Advent 4
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country....
-- Luke 1:39
Such a small beginning to such a momentous event. All of the truly great turning points in history begin with small events that are barely noticed. Mary was not a famous or powerful person. We do not even know her, family or much about her. Yet she felt a quickening within her and she responded by taking the first step of a journey that would alter the world. She went to a small village so unimportant that we are not even given its name. There, one small beginning made connection with another small beginning as the unborn child in Elizabeth's womb responded to the embryo in Mary's womb. A synergy began before the actual birth events even took place.
Like the germ of an idea that plants itself in the small corner of a mind, a world-transforming moment began outside the notice of the powerful and the important. One woman responded in faith to that which had not yet taken place, it elicited faith in another woman, and the world began to change.
"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb." The yet-to-be-born John responded to the yet-to-be-born Jesus. John was the one that prepared the way and suggested how we might be prepared to recognize God among us. Before either of these women gave birth, there were signs of what was to come. Even if in the haste of this season we have failed to take the time to prepare to receive Christ in our lives, there are still signs indicating the nearness of Christ to us. Christ may not be fully formed in our lives, and, yet, there is still a quickening within us that hints at what God could make possible in our lives. Now is the time to pause long enough to recognize that our Christmas activities may have neglected the real preparation necessary. We are invited to feel the kick within us and to shift our focus to recognize the Christ among us.
-- Luke 1:39
Such a small beginning to such a momentous event. All of the truly great turning points in history begin with small events that are barely noticed. Mary was not a famous or powerful person. We do not even know her, family or much about her. Yet she felt a quickening within her and she responded by taking the first step of a journey that would alter the world. She went to a small village so unimportant that we are not even given its name. There, one small beginning made connection with another small beginning as the unborn child in Elizabeth's womb responded to the embryo in Mary's womb. A synergy began before the actual birth events even took place.
Like the germ of an idea that plants itself in the small corner of a mind, a world-transforming moment began outside the notice of the powerful and the important. One woman responded in faith to that which had not yet taken place, it elicited faith in another woman, and the world began to change.
"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb." The yet-to-be-born John responded to the yet-to-be-born Jesus. John was the one that prepared the way and suggested how we might be prepared to recognize God among us. Before either of these women gave birth, there were signs of what was to come. Even if in the haste of this season we have failed to take the time to prepare to receive Christ in our lives, there are still signs indicating the nearness of Christ to us. Christ may not be fully formed in our lives, and, yet, there is still a quickening within us that hints at what God could make possible in our lives. Now is the time to pause long enough to recognize that our Christmas activities may have neglected the real preparation necessary. We are invited to feel the kick within us and to shift our focus to recognize the Christ among us.
