ILC Devotion 17 December 2012

Immanuel Lutheran Church Weekly Devotion

Monday 17 December 2012

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^NRSV Luke 1:46-48a  And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸ for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”

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When you think of Christmas and the events prior to Jesus’ birth - the Gospel of Luke gives lasting imagery, which has fed our hopes and dreams for almost two thousand years. We have the Christmas story read to us at every Christmas Eve service. But on the 4^th Sunday of Advent we hear Mary’s response to God in her life. We hear the Magnificat, this poetry, this hymn Mary offers to her cousin Elizabeth, who carries her child, the future John the Baptist. This is one of the most lyrical, beautiful and poetic passages of scripture, and the Bible is full of great poetry. Mary acknowledges the power of God, this power of God to work through this poor, teen aged woman, who will bear the savior of the world, Jesus.

Mary proclaims this is a God who stands with the weak, the powerless, whose mercy they will see. Her son Jesus will proclaim this Good News to the very same people. God stands with them; God is their salvation. With the sad events of last Friday, we want a God who will be with those who are weak, vulnerable, unable to defend themselves against the power of evil, and their protectors, their teachers. This is the hope we hear in the Magnificat, this is our hope too. We live in a broken world, that brokeness can come upon us at any time and any place, and we are powerless to do anything about it. This is where we will find God, with the weak, the marginalized, those unable to defend themselves, those who care for the young, the hurting, the frail, the vulnerable. This is where we find the face of Christ. Jesus comes to us, in our moments of anxiety, frustration, hurt, despair. Jesus is born to this poor, young mother in humble circumstances as a weak and vulnerable infant, a baby. A baby who comes to show us God’s grace and mercy in a world that can be broken, hurtful, and at times deadly. Yet because of this brokeness, we are given an opportunity to be Christ to others, when we extend the love of God to those who are weak, vulnerable, hurting, as Jesus called us to do so many years ago. Yes, our world is broken, through Jesus we can do something about it. Celebrate this gift God gives to us.

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We pray: Dear Lord, we come before you as your hurting, broken children. We seek you loving mercy and care. Help us to find it and help us to offer your love, care and mercy. Take us, broken though we are and have us be the face of Jesus to all. In Your Holy Name we pray.  Amen.