Advent 3 - Light Within
I can’t belive that it is already the third wek of Advent! It has been a joy and a challenge to work through the passages of the first two weeks and contemplate the second coming of Jesus and hear the challanges and warnings to live holy and godly lives in this time between Advents. This week marks a shift for the second half of Advent toward the first coming of Christ. It is a time of preparing our hearts to receive the good news of God’s grand plan of salvation once again. God became flesh and dwelt among us. Because of this miracle, we can sing with the beautiful hymn “veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity!”
Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem Jerusalem
The Church of the Visitation located in Ein Kerem, also known as Ein Karem, a suburb of Jerusalem, pays tribute to the visit paid by Mary, Mother of Jesus to Elizabeth, Mother of John
Anchor Texts:
Luke 1:46-55 NIV - Mary’s Song
Exodus 3:1-6 NIV - Moses and the Burning Bush
Questions to Ponder:
What does “magnify” mean? Why would Mary say “my soul magnifies the Lord?” What does it mean in this sense?
What do you think Mary’s “lowly estate” was? What lessons can we learn about the kind of people God wants to work with from this text?
Is God against rich people? If not, why does Mary say what she says in v. 53? Pastor Nate said “the rich” in v. 53 is a category of people who __________ the poor people of the world.
Compare and contrast the image of the burning bush with the concept of Mary containing the Son of God, and us being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. What stands out to you?
What is one way you can magnify Jesus this week? Someone you can pray for? Being ready to give to someone in need or someone collecting (like the Salvation Army?) Write it down, and tell someone so they can ask if you’ve done it!
Answers: 3. despise
The Theme in Song:
There are a few iconic songs written about Mary or from her perspective for the Christmas season. None may be more popualr than “Mary Did You Know?” In this rendition, it is performed by a Childrens’ Choir. The song is triumphant, joyful, and declares the amazing truth of Jesus divinity and humanity in one person.
The Theme in Art:
I came across the beautiful and powerful parallel between Mary and the burning buch by reading in a collection of Advent poetry by poet and priest Malcolm Guite. I was suprised to find, when I went looking for some art for this week theme, that far from being his idea, this parallel has existed in common Christian understanding for centuries, with many pictures of Mary also representing the burning bush around or behind her. Here are just a few:
Each of these depictions highlight Christ inside Mary as well as the flaming leaves and braches of the famous Old Testament meeting between Moses and God.
Below I have inluded the poem that Malcolm Guite was commenting on. It is by contemporary English poet David Baird, born in Canada in 1956.
Was certainly not winter, scholars say,
When holy habitation broke the chill
Of hearth-felt separation, icy still,
The love of life in man that Christmas day.
Was autumn, rather, if seasons speak true;
When green retreats from sight’s still ling’ring gaze,
And creeping cold numbs sense in sundry ways,
While settling silence speaks of solitude.
Hope happens when conditions are as these;
Comes finally lock-armed with death and sin,
When deep’ning dark demands its full display.
Then fallen nature driven to her knees
Flames russet, auburn, orange fierce from within,
And bush burns brighter for the growing grey.