We rejoice, for the Light of the World has come to darkness. Jesus Christ is the Light that no darkness can overcome. Advent is a season of preparation as God’s people watch and wait for Christ. We will be pondering the songs found in the gospel of Luke. The song of an old priest named Zechariah. Mary, the pregnant teenager. And angels come to shepherds in the countryside. We ponder these songs and rejoice.
Invocation
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. The light no darkness can overcome.
Jesus, open our eyes to your light and our ears to your words of hope. Come, O long-expected Jesus. Our hope is in you. Amen.
Word: Luke 1:49
“For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
Meditation: Suffering in Greatness
Today’s meditation is written by Susan Becher Schultz.
This Thanksgiving I sat with my nieces and asked what they wanted for Christmas. As they listed off toys, memories flooded back to me of the joy I used to hold during the Advent season. I could hardly sleep on Christmas Eve, my heart pounding at the thought of freshly wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree.
As a young adult I liked Christmas less and less. Easter quickly became my new favorite holiday. I resonated more with the somber tones and dark hues of Lent. I could relate to the pain and suffering of Jesus’ on the cross over the celebration of his birth. As someone who still isn’t sure if I want to have children it’s hard for me to relate to Mary. I can’t speak to the pains of childbearing or the miracle of childbirth.
But I can’t help but be struck in this text by Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel. While John the Baptist had expectations placed on him before his birth, Mary was ripped away from her normal teenage life into one of greatness. While John came before to proclaim the coming of Jesus, Mary would be responsible for raising the son of god. Instead of being terrified, or anxious, or scared, Mary uses words like ‘blessed’, ‘great’, ‘holy’.
While suffering is more apparent to me in Lent, maybe it’s because I wasn’t seeing it on the behalf of Mary outside of Jesus’ immediate birth. She was a young, faithful woman exiled by society upon news of her pregnancy. While we romanticize the birth of Jesus in a stable, she went into labor without her family there to support her, in a dirty, unfamiliar place. But even more than that, from the first moment Mary held her son in her arms she knew he would never fully belong to her.
I think of Mary during Lent. She watched as her son suffered and died. I can’t imagine the pain she must have felt. And even when he rose, he would ascend into Heaven, not come home to be with Mary. Again, Jesus would never truly belong to her.
As I set aside my judgement of the Christmas season, I hope in years to come I can think more of Mary during both the seasons of Lent and Advent. While Advent is still a story of childbirth, it’s also a story of a woman who sacrificed herself to take part in something greater. Yes, a story to be passed down from generation to generation of greatness and blessings. But also a story of pain, and the hardest kind of endurance. The story of a mother who gave her son to the world, and watched as the world nailed her son to a cross.
Lord, remind me of your presence in my own suffering, and as I watch the ones I love suffer. Instill in me the hope that even in pain there’s promise of a bigger story. Amen.
Prayer for Neighbors
· For my immediate geographical neighbors.
· For my community, neighborhood, town/city.
· For neighbors hurting from broken families, addiction, violence, abuse, poverty, sickness.
· For the eyes of the Good Samaritan, to see and help my neighbor in need.
Closing Prayer
Father, in the midst of darkness may we cling to your sure and certain promises. Promises sealed in the blood of Christ and proven trustworthy in the empty tomb on Easter morning. Amen!