Subversive Advent

 …he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.

Luke 1:51b-53, NRSV

You probably have a plan–or at least an idea–of what Christmas should be this year. You may even find yourself longing for the magic of Christmas past, when everything seemed possible and a deep-rooted wonder infused the season. And, you may be working feverishly to try to create that space of magic and wonder…if not for yourself, for others–with all of the stress, anxiety, and debt it seems to require.

What if you could have a life- and perspective-shifting, real encounter with God this season?

Our family is big on tradition, especially this time of year: we’re a cut-our-own-Christmas tree, fire up the hot chocolate, trim-the-tree-while-wearing-goofy-hats, road-trip-singalong, but-this-is-how-we-always-do-it kind of people. And this year, a lot of our traditional observances just aren’t happening: we aren’t anchored to a church family and are taking advantage of being a “ministry family” without ministry obligations for the first Christmas in forever. We are processing what it means that our plans for the future need to adjust as we seek God for a new place of ministry and investment. Magic, wonder, and the coziness of the season seems far away. It seems like nothing is the same, but there is also an expectancy that this season is and will be good.

I think that place–where things aren’t what we thought they’d be, the future is unknown, and nothing seems certain–is actually the perfect place to experience the deep wonder of the Christmas season and have a powerful encounter with Jesus.

The Scripture quoted at the beginning of this post is the prophetic worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The verses above are sung as Mary processes what it means that she is carrying the fetal Christ child; remember, she is an unwed, teenage mother who was visited by angels with the news that the whole destiny of her life and course of the world were changing. With her, we are invited to go into Christmas/Advent with an eye toward (and posture of!) restoration and justice. Throughout her song, she declares what God has already done through the sending of the growing baby in her womb:

• Acted in and with favor
• Done great things
• Demonstrated strength
• Scattered the proud
• Deposed leaders
• Exalted the lowly
• Filled the hungry with good things
• Sent the rich away empty
• Come to aid
• Remembered his mercy

Somehow, the story of the coming of Jesus is the story of the powerful losing their power, the lowly and forgotten being empowered, the poor finding more than enough, and the rich discovering the depth of their poverty. The reality of Christmas and Advent must move us to ask: Am I on the side of the proud or the humble? The powerful or the weak? The important or the forgotten? The rich or the poor?

And we are reminded,

Jesus is found among the humble, the weak, the forgotten, and the poor.

I wonder, what does it look like to sit with him there in this season… and reject the draw to power for the sake of power, and wealth for the sake of wealth? What does it look like to experience the awe and wonder found in the presence of this Jesus, in the spaces where our plans fail and our wishlists go unmet, but our deepest desires come to new life?