I think in general, people like to congregation with people who are like them. Maybe the people have something fundamental in common like ethnicity. Or maybe they have similar thoughts about something, like politics. Or maybe they enjoy a similar activity, like surfing.
I’m wondering if we even notice one of the main things that keeps us ‘grouped up’ and that is income or wealth. Class. Often very rich people are at similar events, are together for doing activities, eat at similar restaurants. Shop together at high end stores. A billionaire is probably not dipping into Walgreens for a pack of smokes.
And the rest of us ‘commoners’? We’re kind of grouped together. Day to day life. The grocery store. The car line at school. The doctor’s office. The soccer game. We tend to be around people who are similar from an economic standpoint. Most of us don’t spend a lot of time socializing and hanging out in William’s Park. Or at St. Vincent de Paul.
In the Magnificat, there is the line, God has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. It’s kind of an enigmatic phrase. There are some varying translations, but still, it’s a little vague. Are the people actually scattered? No more grouping up with those who endorse your world view and your values? Or are their thoughts scattered, their plans upended?
When I think of the phrase ‘scattered the proud’ a scene from the movie Mary Poppins comes to mind. At the beginning of the movie, the Banks family is looking for a nanny. A bunch of officious looking prospects are waiting in a long line down the walkway, out the gate, and down the sidewalk in front of the house. But once Mary Poppins has been interviewed, a big wind comes and the nannies waiting outside are blown away in the wind. It is a great scene! The nannies are scattered.
Christmas is meant to upend our neat plans, arrangements, ideas, and assumptions. A baby. Born in a stable. Attended by kings and shepherds alike, upends the world. So this advent season, maybe we can let ourselves be scattered – be blown about a bit, have some of our tidy thoughts and conclusions challenged, get a bit mixed up, maybe even with people we don’t usually mix with. Nature scatters seeds to grow and perpetuate life. Maybe a little scattering with will help us grow in new directions.
Prayer: This advent season, may we encounter new people, new circumstances, and new ideas, that challenge some of our assumptions. May we grow in the love that was gifted to us in the birth of Jesus. Amen.
This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 