A Journey Through Advent: Tuesday, Dec. 21
by Parker Williams,
Member of Holy Cross Episcopal Church, Poplar Bluff
Today's readings: Psalm 33:1-5,20-22; Song of Solomon 2:8-14; Luke 1:39-45
Peace. Joy. Hope. Blessings.
The words associated with this season often seem so. . . Pious. Sentimental.
And naively simplistic.
And yet when we read through the gospels, we see that the joy and blessings Mary experiences are anything but piously simplistic. They are the result of belief in the midst of everyday challenges and unspeakable tragedies.
Peace, joy, belief, hope and blessings are not truly found in a denial or a trivialization of the adversity we are all met with, as can be heard in the song Mary will soon sing in response to her experience. They are found (in contrast to the previous cynicism of Zechariah) instead in curiosity and openness to God working in our midst and through our circumstances, even when everything else challenges us to believe the opposite.
The greatness of Mary, as Fleming Rutledge said, is found in that “she heard, believed, and obeyed God.”
Advent gives us a story of what it looks like to hope in the midst of a world that is so full of death by remembering how the faithful waited before us and experienced blessings because of it. For us to be recipients of the same blessings of joy and peace they received is then dependent on our choice to believe the Lord to fulfill all he has promised. Not because we are pious or sentimental. But because we remember who it is that has made the promise.
“For the word of the Lord is upright,
And all his work is done in faithfulness.” -Psalm 33:4
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