Advent Devotional Dec 22
Week Four:
Creating Shalom means Making Peace
Thursday, December 22, 2022
“We All Start from the Same Place” – Read Luke 1:46b-55
[And Mary said,] ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, / and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior, / for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. /
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed….”
(vv. 46-48, NRSV)
I was 13 when the first one of my friends became pregnant. She was my cousin’s best friend, and in the way of teenage girls in small towns who are the same age, we all ran around together. There was a hurried wedding, and I’m sure more than a few raised eyebrows and whispers. Eventually, my friend returned to school, and by all accounts, their little family did well. My family moved soon after, and we lost touch. Yet I sometimes think of my friend during this time of Advent. I wonder about another young woman, roughly the same age, in much the same circumstance, who could look at her life, see through the whispers and raised eyebrows toward the future, and call herself “blessed.”
Mary must have been a girl who had been so steeped in the faith traditions of her people that she was able to locate her personal story in the greater story of God’s work in and through humanity. She knew that God desires the flourishing and well-being of all of God’s people, all of God’s earth. She knew God as the one who lifts up those whose voices and presence are traditionally ignored yet need to be heard, need to be included in the building of God’s kingdom here on earth. She knew God as the one who humbles those who need to be brought down, not necessarily for punishment, but so that they could be in a place to listen to the other and make room for all. She knew, as do we, that God’s peace, unlike the constant striving and divisiveness we are used to, is a peace that can only be achieved when all are welcomed in, all are reconciled, all are made whole, all are made equal.
After all, we all start in the same place – born, from the lowliest of us to the king of kings, as tiny, squirming, wrinkly babies. We get to choose after that whether we use our time to advance God’s peaceful kingdom, whether we will work toward equality for all of God’s children.
God, no matter our age or station, every day we have the freedom to choose, like Mary, your way of humbleness and peace. Enlarge our hearts to welcome all who come our way, and may Christ be born in us today. Amen
Rev. Desi Sharp Brumit
Senior Pastor, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Shawnee, OK
“We All Start from the Same Place” – Read Luke 1:46b-55
[And Mary said,] ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, / and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior, / for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. /
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed….”
(vv. 46-48, NRSV)
I was 13 when the first one of my friends became pregnant. She was my cousin’s best friend, and in the way of teenage girls in small towns who are the same age, we all ran around together. There was a hurried wedding, and I’m sure more than a few raised eyebrows and whispers. Eventually, my friend returned to school, and by all accounts, their little family did well. My family moved soon after, and we lost touch. Yet I sometimes think of my friend during this time of Advent. I wonder about another young woman, roughly the same age, in much the same circumstance, who could look at her life, see through the whispers and raised eyebrows toward the future, and call herself “blessed.”
Mary must have been a girl who had been so steeped in the faith traditions of her people that she was able to locate her personal story in the greater story of God’s work in and through humanity. She knew that God desires the flourishing and well-being of all of God’s people, all of God’s earth. She knew God as the one who lifts up those whose voices and presence are traditionally ignored yet need to be heard, need to be included in the building of God’s kingdom here on earth. She knew God as the one who humbles those who need to be brought down, not necessarily for punishment, but so that they could be in a place to listen to the other and make room for all. She knew, as do we, that God’s peace, unlike the constant striving and divisiveness we are used to, is a peace that can only be achieved when all are welcomed in, all are reconciled, all are made whole, all are made equal.
After all, we all start in the same place – born, from the lowliest of us to the king of kings, as tiny, squirming, wrinkly babies. We get to choose after that whether we use our time to advance God’s peaceful kingdom, whether we will work toward equality for all of God’s children.
God, no matter our age or station, every day we have the freedom to choose, like Mary, your way of humbleness and peace. Enlarge our hearts to welcome all who come our way, and may Christ be born in us today. Amen
Rev. Desi Sharp Brumit
Senior Pastor, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Shawnee, OK
Recent
Archive
2022
November
December
Advent Devotional Dec 1Advent Devotional Dec 2Advent Devotional Dec 3Advent Devotional Dec 4Advent Devotional Dec 5Advent Devotional Dec 6Advent Devotional Dec 7Advent Devotional Dec 8Advent Devotional Dec 9Advent Devotional Dec 10Advent Devotional Dec 11Advent Devotional Dec 12Advent Devotional Dec 13Advent Devotional Dec 14Advent Devotional Dec 15Advent Devotional Dec 16Advent Devotional Dec 17Advent Devotional Dec 18Advent Devotional Dec 19Advent Devotional Dec 20Advent Devotional Dec 21Advent Devotional Dec 22Advent Devotional Dec 23Advent Devotional Dec 24Advent Devotional Dec 25
1 Comment
Thank you Desi. Bless you and yours this Christmas and may 2023 be Happy and healthy for you.