On this fourth Sunday in Advent we are invited to ponder afresh the ‘Yes’ of Mary – her decision and her willingness to carry Jesus in her womb and the significant interruption this must have been in her own life. ‘My soul magnifies the Lord’ she was able to say, despite all the uncertainty and risk. Mary’s song in the Magnificat isn’t just a pretty tune – it’s a song about Christ’s great reversal for all humanity in which we are invited to ponder afresh the interruption that Christ’s coming signifies for our world at large.
Often Christmas can be so planned and busy that we can forget the surprise element of Love coming down at Christmas. Christ’s incarnation was an interruption into our history of cosmic proportions. God chose the poverty of a stable and the passion of the cross to show us the way of love.
For those of you who find Christmas difficult – remember this dimension of Christ’s coming – a preferential option for those who are lonely or downcast – and a profound desire for all to be lifted up and nourished with a sense of wholeness and peace.
Every day we face interruptions that shatter any attempt to live in our neatly planned independent worlds and every unexpected joyful or difficult experience invites us to partake in a decision – to either use the opportunity to magnify the Lord and speak of Christ’s great reversal or to magnify ourselves and build up walls. Remember Emmanuel – God is with us – Happy Christmas to you all!
Revd Catherine Duce
