Advent 3
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
-- Luke 1:50
Mary's song of praise emerged out of her personal experience but had connections with both the past and the future. She had just experienced signs of God's activity in her own body and in that of her older cousin, Elizabeth. God had blessed this unknown teenager with the miracle of life and done the same for an elderly cousin who had previously been barren. As we continue the season of Advent, we are reminded that both the past and the future are full of life. The elderly in the body of Christ are never barren, and the young offer us repeated surprises of new life. God's generative presence in the church shatters our preconceptions of reality and our understanding of power and status. As we prepare for the birth of Christ, we are humbled and invited again to pay attention to the weak and the hungry among us for signs of God's birthing activity. As did Mary, we are invited to see this activity of God among us as both surprisingly new and in solid continuity with "the promise (God) made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendents forever." The church reads the story of Mary as symbolic of its own history as a congregation. We are virgin territory for the miracle of God's impregnating us with unexpected and miraculous possibilities. We are never too old or too young to be bearers of God's word.
-- Luke 1:50
Mary's song of praise emerged out of her personal experience but had connections with both the past and the future. She had just experienced signs of God's activity in her own body and in that of her older cousin, Elizabeth. God had blessed this unknown teenager with the miracle of life and done the same for an elderly cousin who had previously been barren. As we continue the season of Advent, we are reminded that both the past and the future are full of life. The elderly in the body of Christ are never barren, and the young offer us repeated surprises of new life. God's generative presence in the church shatters our preconceptions of reality and our understanding of power and status. As we prepare for the birth of Christ, we are humbled and invited again to pay attention to the weak and the hungry among us for signs of God's birthing activity. As did Mary, we are invited to see this activity of God among us as both surprisingly new and in solid continuity with "the promise (God) made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendents forever." The church reads the story of Mary as symbolic of its own history as a congregation. We are virgin territory for the miracle of God's impregnating us with unexpected and miraculous possibilities. We are never too old or too young to be bearers of God's word.
