is not worshiping, honoring (fearing) God with awe, it is almost a sure thing that one will not be able to see and take notice of the mercies of God "that are new every morning" and all around.  It is only in relationship with the Holy One that a person can see what a loving God is doing in her or his life as well as in the world around.  Like forgiveness.  Like healing.  Like hope.  Like unconditional love.  Worship and honor (fear) of God opens one's eyes to the many divine mercies that one would miss otherwise.

Advent Day 13 with hearts broken

On this very sad night, when children and teachers have been shot to death, when families are desperately grieving, when words fail us, when we wonder what has gone wrong with our world, the season of advent voices our pain and hope for something better:  Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Our world needs your healing and peace.