 St. Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Sunday, December 5, 2021 A Child, a child and a couple of mothers  Second Sunday in Advent at St Alban’s First, a birthday. Anna Williams celebrated hers on Thursday, December 2. Two photos: I have to assume the first was taken when she’d had more sleep than when Ryan snapped the second! Think of Mary, Jesus’ mother, and imagine both her joy and her weariness, when you see these pictures of Eleanor and her mom.    Keep Christmas real…As we begin to move closer to Christmas, we want to allow the magic, the mystery, the wonder of the Incarnation to overwhelm us – without allowing our reflections to become sentimental. There is tenderness, yes. There is beauty. But there is Mary, greeted by an angel, not a sweet experience of lace and feathery cherubs, but a terrifying one. There is her flight from home to visit Elizabeth, her cousin, the much too elderly mother of John – who also had a miraculous and impossible pregnancy. There is the anxiety of telling Joseph. There is also a young mother, bone-tired, having traveled a long way nearly ready to deliver her baby far from home and her mother. And there’s a frightened husband, still a bit bewildered by it all, finding no room in the inn, and perhaps finding none at any relative’s home, either. Let’s keep it real. If heaven and earth became one in the Incarnation, then heaven is now messy with humanity, and earth is full of glory. If you have a creche, and have begun to put it up – why not tell a little of the story at a time. Save the angels, the shepherds and the baby himself Christmas. Let Mary and the Angel have their day. And Mary and Elizabeth. And then, leave the stable empty except for animals. Let Mary and Joseph travel through your home – getting nearer day by day. And for sure save the Magi, the wise men, until Epiphany!  |
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