Embedded Files
. . . As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord . . . Joshua 25:15b
Advent 4 Yr B
Annunciation (late 20th Century, stained glass, Our Lady of Pity, United Kingdom), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56722 [retrieved November 17, 2020].
Published date 12/13/2020
Celtic Reflection on Hope
Celtic Reflection on Hope
December 2022
We are coming into the final days of advent, approaching the fourth Sunday, the Sunday of Hope, leading us up to Christmas. Like so many others, I have been harried and rushed in preparing for the arrival of guests in my home, for the arrival of Santa and for the arrival of Christmas Day.
Somehow, lost in all of this preparation and expectation, I have dark moments. I do not think that I am alone in this. Sometimes, in the coming darkness of winter, I falter and struggle to rejoice. Even through Gaudete Sunday, I found myself subsumed by shadows.
How can I rejoice when our world is in shambles,
When war still rages in Ukraine and other parts of the world,
When ordinary families are suffering for lack of safety, lack of food, lack of clean water, lack of hope?
How can I hope for the coming light when I, like so many others, carry grief continuously? Where is my hope? Where is my comfort? These are unanswerable questions.
But . . . because I am a believer, I know that Christmas still comes. It comes without my permission or recognition or readiness. When Jesus was born into this world, it was not a better place than our world now. Poverty and strife and war and oppression smashed the people down. God was not looking for a perfect world into which to send the Christ Child. God was finding the moment when the Christ Child was most needed. Like today. Like Christmas day, Christ arrives, and Love enters the world. Love enters us. In THAT, there is hope.
We find in Psalm 130:5-6 a perfect model:
“I wait for the Lord; my soul waits and in his Word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.”
Like David, like Mary, like the Hebrew people, we, nearing the solstice, sit quietly in darkness, waiting for the Messiah. The magi wandered and searched for years. We must find our own way into patience, into this hope.
Alexandre Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Cristo, once wrote that “All human wisdom can be summed up in two words: wait and hope.” I can think of few words that are more appropriate for Advent.
We wait in certainty knowing that Christmas morning comes. We can be jubilant, not at what exists in our world or in ourselves, but in that great potential, that great capacity for love which God has shown us. Despite our natures, God sent that Christ Child into this mess of a world where hope was fulfilled in his birth, his death and his resurrection.
Again, as the Psalmist writes in 96:11-13:
“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord: for he is coming.”
How can we do otherwise? We will be his light. We will be his exuberance. We will be his love in the world. So, let us give thanks, let us be
glad, and let us find our hope in God.
Amen.
© 2022 Paula Ashley
Introduction
Introduction
In one of the commentaries about this Sunday, the writer notes that every time we come to the altar for Eucharist, we become like Mary Mother of God; in other words, every time we have the opportunity to accept (or not) the call to serve God. We have long held the notion that, once we accept the offer to serve God, we are forever committed. [Many of us realize we were "accepted" long before we accepted the call.] But this concept makes us consider that we renew our commitment each and every Sunday we consume the bread and wine. For me, this puts a whole new and exciting perspective on the weekly church ritual. Each Sunday I can say, "I am the Lord's servant." Come, Lord Jesus!
Feel free to comment.
The Song of Mary Magnificat
The Song of Mary Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. . . .
From sermon4kids.com: “God could have chosen anyone to give birth to Jesus, but he chose Mary, . . . to do the most important thing one could imagine. . .. God still chooses unimportant people to perform important tasks. He has given you and me the task of sharing the good news of Jesus and his love to the whole world. . . . [A]s we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us, like Mary, answer God's call. “I am the Lord's servant, Let it be with me just as you have said.” ”
Scripture: December 24, 2023—Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B—2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 (image); Canticle 15 (image); Romans 16:25-27; and Luke 1:26-38 (image). A visual and oral journey.
Collect: Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Reflection: Mary’s song proclaims that God is lifting up the lowly while scattering the proud, and feeding the hungry while sending the rich away with empty hands. How does this change the way you think about God’s coming reign of justice and favor? How does this change the way you live?
(excerpted from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year B, Volume 1 © 2014 Westminster John Knox Press)
Eye Candy:
“Gabriel” from the Church of St Gabriel;
“Annunciation” (1450) by fra. Anglico;
“Angel of the Annunciation” (1474) by Cosme Tura
Ear Worm:
Magnificats abundant: “sorta Celtic”;
“by Palestrina“, sung by Voces8;
“a capella“;
by Roland Martin, sung by full choir;
Gregorian chant, pleasant
Brain Food:
"Hope" is the thing with feathers—that perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—And never stops—at all—
And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm—
I've heard it in the chillest land—And on the strangest Sea—
Yet—never—in Extremity, It asked a crumb—of me.
~Emily Dickenson
“Mary's response” by Karoline Lewis;
"Nothing's too wonderful to be true" by Ron Hansen
Parables:
“The pursuit of Happyness” (2006, PG-13), single parent struggle, Review;
“The Bucket List” (2007, PG-13), comedy about dying and about finding joy, Review;
“Freedom Writers” (2007, PG-13), breaking down walls that separate us, Review
For families: Kid video; Study guide; Group activities.
For children: Activity: One and Two; Bulletin; Craft.
For middlers: Activity: One and Two; Bulletin; Craft.
For youth: For this “Hope” Sunday, we learn that God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus [God also chose Joseph to be the father, but that’s another story]. We also learn that Mary accepted the call of God. Do you know that you too are chosen? God chooses each of us. I believe each of us has a purpose to which God has called us. Unfortunately, no one is going to tell you what that purpose is. Or, maybe not. What else do you know? Yes, that God is love, that Jesus commands (yep, I said commands) us to love one another. So what is your purpose now?
Extra: Advent coloring pages: Hope; Peace; Joy; Love; and Emmanuel.
Also Christmas season coloring pages: Annunciation; Bethlehem star; Candles; Christmas prayer; Come, Lord Jesus; Go, tell it; God with us; Joy & Peace; Leaped for joy; Magnificat; Manger one; Manger two.
The central figure in today’s liturgy is the Blessed Virgin Mary and her vocation as the human instrument of the Incarnation.
Today’s Gospel is the account of the Annunciation, when Gabriel announced to the Virgin that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah. Mary’s humble obedience, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word . . .” is the model for Christian living.
The first reading today is the promise God made to David to establish his line as kings over God’s people. This promise to raise up a new king of David’s lineage was understood by Jews in the first century as a promise to send the Messiah.
In the second reading today Paul concludes his letter to the Church in Rome. He expresses the early Christian proclamation that in Christ the clouded meaning of the Old Testament prophecies has been revealed. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God’s plan has been made clear and the hints of that plan in the writings of the prophets have been fulfilled.
Christians gather in the liturgy to remember our story: a story which goes back through the ages. The central actor is always God, who acts in history to lead all the creation into the kingdom. God, who acted in the lives of people in the past such as David and the blessed Virgin, continues to act today in our lives. The Eucharist is the moment of encounter with God in which, like Mary, we respond, “Yes, let it be done to me according to your word.”
From The Rite Light: Reflections on the Sunday Readings and Seasons of the Church Year. Copyright © 2007 by Michael W. Merriman. Church Publishing Incorporated, New York.
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