I'm bursting with God-news?

Without looking we have arrived at the fourth Sunday of Advent with its theme of love. As we rush headlong into Christmas we are invited to stop and take a moment to rest with Mary and Elisabeth in this intimate and holy moment.

With Mary we will sing and pray her prophetic psalm of praise and protest. Yes protest. We are too used to singing it from our place of privilege. This is the song of an invisible poor peasant girl from a small unimportant village in a land under brutal occupation voicing God’s protest against the powerful, important, wealthy and privileged elite who defined who mattered and who didn’t. Her fear and uncertainty mingles with hope and leads to her to voice what the outworking of God’s love looks like. God’s love and justice starts with Mary, the God-bearer. As we struggle with what Covid has done to us, Mary reminds us that we are all of the utmost value to God.

In “The Message”, Eugene Peterson paraphrases the beginning of this song as “I'm bursting with God-news; I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.” I wonder how many of us are bursting with God-news, or dancing this Christmas? Many of us are worn down by the last 2 years, and especially the last 5 months. Some are angry. Some are frustrated. And others fearful and anxious about what is in store. So maybe we need to rest in Mary’s protest song, and to allow ourselves to join that dance in some small way. And to know that because of Mary’s yes, God is with us in all that we are experiencing this Christmas.

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