“ … he has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:53 . This is from Mary’s song when she discovers that she will have a baby. She is visiting her cousin, and the baby leapt in her belly. She recites this hymn/song as to what her son’s birth will mean for the world.
If I ŕeally believe this ancient song, then Christmas is not for me. I am the person in the song that will be brought down . I am at the top of the world’s heap. If this vision of God and of Mary is going to happen in my world, I am going to lose out. I live in Canada, am white and middle class, well-educated and wealthy.
This vision is going to bring up the humble, the hungry and the poor. I can rationalize that I am all of these things in spiritual way, but in the life that I live here in Canada, I live a king’s life. In terms of the world I may be in the top five per cent.
I like Christmas and the wonder of God becoming human. The divine is so humble as to breathe like us. A birth of any child is a miracle, and to have God be so interested in the world to come, and visit with us in this way is amazing.
So , what real meaning can Christmas have for me this year, if the lives that will be changed does not include me, according to the song of Mary ? Do I give more money to the work of MCC ? Do I preach more passionately about the needs of the poor ? Do I speak more boldly for the stories of murdered and Indigenous women ? But all these good things are done from high on my perch looking down .
But this is who I am . I have been given so many good things . I have a great abundance. I am the wealthy, the king in Mary’s song. What am I going to do ? If the prophetic words of Mary would come about in all their upside down ways, would my faith in God be strong enough ? What I need to be upended to bring me to a new faith?
I am in Winnipeg this week visiting family. I go with one of my sons to a bar to watch an English soccer game on TV . It is a great time. This past Saturday a guy walks in and every says hi to him . He is a regular there, and people call him by name . He is mentally challenged, and is forthright in his answers and questions. I believe Christmas is for Gary. What would life look for him , if it would all turn around him and the rest if the world ?
May Christmas be challenging for you as you think about the ancient poem of Mary. May the miraculous birth of God upend your life.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 