Scriptures for the Day: Micah 5:2-5a, Luke 1:46b-55, and Luke 1:39-45
Several years ago, I visited a nursing home in Parkersburg to sit with a member of my church who had recently moved there. She and her out-of-state family had decided that her increasing dementia made it unsafe for her to live alone. She sometimes forgot that the stove was on, or that the car was running, or that milk needs stored in the refrigerator. But Lona (not her real name) was a retired school teacher who liked to tell amazing stories about her long life during the great depression and World War Two. The further back in time an event, the clearer her recall seemed to be. I was a fairly new pastor then and was surprised, but in the years since I have seen that pattern in many people. On this day, we started with her reminisces about her childhood. I asked how many brothers and sisters she’d had, and she described a huge family—-and then said that she’d lost most of them during the flu pandemic that ravaged the world while she was still a girl. She told about the experience of wearing a mask and of many painful goodbyes. I sat there, stunned. How terrible and tragic. But it was a story for another age: as we chatted in her room on that sunny afternoon we assured each other that with all the antibiotics and improvements in medicine, nothing like that would ever happen again.
It seems naïve of me now but if anyone had told me two years ago about the pandemic journey that we’ve had to take in 2020 and now all of 2021, I’d have been incredulous. On some days, I still am. The masks, the shortages, the closed businesses and remote learning, endless zoom meetings, online worship, sad goodbyes, lonely isolation for some and constant work in essential fields for others…..we all have a list of the experiences that have marked us. It’s not what we expected, is it? It’s not what we prepared for. So, to quote the opening lament of Psalm 137, how do we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? How are we the People of God in this new reality?
The lectionary texts for this week may not supply easy answers, but they help point us toward faithful responses. The prophet Micah, writing 700 years before the birth of Christ, promised that Bethlehem would one day bring forth a “ruler in Israel” who would “shepherd his flock” and become “one of peace.” Given that Micah lived during the time when the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered, and Judah was repeatedly attacked and threatened, his hopeful words about the coming Messiah show deep faith and quiet confidence. Centuries later, the young girl Mary and the much older Elizabeth bond over the reversals in their lives as they greet each other and Elizabeth recognizes that Mary carries the Messiah. Then Mary breaks into a song of praise, celebrating the way that God is at work “from one generation to the next,” bringing down the powers that be and lifting up the humble, hungry, and lowly. These scriptures affirm that God is at work, even during times when things seem broken, strange, unsure. Renewal and restoration are coming! With Mary, let us glorify God and lean into the future God walks toward with us.
Prayer for the Day: God of all generations, we thank you for your mercy and your strength down through the ages. In this, our age of uncertainty and challenges, give us your wisdom and grace. Help us to live as faithful witnesses to the reality of the new life in Christ. Amen.
Terry Deane
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