Mary

Excerpt from 0:58:

Let’s look at Mary today. This story, for some reason, every year becomes more powerful for me. Mary, who we are told in this overture, is visited by an angel who tells her that she has been chosen by God to bear a son. So let's just stop right there. We've got all kinds of archetypes happening. So the Christian tradition claims to be a tradition of the incarnation. So what we affirm is that God shows up in the flesh. We have focused on God showing up in the flesh of Jesus, but I think it's so much bigger than that. And I think Mary is a model or an archetype to help us really think that through. So think about it, Mary's body becomes a vessel for this another archetype alternative vision, not just a baby, a whole vision of heaven. And I think the message, the subtext here is, it's bigger than Mary, it's all of us. All of us are invited to consider how we in our bodies, in our homes, in our communities can serve as that birthing place for the vision of heaven. And so I don't think we can say that we are a faith of the incarnation until we recognize, like John Alexander Shea says, that the original incarnation of this mystery we call God was the creation itself. And maybe we just needed a bit of a reminder of that. So I invite you as you move through these days of Advent, anticipating a Christmas season that will be very different this year, imagine how you are invited like Mary to surrender your ego, your small plans to be a vehicle for the unfolding of a much larger sacred story that is intended to be a story of hope and reconciliation.

Covid Sunday practice: For Such a Time as This: Living With Curiosity, Creativity & Courage.