And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. LUKE 1:76-79
Advent is our season of waiting. It is the season where we pause to notice our longing, our yearning for the light as we wait for the coming of Jesus. Some days this month I have been out walking the streets and green spaces of our neighborhood before the sun rises–on days when the light is obscured by the thick grey of winter clouds and others where the sun paints pastel streaks of color across the sky. When I walk early, I am often charmed by the sweetly respectful greetings of the teens from our Mexican immigrant neighborhood families. I notice the many Somali heritage transport drivers dropping off their fares at one of the special schools I pass. I see the immigrant heritage bus drivers as they maneuver their vehicles on tricky snowy streets taking MInneapolis children to their schools. I bless each one I see with the love of God alive for them. I sometimes wonder what each of them is hoping for, waiting for, in these dark days as we approach the winter solstice.
Waiting is such a big part of our lives…standing on line in the grocery store, on hold with the insurance company or clinic scheduler, waiting for test results or diagnoses, waiting for grownup children to come home for a Christmas visit. I think of how, when we moved into our current home twenty-six years ago, I wondered and wished if the floors under the tatty carpet might be restored. But, there were always many more important things our little income could be spent on. So last year, when there was finally a margin, the wood floors were restored-not perfectly, but reflecting all the life that has been lived in the one hundred and fifteen year life of our house. And every day when I come down the stairs, I have a little thrill of joy at seeing those oak boards. So, sometimes, our waiting makes us appreciate and enjoy. Some of our waiting makes us impatient or flustered, some filled with anticipation. Many of the things we wait for, if we ponder, reveal to us our deepest longings, our deepest yearnings. During advent, I often meditate on Mary’s Song, on Zechariah’s Song and this year, especially, on the Holy family’s escape to Egypt and the tears of the mothers whose children were butchered as a prideful despot sought to destroy the King he was afraid of…as Jeremiah prophesied, ‘a voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted…’
I find so many things from those days of Jesus, so true and pertinent in our own day when small men with small hearts still seek to inflate their own egos and power, when children and their families cower in fear, when refugees seek safety and solace, when mothers weep. I hold on to the song of Mary and her prophecy…”He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but he has sent the rich away empty.” How true these words about the hungry being filled with good things have been proven true in my presence in the past weeks. I think of the shop worker at my local tortilleria who unlocked her door to sell me warm and delicious tortillas that filled my car with their delicious fragrance. I think of the event where I was generously offered food by Latina women who had traveled with fear in their hearts. I think of the kindness with which I was received when I stopped to buy sambusas at my closest Somali cafe or given the extra loaf of warm Turkish bread at a Mediterranean restaurant. Beautiful children of God surround me each day as I go on my walks, shop on Lake Street, visit the grocery store, drive around town in my daily rounds.
Too often, these days, these times seem so dark and filled with those who emulate the one who would steal, kill and destroy…human hearts, human value, human families, denigrating the precious value of human life. But, even as we watch and wait, we continue to remember that God was made flesh and humbled into the smallness of a human body, a human baby. All the stories about the birth and childhood of Jesus remind us that God loves every human, no matter how small, no matter where they were born or how much power they have. And that the power of one poor, refugee child became the light that would pierce all the darkness of the world. The little baby of the unwed mother grew up to show us the way. I am praying every day that the light and the life of that itinerant,unhoused Jesus would be alive in me and that his prophecy would continue to be fulfilled in our broken world, as he continues to be alive in it, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
As you wait for Christmas in this season of advent, may Jesus be alive in you for the ways you may be his love alive in our broken and darkened world.
Christ's Children Ministries 