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Revd Sara's Reflections for w/c 22nd December 2024

Lisa Wenmouth

Revd Sara’s Reflection Sunday 22nd December 2024

Holy God,

Come and make yourself known to me,

As you did in the first Christmas.

Creator of heaven and earth,

Author of my salvation,

my comfort and my strength,

Today I pause for a moment to thank you for all the good gifts you have bestowed upon me.

Today, I sing your praise and offer my thoughts, reflections and time to join with the angels

to proclaim that you are good and your love endures forever.

Forgive me when I turn my face from you,

Encourage me when I step out in faith to follow you,

And guide me as I seek to build your kingdom here and now.

Amen.

You may now wish to say the Lord’s Prayer in a version or translation with which you

are familiar.

Bible Reading: Luke 1:39-55


In Luke’s telling of today’s gospel story, Mary’s song is her response to the news that she would bear God’s child Jesus and to her visit to her cousin Elizabeth who declared, 

‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.’

Pause for a moment just to reflect on all the thoughts and emotions that must have been whirling through both of their minds. Their pregnancies are unexpected – thought

impossible – and the way their lives will change cannot be imagined. But their response is to praise God

I wonder what your experience has been in churches you’ve been part of? Have you heard many sermons about Mary? Or thought about her in Biblestudies? Perhaps like the Magnificat itself, we only consider Mary briefly as we approach

Christmas. But does Mary have something to teach us?

Mary rejoices in what God has done: she praises God for keeping the promise to her ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants for ever. When we come to worship, we too praise God for all that God has done from the beginning of time until now. God

forgets us, even when we are wayward, and God’s promise lasts for ever. Like Mary, we can – and we should – praise God for that.

Mary’s praise of God is also personal: God is her Saviour who has looked upon her in her lowliness. God has done great things for her. As we come to worship, we come to a God who knows us as we are and who is our Saviour. We come to a God who has done greatthings for us. We come in humility, thankfulness and praise.

Mary’s song of praise does not forget the realities of the world where injustice is real and many suffer. She knew of the suffering of the poor, of those who went hungry, of people who were oppressed by powerful rulers and much more. She sang of the God who stands against all of this and who will overthrow it.

As we come to her song 2000 years later, our world is vastly different in so many ways, but we are still in a world where division and injustice is real: rich, poor; full, hungry; powerful, lowly. These are all realities we still know today and which need to be overthrown.

How are praise and protest connected for you? How does your praise for God create spaces for you to protest against injustice? How does your anger against injustice draw you back to God?

Blessing

Whatever it is that you bring,

Whatever your gifts,

May you find the courage to bring them to the manger-side this Christmas season.

May you be inspired by the miracle of God with us, Immanuel, whatever your Christmas

looks like,

And may you be blessed.

Amen. Love and prayers Revd Sara

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