TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF ADVENT

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Lowly Peace

The day of peace is near. Mary’s son brings the good news that God is working out the salvation of the world. But how? The prophets spoke of the savior who would come from a little clan and Mary sings of her lowly state. God’s son is born among the poor, visited by the least, hated by the authorities.

The peace we await is a peace brought by justice. The salvation to come is from the lowly. Sacrifice brings redemption. Despite all our efforts we still struggle to comprehend these ideas, this Savior. How can God, whose very being implies power and glory, wisdom and might, work out our salvation through the voices and efforts of the least in society? How can the way of God’s redemption be that of sacrifice and vulnerability? Our world is just not that way.

And if this is the way God comes to our world, then what does this God expect, demand of us? God’s kingdom challenges the power that oppresses; God’s peace exists only with justice for all. God’s way rewards the obedient. God’s coming this way surely turns the world we know upside down. Or so it seems when we listen—to the prophets of old and now, to John and the cries from exiled, to Mary and all the followers of Christ in every time and place. The message of Advent is…?

Observe carefully our world.
See that which is unseen—
the tiny, the unpopular, the silent, the lonely— Look below the surface.
Express your love.
Record your thoughts, draw your images, pray your insights.

Dialogue your reflections with your family, friends, God. (Use your imagination if family and friends are not present.)

Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen.