Through the magnifying glass

Christmas invites us to look closely at God. Perhaps through a magnifying glass, taking care to note what we often don't see and need to actually deliberately look at.

In this final week of Advent we hear the words of Magnificat...Luke 1:39-55...which Mary is recorded as saying when she came to understand what God was asking of her. This is a particular reflection on those words

Some commentators suggest that

coming as it does at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel

The Magnificat (this name comes about because of the first line..My soul magnifies the glory of the Lord)

it is presented as something of a manifesto

of what Luke believes God is doing

through the saving act of Jesus

My soul magnifies the Lord

We are being invited to look closely

at what God is doing

So often the real problem

is not that people reject God

but that we don’t even care.

It is not so much antipathy/hatred, as APATHY

Or maybe like the wise men we look in the wrong place.

We want God to be in spectacle and power

but he is in the wonder of a child.

When we get this, we realise that maybe we have been looking in the wrong places

If we take care we see that there are many places where we can give thanks

that he has looked with favour on us

If you are like me, my problem is that often the woes of this world

so weigh me down that I lose sight of the fact

that God sustains and upholds me

powerfully and abundantly.

That the problems don’t really disappear

but we see amidst all the mess

that there is grace...the gift of God

Usually in the gift of people,

in unwarranted kindness

in generosity of spirit

In fact John tells us that there is not just grace but grace upon grace

This grace is not about making the successful more successful

or the strong stronger

but the new creation is about

lifting up the lowly

aiding the weak

We are easily seduced by power and fame

but there is something new here

This is God’s promise to us.

St James reminds us that we often don’t

avail ourselves of God’s promise

THIS WEEK

• Can we hear a call to give thanks to God for what is happening day to day?

• Can we find a way to be an agent of caring for those for whom God cares?Not the rich and famous but the weak and downcast

This is not difficult to understand
It is sometimes difficult to implement because we have our own agenda
and we do not hear God’s radical manifesto
and call on our lives
WE are not required to turn the world upside down
But God is acting differently and we choose to be God’s people.