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Advent 2018 Day 11, – “Rough”

We’re reminded today that the rough ways will be made smooth. And while I complain a lot about vehicle traffic in my area, I don’t think enough about how life must have been for a pregnant woman traveling to deliver her child. The 200 bed hospital near my home where my son was born is a magical place compared to a barn and a manger. How much must a woman have hurt and ached throughout her pregnancy two thousand years ago? A labor of love in any era is even more poignant without modern conveniences.

Mary, the mother of God, is often pictured in clean robes in good repair. When shown, the face below her perfectly coiffed hair or scarf is unblemished. That’s a little too much smoothing in portraying what must have been a remarkable childbirth, as they all are, but more so because of the conditions.

What must it be like to walk hundreds of miles while pregnant or with a child in the hopes that the next place will be more welcoming? And then arriving only to learn that there is no room at the inn, no welcome at the border, only barbed wire and soldiers keeping you out?

Traffic isn’t so bad when I realize that I go to a church, a job, stores, and visit friends of my own choosing while traveling in comfort.

“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 this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

#AdventWord2018 #AdventWord #stannesreston #rough

Advent Day #11 – “Go”

Don’t keep calm. Be the one. Change the world. Make a difference. Help everyone always. Give of yourself. Love one another. Go to Bethlehem. Taste and see. Feed the hungry. House the homeless. Write the words. Teach your children. Educate the people. Free the oppressed. Follow that star.

Do what’s right.

Don’t be afraid.

Go and do.

You are loved.

Now, go. Go.

#AdventWord2018 #AdventWord #stannesreston #go

Advent Day #9 – “Cry”

We cry in relief, sadness, pain, and many other reasons. Our tears relieve stress and release important chemicals in our body that help us feel better. A crying baby creates a different response than someone crying while grieving or with relief.

One baby crying in a manger would become the Messiah. By choosing to be born human, God allows us to choose to follow since God manifested as human to encourage understanding and facilitate choice.

May God the Father, who by Baptism adopts us as his children, grant us grace, fill us with love, and keep us in peace.

#AdventWord2018 #AdventWord #stannesreston #cry

Advent Day #8 – “Wild”

We worship a god who took human form more than two thousand years ago in a desert. The world was populated with 200 million people, but travel was difficult and communications were hyperlocal. Yet the story of Jesus and those who followed his lessons swept through much of the world faster than we could imagine.

First the people living in port cities knew about Christianity. Then word spread to the wild interior of countries on three continents. An unfortunate mingling of colonization and religious conquest spread the word even further. Two billion people identify as Christian today. Was a simpler, wilder life more conducive to the spread of the story of a Messiah born elsewhere, practicing another religion?

We know what then-Palestine looked like 100 years ago. How wild must it have been 2,000 years ago? And how special must the message of Jesus have been to reach beyond local communities and be spread through the world?

O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon his name; the the people what things he hath done.

#AdventWord2018 #AdventWord #stannesreston #wild