December 21, 2003

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Luke 1:39-45

 Alive and Kicking

     In Psalm 148, the Psalmist sings out with unbounded praise:

Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise God in the heights!

Praise God, all the angels; praise God, all the hosts!

Praise God, sun and moon; praise God, all you shining stars!

Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,

Fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling God’s command!

Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!

Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers!

Young men and women alike, old and young together!

Let them praise the Lord, for God’s glory alone is exalted;

For God has raised up salvation for the people!

     Imagine that, all of creation unable to contain its praise for the God of salvation - praise from sea monsters to snow to kings to common folk to young and old, all creation in celebration together! 

     This same overflowing joy is heard in the song Zechariah sang in expectation of John’s birth, the one who would pave the way for the Messiah (Luke 1:68+):

Blessed be the God of Israel!  God has raised up a mighty Savior for us…to give knowledge of salvation to the people by the forgiveness of their sins.  By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

   Did the yet-unborn John somehow sense this joyous expectation, also?  Certainly, his mother did.  “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘O Mary, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’”  One might say John concurred by leaping in Elizabeth’s womb!  Good News was coming into the world alive and kicking!

     This is not just one more Christmas, but the best news of all time.  Christmas embraces and lifts up the entire creation in the salvation of God.  From the depths of the sea to the highest heavens, from the youngest to the oldest, the light of hope breaks in because our God is a loving and forgiving God and will not forsake us.  God would even come to us in flesh and blood if necessary; thus the Child in Bethlehem and the Savior who give his life.

     Can’t you see what this is all about?…not a vengeful, wrathful, judgmental God but one who dances through the creation, leaps with a baby in an old woman‘s womb, gives hope to the hurting, searches for the lost sheep and holds the fullness of it all in the arms of endless love.

     Fall into God’s embrace one more time this Christmas - sing, dance, leap alive and kicking, hear the Good News for you and all creation; allow yourself to see the light breaking upon you from on high to guide you in the way of peace.