Jeremiah 33: 14-16
Psalm 25: 1-10
1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13
Luke 21: 25-36

One of the central proclamations of the Christian faith is, in the words at the beginning of John’s gospel, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. The great message and mystery of the incarnation is that in Jesus the Christ, God was made known and that through Jesus Christ, God has acted to save the world.

We have entered the season of Advent. For the church it is the ‘new year’. So, HAPPY NEW YEAR folks. Once again we get to throw out the mistakes of old lives and resolve to begin again: we get to hope, to long for God’s reign to come about.

The word, “Advent” means ‘coming’ and Advent is a season of hope and expectation. Advent is the season before Christmas, but there is more to Advent than might initially met the eye; about more than hoping for the ‘wee babe of Bethlehem’ on December 25. Advent is a season with three faces, each looking in a different direction: one to the past, another looking around at the present and a third, into the future.

The most obvious hope in Advent is the historical one. In Advent we hope for the birth of Jesus, as a remembrance of an historic event, which is said to have occurred in Bethlehem during the time of Caesar Augustus. That’s the “coming” of God that we see on Christmas cards and in creches, the arrival that we hear about in the biblical stories from Matthew and Luke, and the appearance that we sing about in song such as the beautiful French carol, “Il est né“ a beautiful French Canadian carol, translated “He is Born” or “Silent Night”.

For a long time mainline theological colleges have been teaching student ministers the importance of not rushing through the season of Advent and celebrating the season of Christmas before the eve of the 25th. We are told that the church needs to pause in the season of Advent for a time so that our Christmas celebrations will be all the more meaningful. But like the children we want to open our presents early; we don’t like to wait. I think that this is partially because Jesus is already born and Christmas has become a birthday and not a ‘due date’. I think it’s also because we forget the other 2 aspects of Advent, the expectation of both a present and a future coming of the Christ.

You see, Advent is also a time for us to ‘enter into’ that “space” or “time” or “state of mind” when people yearned with all of their hearts for the promises of God to come true; hoped beyond hope for the righteous branch to spring up; prayed and then had stopped praying for God to come and save his people. This is not a promise which was fulfilled ‘once and for all’ at Bethlehem, as a single historical event, but is a promise which is fulfilled in our own lives. It is fulfilled over and over again, not just at Christmas, but at any time, and in any place, when we have known the “in breaking” or the “indwelling” of “ the Holy”. It is a promise whose fulfilment lifts us from despair to hope; from darkness to light.

It can come as a result of an event which is tragic and terrible, such as a death or accident or diagnosis of serious illness; or it can be as the result of an event which is joyous and yearned for such as the birth of a baby, the recovery from an illness or the achievement of a lifelong goal. It is at times like this, and others as well, that we are brought face to face with our finitude when compared with the mystery we call God. It is at times like this when everything falls into perspective and we feel ‘held’ in God’s strong and caring embrace.

So Advent is not just about the past, its about the ways in which God comes to us in the present, and can and does come to us at any moment and at any time. It’s at the core of the name, “Immanuel” which means, literally, “God with us”.

Yet, the scripture has even more to say about the power of God to renew and remake. It’s not just about remaking lives and hearts and souls one at a time, it’s about cosmic renewal. Its about world wide change, change that lasts forever!

The scriptures envision a time when God will intervene in a decisive manner and things will be as they used to be; things will be as God initially intended at creation. The biblical writings that talk about these hopes is often referred to as ‘apocalyptic literature’. It is usually written in a kind of code and full of symbolic images so that those who don’t know what the symbols all mean will not recognize it for what it is; a radical statement that God is ultimately in charge and that God;’s people will ultimately be victorious. One of the earliest Christian proclamations is that Jesus is Lord. What went without saying in that was that, Caesar was NOT Lord! What it meant was that this Jesus was the image of the invisible God, the God who was in charge of the universe, the God who held ultimate authority of the lives of the faithful; the God of past, present and future. That’s dangerous stuff when there are competing interests. For the early church it was Caesar and the power of the Roman Empire. For us it is much more complicated. It might be our government but it is more likely to be progress, consumerism, ‘keeping up with the Jonses’, and other things that seek to get between us and our journey of faithfulness. Someday, proclaims the Good News, that will be no more, God’s reign will be fully known everywhere.

In the sacrament of Holy Communion we also proclaim the authority of God as we say together the memorial acclamation: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again”. May we seek this God who gives life in all of its fullness. Let us seek this God with all of our hearts and let us not rest until we have found him or been found by him. Let us seek God’s own Reign.

Amen.

Malachi 3: 1-4
Luke 1: 68-79
Philippians 1: 3-11
Luke 3: 1-6

Many years ago a relative gave my grandmother a container of maple syrup for a present. Since it was an expensive gift she decided to use this “real treat” sparingly and mostly, ‘keep it for good’. The trouble was that by the time it was half gone it had spoiled. In the good intention of savouring something special it was wasted because it was not used.

I get the impression sometimes that the giftS of God promised in this season of Advent are a little like that; we forget to use them to their full intention and they don’t get used to their full potential and are thus wasted.

John the Baptizer was the son of the elderly couple Elizabeth and Zachariah. The words of Zachariah in response to his birth were used as today’s psalm. They are words in high praise of God; words of fulfilment; words of trust and hope. Zechariah is a man steeped in the scriptures of his people; a man who had made the hopes of his people his own. Zechariah words came from the heart of the Hebrew poets ready to praise God when the fulfilment of God’s age old promises draws near. He was able to recognize the signs and to proclaim it, for all to hear.

As for the chid, called by his father, the ‘prophet of the most high’, we know nothing more until his appearance in the wilderness signals the advent of the messiah, the one whom he was sent to proclaim.

In this passage John takes his sermon text from the writings of the prophet Isaiah. It is very interesting how John the Baptizer quotes those writings of Isaiah, or rather how he ‘misquotes’ them. What Isaiah says is this: A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.” But by the time John quotes it is his proclamation it is: ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord” ‘. Of course John was already in the wilderness and may have taken that as a given. Of course it may not seem to make much difference but I would like us to hold that original version in our minds for just a minute. In Isaiah the place of preparation is the wilderness. Indeed John’s ministry was to call people into the wilderness and then to preach that they must repent and prepare the way. For John repentance was not a matter of the heart, it was action. To repent was to turn from one path and to go in a completely different direction. Sometimes, maybe more often than not, it is much easier to get in touch with our needs and our selves when we have gone away to a quiet place, to a wilderness place, to a place away from the hustle and bustle of life. There we can speak to God and there, when God speaks, we have a better chance of hearing his words. Of course, the wilderness can be a state of mind as well; an intentional setting apart time for the closer attention to spiritual matters. The wilderness can also be a symbol of a place of trial and difficulty.

The wilderness was a physical place for John: the region around the Jordan river. That’s where he found all those locusts and wild honey! For us though, the wilderness is most likely a metaphorical place, who would want to be out there on a night like last night (we had a blizzard warning) At the time of writing I am not even sure we will have a church service on December 7 The wind is howling at 10:30 pm AST but there is no snow in the air yet. The forecast is warning us not to plan any travel!!!!!

We are called to go to the wilderness each Advent; the passages call us to go to leave behind the busyness of life, especially the busyness of preparations for Christmas celebrations and to name it and allow the power of God to transform it. We need to get out our virtual shovels and picks; or our earth moving equipment and dynamite and prepare the way of the Lord. We may indeed have some major work to do. The images of Isaiah are of a country preparing for a royal visit; roads are levelled and straightened and the place is spiffed up. It’s hard work, and afterward there is benefit to the people because of the work that has been done.

When I was in grade 7 the road past our farm was upgraded. The old bridge was replaced with a culvert and the hill beside our driveway was cut down and about 6 feet of fill was taken out of another field around the corner so that the road could be built up. It was truly a case of the low places being raised up and the hills brought low. My favourite part though was helping the demolition crew to blast the deck off of the old bridge. A culvert had been built under the old bridge, but before the road could be built up the bridge deck had to go! The demolition crew would set the dynamite and then they would screw the wires to the generator box – and we would get to push the plunger and set off the charge. It was wonderful. I’m not sure if 10 and 12 and 14 year olds were supposed to be helping to set off dynamite, but I guess our parents assumed the guys would make sure we were safe! And we didn’t tell anyone else until it was over!

The downside was that was each blast, with its loud boom and small pieces of concrete landing on the roof scared my 81 year old grandmother who was quite happy when it was finished. At the end of the day however, the road was paved and much better. No longer did we have to observe the spring tradition of parking our car hundreds of feet away, at the end the pavement and no longer was the mail dropped off in a box because the mail-driver could not get through. Life was better for all. The result of our Christian road building is the same, a better journey for all - but we need to do the work and take the risks of changing things in our lives and changing our priorities. Are the roads of our lives worthy of God’s messiah or is there something that we can do to make them smoother and better for all?

The other aspect of wilderness preparations that I need to speak of this morning are the wildernesses in which people find themselves from time to time. When someone is going through a time of grief or coping with the serious or life threatening illness in themselves or in a close relative, it can be difficult to be ‘in the Christmas spirit’.Of course that has more to do with the trappings we have attached to the celebration of Christmas than it does with the power of the true meaning of Christmas to meet us in our wilderness with the very presence of God.

Blue Christmas services have become very popular recently. In a Blue Christmas service the participants many of the participants are there because of a personal difficulty and they are called to remember that God’s promises are sometimes fulfilled in the midst of pain and worry and anxiety. In times like this we may not feel like singing ‘Joy to the World’ , but the newborn king has come just as much for times of sorrow as he has for those who just need an injection of hope, peace, joy and love. The ‘feel good’ messages of Christmas don’t always feel right when someone is in the midst of grief or worry or anxiety. However the message of the gospel is that ‘the world that walks in darkness has seen a great light’ and it seems that in the deepest of darkness the light can mean even more. Yet, if you look at the most of the world and community celebrating Christmas, it seems like the world is going by totally unaware of the very real pain experienced by those who are unable to be ‘happy and joyful’ as they observe Christ’s birth.

Yet it’s often a matter of perspective, or of interpretation. If you believe that Christmas is truly like all of those ads on tv which promise that the latest gadget that can be purchased for 3 easy payments if $29.95, then you do have something to learn from John’s preaching. If it’s the Christmas of Santa Claus that fills your mind and expectations you need some transformation. The message of Christmas should not ever become something for just a season, something that we ‘just hear’, but which does not make a real difference the other 11 3/4 months a year. What the preaching of John calls forth is total transformation, a journey in a new direction.

The traditional Canadian Christmas is so hectic that we can’t possibly keep it up all year; we’d be dead from exhaustion, yet John’s call is one of action. John’s call is one of changed action, as a sign of repentance. So what might be most helpful for all of us is to pick one or two things, kind of like New Year’s resolutions, and try to maintain that change all year long.

It could be a resolve to hold those in need in prayer more consistently. It could be a resolve to donate regularly to the food bank, or to deliver meals on wheels, or it could be a resolve to give something up so that you can spend more time with your children or an lonely friend or relative. I am of the belief that most of us KNOW what it is that God’s spirit is calling us to do; the direction in which we could be going. We need the push to get us started.

So in the rest of Advent let us begin that journey of change, a change that shows we are levelling and straightening the road of faithfulness - so that Emmanuel will become known to all through us.

Amen.

Zephaniah 3: 14-20

Isaiah 12: 2-6

Philippians 4: 4-7

Luke 3: 7-18

“You brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the wrath to come?” You bunch of snakes, do you think you came come here to evade God’s judgement?” It’s not the way I’d usually start a sermon! In 2003, if I were to preach a sermon with a equivalent, but modernized introduction, I might begin with, “You bunch of rats, who told you to flee this sinking ship?” Hum! Clearly it was a harsh, and even insulting beginning. Yet, John would likely have justified it because of its urgency. It would certainly get the people’s attention! In the view of the Gospel writers, his preaching was for the purpose of preparing the people for the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, and he was just around the corner. There was no time to lose being polite and pleasant.

John the Baptizer doesn’t get a lot of press in the New Testament, but what he does get, is significant. Last week, (if the blizzard had not caused services to be cancelled), we would have heard of his birth and the connections made to the prophesies of Isaiah. In the Gospel reading John was seen as the wilderness prophet who was to prepare the way for the Messiah. In the reading used as a Psalm, Zechariah spoke words of praise which glorified the God who was now fulfilling the age old promises of a Saviour. Clearly John’s father saw his role as one of preparation, also spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. He was to be the road- builder, the preparer. Zechariah’s words were in praise of God and spoke of trust and hope.

Last week and this week we are treated to a sample of John’s preaching. There are mobs of people going out into the wilderness to hear his preaching and to be baptized. We should not confuse this baptism with Christian baptism; baptism was a Jewish practice and it signified repentance and a desire to lead a new life. In fact, the word “repent” in Greek literally means, “TURN AROUND”; it couldn’t be any clearer!

The sermon, as recorded by Luke, is in two parts. In the first part John criticizes their reliance on their religious heritage and, in the second, gives practical advice. .

He tells them that true repentance bears fruit; true change in one’s life can be seen. From his point of view, many of his hearers were relying on the fact that they were ‘children of Abraham’, part of the chosen nation, and did not feel that they had to do anything in relation to their faith. Relying on one’s ‘birthright’ is no substitute for true repentance says John to those who have come to hear his preach. According to the Old Testament prophets, this was a perennial problem for Israel. The prophets were continually calling individuals and the nation as a whole to true faithfulness. In a sense, John is presented as the bridge between these Old Testament prophets and the One who is to come, Jesus of Nazareth.

John’s illustration in this regard is very striking. The God of creation, the God of Abraham could create a new people out of the stones that littered the desert wasteland. There were certainly enough stones in the desert to make a nation! Think of an employee being summoned to the supervisor’s office and being told, “I don’t care if you are the son of the company president, there are many people just as well qualified as you at the employment office! I can hire any one of them to do your job!”

The images of vines and fruit would have been common and easily understood. Keeping with the agricultural image, the judgement is likened to what is done with trees which are not producing appropriate amounts of fruit: the useless trees were cut down or uprooted and burned, the valuable soil being saved for the good trees which produced fruit.

Yet the crowds on that day, and the people who read the gospels today, might be scratching their heads and wondering how this applies to them! They might say, “Sounds good John, we know that there’s something wrong, but show us how to make it right. Give us some illustrations! Give us a ‘fer instance’.”

John does exactly this as he tailors his comments to his audience. This audience has three representative groups: the crowds, the toll collectors, and the soldiers. In all instances the turning around involves moving the focus away from the accumulation of material possessions and looking toward God’s call to love neighbour.

To everyone he says, “Those with extra clothing, share it with those who have none. This sounds like it could go without saying but what is most important here is what is not said. Traditional signs of repentance involved replacing the tunic, or undershirt, with sackcloth and sitting in ashes. The wearing of an itchy rough garment was supposed to be a means and sign of repentance, but it really didn’t do anyone much good. John did not call people to withdraw from the world like some in his country or seek a military solution to the problems of poverty and suffering, but rather to work a the problems by following God’s law of love. Food and clothing are not to be taken from the rich and given to the poor, but those with more than they need are to share with those who do not.

To those who were tax collectors, he has specific advice: don’t collect more than the prescribed amount. It is likely that the group he referred to were not the tax collectors who were, in effect, government employees, but rather, those who held government contracts to collect various tariffs and tolls. The usual practice was for such a person to buy the rights to collect certain taxes or tolls and it would then be up to that person to make a living from the profit. Many fell into the temptation to gouge their neighbours and relatives by collecting as much as the market would bear. Fair profit could, of course be allowed, but not excessive. They were almost universally hated and vilified. Jesus was frequently accused of associating with tax collectors and sinners, as if the general view of the former groups as the worst of the sinners could be virtually assumed.

To the soldiers he addressed other advice. These soldiers were not likely the Roman Centurions we think of, such as we find on an AmEx card or on Ben Hur, but were likely local mercenaries, or militia members, who worked for the local king. Like the mobsters we see on tv, and who actually exist in some cities, they would extract protection money from the local citizenry or even from the above mentioned toll collectors. They were so poorly paid that such activities were seen as necessary, but nevertheless, they were hated by the general population.

So in essence all were compelled to show their concern for others in concrete actions while those with even a minimal amount of power were exhorted not to line their own pockets through abuse of this power.

Some see in John the marks of truth, justice and righteousness that they would have expected of the messiah. John makes it very clear that he is, in no uncertain terms, not the Messiah. In essence he says, :If you think I’m special, just you wait till the real Messiah comes. The contrast between this “One who is to come” and John will be so great, says John, that he would not even be worthy to do the menial tasks assigned to the lowliest of servants.

So the gospel tells us what we need to do to get ready but reminds us not to confuse the servant with the master, the forerunner with the real thing, no matter how close he may come to it, no matter how good the message sounds.

In this season leading up to Christmas there are many messages out there which are all well and good, messages which call us to share and to give and to look for the good in all people and there is nothing wrong with those messages. Indeed they sound a great deal like the message of the locust and honey eating prophet from today’s gospel. There is little in the messages he would disagree with, I’m sure. I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” last night too! I will likely watch “A Christmas Carol” and maybe even “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” before the season is out. There is a great deal of truth in these messages but they are not the real thing; they are not substitutes for the real message of Emmanuel, God with us.

So as we await the messiah’s birth we are called to act ethically and generously, living out the gospel in all that we say and do. Of course our lives and cultural and economic situations are more complicated that those of the people to whom John spoke, but they still apply; it just might take a little longer to figure out the details.

So go forth in hope and expectation. Live lives of justice, generosity and love. (And when the messiah comes don’t be surprised if he knocks your socks off! ) We don’t have much time, we ARE almost there but not quite yet. Let us prepare. Don’t settle for imitations. The wait for the real thing, and the work will be well worth it. I guarantee it!

Amen.

Thanks to the New Interpreter's Bible for much help with this sermon

What are we all doing here? There are only a few shopping days left till Christmas? There’s so much to do! The stores in Moncton open(ed) at noon. Surely we all have something we NEED to buy, or at least something we feel we SHOULD buy, to make the day meaningful for someone special. That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? Presents? Turkey? Dressing? Decorated trees? \ Travelling to visit family? Relaxation? School’s out, so sleep in, veg out and do nuttin!

In the Maclean’s issue dated tomorrow, (which most subscribers actually received on Friday) there is an article giving guidance for Christmas celebrations for non-Christians and non-believers. It gives a history of the celebration of Christmas among believers and non-believers alike, and an overview of how some Canadians, non-Christians all, are celebrating the holiday and explaining its significance to their children. It notes that even non-believers are having difficulty separating the Santa Claus traditions from the Jesus stories when explaining them to their children. The article actually provides some material of interest for those of us who are believers. It gives a history of how and why December 25 came to be celebrated as the ‘birthday’ of Jesus, notes that Christmas celebrations were actually banned in Puritan England, and informs the reader that Christmas, as we know it, is really a 19th century invention. In an age before the proliferation of electric lights, the winter months were a dismal time and the winter solstice was a much welcome sign that the darkness would eventually be overcome by light and the hours of daylight would soon lengthen. It is not hard to see how the birth of Jesus, whose advent was associated with light, came to be celebrated at this time of the year. Within a few centuries, Christmas became an odd pairing of a boisterous, Mardi Gras like celebration, and a muted and sombre faith based festival. In the 19th century, Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol, Clement Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas” and an expanding middle class with the time and the resources to be able to do more than ‘keep body and soul together’, all helped to create the ‘modern Christmas’.

It is very interesting to me that a holiday which we, in the church, feel is ours, is celebrated by so many who do not share the faith which underlies it and who have, in many cases, taken it over and made it their own. I’m not going to debate the merits of Santa Claus, Father Christmas, or Pere No l here, nor am I going to look at the factors which made Christmas and the winter solstice perfect for a combined celebration.

What I am going to do is to go back, before the birth of Jesus, and look at what the biblical text says of this event. What did the people closest to the situation believe was going to happen? Who or what were they expecting?

The season of Advent is a little like one of those TV shows which begins at the end of the story and then goes on to tell the rest of the story, in “flashbacks”. We began the season, and the whole church year, by looking at the ‘end of history’; the reign of Christ and we will spend the rest of the year telling the first part of the story. Now, as we enter the final week of preparation for the birth of Jesus, we get down to what some might call, “the real story’. Yet, even as we are preparing for the baby of Bethlehem, we realize that we are talking about the grownup, the one who preached, and healed and taught; the one who was crucified and rose from the dead.

We have Mary, who is engaged, but still unmarried and expecting a baby; it is a scandalous and shocking situation. We have Elizabeth, married for many years, and also expecting. She and Zachariah were definitely too old to be having a baby. They should know better! Who does she think she is; another Sarah! Tongues all over would be wagging over this one, especially when her cousin Mary comes to visit. Some families seem to have more than their share of troubles.

Yet, when these two women met they did not commiserate on their bad luck; quite the contrary, the older one exclaims to the younger how honoured she was to be visited by the mother of the one who was to fulfill the age old promises of the people. Indeed, it was said that the child himself knew that he was in the presence of this long awaited one! In all of this, the roles and expectations are completely reversed. In an era when age and social position were venerated, Mary is the one honoured to be the mother of the messiah, and Elizabeth is not at all put out by it. In response to Elizabeth’s greeting Mary speaks words which echo those spoken by a anther woman, Hannah, many years earlier. “My soul magnifies the Lord....” These two women know what is still a secret, still hidden from everyone else. A new era is being ushered in by these two babies. This child of Mary’s will be great; this child will be a promise fulfiller.

I speak to many parents and they almost all say of their children, “They grow too fast!” It seems, initially, that the days, or rather nights, of 2 am and 4 am and 6 am feedings will NEVER end, and yet they do. Then the parents turn around and the child is in school and they turn around again and they have grandchildren.

But, that is the task of all parents; it’s not to just have babies, but to raise those babies to become adults who are responsible members of society. It was Mary’s task. It was Elizabeth’s task. The hopes they spoke of were what these children could accomplish when they had grown.

Too often we leave baby Jesus in the manger. Too often we pack up baby Jesus with the tinsel and the tree and wait and another 11 months and drag him out once more to start the cycle of hope all over again. We need to listen to our Advent readings. We need to grab on to the hope of Advent. We need to see and to listen before the cute baby gets the best of our real hopes and dreams.

The hopes and dreams of Advent involve an world changed and transformed. The hopes and dreams of Advent involve the work and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, as a grown up. The hopes and dreams of Advent also involve people like you and me. The hopes and dreams of Advent involve the people who were called to follow him, to actually do that, and by the power of God to change the world.

The problem with celebrating Christmas every year is that we tend to start at square one, every year. But if we begin at Advent, by reminding ourselves of the vision, we will have a better chance of getting somewhere. If we begin with the vision of a world changed and transformed we will have some idea where we are going when we welcome this baby once again this year.

What is this vision:?

It is a vision where the poor and the vulnerable are not overpowered by the rich and the powerful.

It is a vision where there is peace instead of war.

It is a vision of hope in the midst of despair.

It is a vision of love in the face of hatred.

In Canada most pipe organs are made by a company in St Hyacinthe Quebec, by the name of Casavant Fr res. The beginnings of this company are told to us on one of those CBC history of Canada spots. In the state of Massachusetts however, is another organ maker, Charles B Fisk. Over time, the founder of the company had a major career change: from working on electrical components for the first atomic bomb to building “the king of musical instruments” , the pipe organ. Fisk realized all of the harm that the atomic bomb had done and could do and he just had to quit. From the most unlikely of origins came someone that has helped countless thousands to worship God.

There are many, no doubt, who would love to have this vision of peace and shalom as depicted in the Magnificat, come true. They would love it, if they woke up one day and it was there, in the newspaper that it has happened. Peace had come to the world. Hunger had ceased. Oppression was no more. Family violence was but a memory. Everyone reached his or her full potential in life. It would be nice. Wouldn’t it?

Dream on!

Oh I believe in the vision, but not about it happening by magic. Remember, we follow the one who called us to embrace that vision. We follow the one who called us to live the vision into being. We follow the one who called us to radical faithfulness, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Remember we follow the one who showed us by his life and his death who God was, what God was like, and that God called us to model what it was that we hoped to come about. It’s not that we are able to do it on our own! It’s that God calls us to risk and to follow in faithfulness in the middle of a world that seems opposed to everything we try to do.

You might say that it won’t work, but I disagree! I remember being in theological college and studying the theology behind the system of apartheid and talking about the various powers that kept it in place. It seemed so firmly entrenched that it would never end. Yet it has! And if that has changed all other manner of evil can be helped out the door as well. Christians were a major force in abolishing slavery and child labour and various human rights advances. Who knows what could be done if enough people really embraced the Magnificat in its fullness? Maybe there could be peace on earth! Maybe joy would really come to the world!

So whatever we do in these next days and hours, let us resolve to let that baby grow and change the way we live every day. Let’s grab onto the hopes of Advent. If we do we may just find ourselves and our world a little closer to the vision of Mary in that far ago time and place. Let us resolve to go forth and let not just our voices and our souls but our very lives “Magnify the Lord” and “Rejoice that God our Saviour is coming to us.

That should be enough to transform us and the world!

Amen.