Dear Mr. Lowry (an Advent Devotional)

Mary did you know...?

"Yes, and I know a lot more about all of it than you do Mr. Lowry and everyone else to ever cover this beautiful, yet Biblically unsound question. Let me tell you what I knew.

I know that an angel appeared to me and called me favored, but not only favored in some general way, favored by the most high God, the I Am, the I will be, the one who created and sustained and delivered and made free.

I know the angel told me to not be afraid, even though I had every reason to be. I was more child than woman at that point. And while I was to be joined with Joseph I had not yet been, and this angel told me that I would be a mother.

I may not know much but I know that virgins do not give birth, but this one did.

I know that the angel told me that the Holy Spirit of the Most High would come upon me and plant within me life. I know that the life within me, a son, would not just be my child, but would be the very Son of God. That he would be a king with a kingdom that would not end.

I know that from that point on people would call me, a scared virgin girl, blessed.

I know that by the life within me God would show mercy to all generations. By the life within me God would scatter the proud and powerful. By the life within me God would bring down rulers from their thrones but would also uplift the humble. By the life within me God would fill the hungry with good things but take away the things that "the rich" had. By the life within me things would get turned upside down and that the way of the Lord would walk upon the world.

I know that angels appeared to shepherds who arrived at the baby's bedside to worship him. I know they left that place and told more and more. 

I know that when we brought Jesus to the temple an old man called him God's salvation and told me that he would cause the rising and falling of many, and that he would cause a sword to pierce my side, if it were only my side that had been pierced. I also know that Anna, a prophetess, said that my child would bring about the redemption of Israel.

So yes, I knew that the sleeping child that I held was the great I AM. I knew that he would deliver me, but had I known how that deliverance would have happened I would have spirited him away to Egypt and never returned. The better question Mr. Lowry is, do you know what it cost me to give my son to deliver you?"

Adapted from Luke 1:26-2:40

Peace and Love,

Pastor K

Another Advent Devotional

 Close your eyes

Wait…

Not yet…

Open them back up. Gosh, you’re so impatient. Wait to close your eyes until after I tell you what you are supposed to imagine when they are closed. 

Now, when they are closed I want you to imagine darkness, shouldn’t be too difficult, but then I want you to imagine a time when you were surrounded by darkness and then there was a light. Perhaps it is at a Christmas Eve service at church where they turned off the lights and then one candle was lit, and then another, and another, until the whole room was full of light. Perhaps you were taking a walk in the woods and time got away from you and you were headed back to your car and the sun went down so you took small step after small step hoping not to trip on a random root or stone until the light of the parking lot finally illumined your way. Perhaps you woke up from a nightmare scared out of your wits but then your eyes adjusted and you could see the LED of the clock telling you it is 3:13 and you still have a couple more hours to sleep.

What did you see? Did you see it only? Did you also feel it? Did you feel the darkness like a weighted blanket holding you to the spot, feeling it slow you down, feeling it as if it was a tangible force weighed against you? Interestingly I can not imagine things in my mind’s eye, but I can very much remember the feeling of each of those examples and remember the strength of the dark.

But, I also remember the strength of the light. The amount of warmth from that first candle, and then the growing warmth of the other candles, joining together to brighten a room. I remember the safety of the parking lot fluorescent allowing me, and my girlfriend at the time, to see slightly better with each step. I remember the comfort of the mundane seeing the clock. I also remember the feeling of power in the creation of my eye able to take the ambient light surrounding me to make the darkness not as imposing in each and every circumstance.

In Isaiah 2:9 the prophet says,  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

In John 1:4 & 5 the gospel writer says “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

You see there is darkness, all around, all the time. There is the darkness of hate. There is the darkness of prejudice. There is the darkness of abuse. There is the darkness of neglect. There is the darkness of lies. There is the darkness of overindulgence. There is the darkness of exploitation. There is the darkness of misleading. There is darkness all around, and yet, there is light also. Light that is hope. Light that is life. Light that is love. And as sure as Jesus pierced the darkness with his life we in turn continue to pierce the darkness each moment we live as though he lives in us. That is the true beauty of Advent, a light enters into the darkness. God dwells among. Love invades. Life blossoms. Hope prevails.

A light enters into the darkness.

God dwells among.

Love invades.

Life blossoms.

Hope Prevails.

The darkness is there, but the light comes and makes the darkness easier to navigate. There will still be dark corners, still be places where understanding is difficult to find, where peace is a wispy mistress, where we must tread carefully so as not to trip or to get lost. But even though there is darkness, there will always be a light for those who seek it out and know how to follow its beam.

Darkness and Light. Possibly the whole point of the Bible can be condensed down into those two words. It is the story of creation. It is the story of the flood.  It is the story of Exodus. It is the story of David. It is the story of exile. It is the story of Advent and Christmas. It is the story of Lent and Easter. It is the story of Revelation’s destruction and a world made new. And we will return to this concept again.

Peace and Love,

Kenny