Advent III B Blessing is still happening

I don’t know if filling out gratitude cards these past few weeks has made a difference to you.  If paying attention to what is good in your life makes you even more grateful, gives you a sense of being lifted up, freer from worry about the small stuff.  But the goal has been merely to bring to your mind the good things in your life, to take a minute to ponder those things and be grateful.

I had a sad phone call the other day from someone who is not a parishioner but who calls me sometimes for support.  He tells me of his unemployment running out, of depression, of being paralyzed with the fear of meeting people, and the inability to get out of the house.  There were tears in this phone call and I sensed him giving up. He said he felt that God was mad at him because there were so many bad things happening in his life.

First, I listened to what this person had to say, not judging where he was coming from.  But I asked why he thought God was mad at him?  Bad things happen all the time to all kinds of people. Even Ghandi was arrested, Martin Luther King put in jail.  The Virgin Mary is pregnant without a husband.  All of us undergo difficult times that have nothing to do with how God feels about us.

No one is immune to things going wrong—illness, job issues, economic downturn, losses of all kinds.  We all must face difficulties and challenges, but it is how we respond to these events that make us strong, that give us faith even in the face of them.

The prophet Isaiah speaks to the Israelites who have been returned to their homeland.  There is not continuing sullenness about the years of exile in Babylon, but joy: “God has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners,” Isaiah says, bringing a garland instead of ashes. These images are of a God who has a preference for those who have gone through the fire, who have seen hard times and grief. God sends Isaiah to proclaim God’s favor.

God sends John the Baptist to witness to the light, we hear in our gospel.  If people were not walking in darkness there would be no need for light.  If the world was not in need of the love of God, Christ would not have come to us.  So the Virgin Mary, instead of lamenting her condition, proclaims the greatness of a God who brings his spirit within her womb, who casts the mighty from their thrones, fills the hungry with good things, lifts up the lowly.

These images tell of the God who is with us: Immanuel.  They tell not of a God who makes all the bad choices surrounding us go away but who loves us through them, and because of them. 

While we know these writings are old, from the 6^th century BC and from the first two centuries AD, we also know they are still true. God is still being born among us, being planted in spirit in a womb and coming to us.  God is still blessing us and Mary is still giving birth to the messiah who comes to save.

We are not left without God’s love. “Those who sowed in tears will reap with songs of joy”, we still believe. We believe that God is with us, giving us the most important things we need—the love of family and friends, and especially the love of this faith community where you are accepted for exactly who you are. 

The joy of God coming to us is the message of this third Sunday of Advent. Can you experience this joy when you focus on the good things God is doing for you, when you take time to think about what you are and what you have that are gifts from God?

Can you feel the wonder and joy of Mary, as God fills the hungry with good things, show the strength of his arm, to scatter the proud and bring down the mighty from their thrones, God coming to the help of his servant?

For not only do we undergo the hard times, at the same time we are showered with God’s gifts.  It depends where we focus our lives—on the hard things we are undergoing or on the many gifts surrounding us.  Mary chose to remember the gift of God’s spirit coming into the world, John the Baptist witnessed to the light, and the prophet Isaiah told of how God released those in captivity. 

Not all of us can be focused on God’s presence and gifts all the time, but during Advent we are all called to remember the spirit of God being birthed among us. We are called to focus on the light coming to us, being filled with good things, being set free from whatever captures us.  Pray to be attentive to God’s good things in your midst during this Advent.