Today’s podcast is by Mark Powley, the Principal of St Hild College.

REFLECTION

What is the greatest adventure of your life? Moving to a new city? Travelling to a different country? Or is it just the fact that you have got this far and made ends meet?

At this point in Luke’s gospel, Mary’s adventure becomes clear: she’s going to endure the risks of an unplanned pregnancy. She’s is going to teach the word of God how to speak. And one day she’ll have to watch him give his life away for the world.

And Mary’s response to this unsettling adventure is praise. She sings. And this is her song. God has filled the hungry with good things. But those who are rich, and self-satisfied, he sends away empty. This is Mary‘s remix of the great song by Hannah in Old Testament when she is promised a child. And it is one of the most famous bits of scripture, prayed by millions of Christians around the world every day.

We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking of God as static, fixed, even predictable. But this God is on the move. He lifts up the broken. He casts down the mighty. And that is what Advent means: it means ‘coming’. It means God is coming. It means there is not a situation in life where God cannot break in.

We may find ourselves longing for God‘s help, waiting and praying. But God is coming all the same. We can’t predict how God will come; we can’t control God’s arrival, any more than Mary could control the baby growing in her womb. But God is coming, and when he comes it is recognisable as mercy and grace and new life. As theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it; God is Constant advent.

One of my favourite Mick Woodhead-isms is “Father, thank you for this new day fresh off the shelf of heaven, never opened before!” This is so true! Today is a fresh day. Today is an Advent day because God can come into any situation we are facing.

In that sense, the greatest adventure of your life is today. Today is your Advent day, and mine too. Today is the day God can come into our lives to lift up and bless; to shake up the world around us. Not yesterday – that’s gone now. And not tomorrow – cos who knows what holds?! But today. Today is advent. Today is the greatest “Advent-ure”. Because God is coming.

 

 

READING: LUKE 1:46-55

And Mary said:

‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants for ever, just as he promised our ancestors.’