Today is the second Sunday of Advent. What is growing inside of you?
Text: Luke 1:26-35 Mary Luke 1:11-15 John the Baptist
During this advent season we prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate the the birth of Christ. We celebrate the coming of Christ and look forward to God prospering our lives as we desire to grow in our intimacy and mutuality with God. When we look at the biblical text, particularly in the Gospel according to Luke, we see that God interrupted the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth as well as Joseph and Mary. God greatly surprised them with the miraculous births of children that would bring change into the world:
With Zechariah and Elizabeth it unfolded in this way
Luke 1:11-15
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
John the Baptist would grow to preach repentance and the coming of the messiah.
Then we have Joseph and Mary.
Luke 1:26-35
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 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[b] the Son of God.
Mary became pregnant with Jesus the anointed one, the messiah, the worlds redeemer, and savior.
Both Elizabeth and Mary were carrying within them the gift of God.
The relevant question for us today is this: What gift of God are we carrying? What gift is growing within us to be nourished and birthed? What gift are we carrying within us to released into this world? When John the Baptist and Jesus were born, they were born into a troubled world. A world that included the violence of war, genocide, poverty, sickness, exploitation and marginalization.
It comes as no surprise that in the modern day context of our world, we still have the same social sin that plagues our existence, violence war, genocide, poverty, sickness, exploitation and marginalization, corruption, political confusion and environmental turmoil.
The good news is that we also have received and are carrying gifts that are growing within us to be released into our communities for the betterment of humanity.
During this Advent season take time to discover, and explore the gifts within. Is it the gift of love? Has God placed a growing capacity to love within you? Perhaps a love for God, love for your neighbor and love for yourself. I have a feeling that God is nurturing and growing the gift of love in your heart.
Or perhaps within you is the growing gifts of compassion,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
Maybe you feel gifted to embrace the call to social justice, environmental justice, food justice, helping the elderly or mentoring our youth.
My point today is that we all must be attentive to what is growing within us, and not ignore what is burning within our hearts. I pray that we are led by the grace of God to the appropriate response. A response that acknowledges, receives, nurtures and shares the gifts we have been given with those in our communities. Amen
