A few years ago, I was in Guatemala observing a country still reeling from civil conflict, political corruption and abject poverty. I wondered again this morning how the beautiful people I met there will celebrate Christmas a few days from now. How will they will read the story of Messiah, God's deliverer sent to bring hope and freedom to the nations?
I was reminded in my Advent reading this morning that some of the Christmas story is so subversive, so pointed in its critique of power, pride and wealth that Luke 1-2 would read quite differently to my Guatemalan friends. Listen to Katleen Norris' observations in a reading for the 4th Thursday of Advent:
Mary utters a song so powerful that its meaning still resonates in profound and disturbing ways. In the twentieth century Mary's "Magnificat" became a cornerstone of liberation theology, so much so that during the 1980's the government of Guatemala found its message so subversive that it banned its
recitation in public worship.
The Magnificat reminds us that what we most value, all that gives us status - power, pride, strength and wealth - can be a barrier to receiving what God has in store for us. If we have it all, or think we can buy it all, there will be no Christmas for us. If we are full of ourselves, there will be no room for God to enter our hearts at Christmas. Mary's prayer of praise, like many of the psalms, calls us to consider our true condition: God is God, and we are the creatures God formed out of earth. The nations are but nations, and even the power of a mighty army cannot save us. We all return to dust. And if we hope to rise in God's new creation, where love and justice will reign triumphant, our responsibility, here and now, is to reject the temptation to employ power and force and oppression against those weaker than ourselves. We honour the Incarnation best by honouring God's image in all people, and seeking to make this world into a place of welcome for the Prince of Peace." (p. 113-114 in "God With Us").
What kinds of wonderfully subversive actions will you undertake to celebrate Christmas this year?
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