Advent 4 - some powerful images and a few thoughts.


Luke 1: 26-38
 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Having a child what a risk at the best of times. The fourth Sunday in Advent is the time we light a candle to recall the young girl Mary who not yet married finds herself pregnant. Living under Roman occupation she will go on to find herself a refugee in Egypt (Matthew's Gospel) travelling with Jospeh and the infant Jesus.
These various images are very haunting in the light of the violence in Gaza where mothers and infants find themselves homeless yet trapped in an ever decreasing space.



Would it be too easy to say where is God in this? and that "God is in the rubble". I don't think so.

So often we focus on Jesus on the cross with its cruelty and proclaim here is our God. 

Yet as an infant he already experienced homelessness. His family fleeing from those who would put their child to death. Having to wait in exile until it was deemed safe to return and even then to return to a place under occupation. From start to finish Jesus identifies with the suffering of humanity. 

Yet the life of Jesus is the call of God to humanity to do things differently. To seek peace and to forgive friend and enemy. Only when the cycle of violence is broken can a new way forward be discovered. The killing must end. Retribution must stop. All the nations of the world need to demand that both sides stop fighting. Palestinian and Israelie must accept each others right to exist and to have their own land. They all need to allow hope to be born afresh that this might occur. Religious zealots need to shut up and be silenced for the language they use incites much of the hatred. Some nations of the world need to stop using this situation for their own benefit to get at each other. The innocent are dying and God calls us afresh to a new way fo living.

God
may we
who claim to follow you
carry your Love
in our hearts
and like Mary
be willing to bear
what ever comes.

So may we 
live truly at peace 
with our neighbours
as we call for others
to love at peace with theirs. Amen        (c) Mark Goodhand 22nd December 2023

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