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I have always been perplexed by the lines in the Magnificat:

You have deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places

You have filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty

These verses sort of make me squirm a bit.  It’s so punitive toward the ‘haves.’  Why can’t there just be the raising of the lowly.  And the filling of the hungry?  Why the deposing of the mighty and the rich sent away empty?  Isn’t God’s love for everyone?  Doesn’t God want good for all?  Isn’t God’s love universal?  For rich and poor alike?

But when we think about it, the dynamics of human power arrangements create the haves, the wealthy, and the powerful, on the backs of the poor, the lowly, the regular people.  Statistics tell us that the wealth gap in the US has been widening significantly since the 1980’s.  There are more billionaires.  What can you do with all of that money?  And where does it come from?  It comes from financial and power arrangements that benefit the few over the many and that deprive the many of needed social services and benefits.  

Mary’s song is a song of liberation for all that can only occur when the current unjust economic and social power arrangements are dismantled and new economic and power arrangements that lift up those who have been forgotten are created.

A pipe dream?  Nothing is impossible with God!

Prayer:  Help us to be part of creating new arrangements for society that lift the lowly and fill the hungry!  And may we cultivate compassion for the mighty and the rich.   Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.

In the story of the annunciation, the angel Gabriel visits Mary to tell her that she is going to bear a special child.  In the angel’s opening words, Mary is told, Fear not.  Don’t be afraid.  

Experts tell us that the number one fear among humans is the fear of death.  I find this ironic in a way.  We’re most afraid of the thing that we know 100% is going to happen to each and every one of us.  Yes, there are terrible ways to die – a child that drowns, a loved one killed by an drunk driver, dying by suicide, a random, disease diagnosis.  But we all know that we are going to die.  Why fear what is most assured in life?  

Maybe more fearsome than death is an angel visitation?  The angel Gabriel seems to know that, so he begins by reassuring Mary, Don’t be afraid.

This is the season when we prepare to celebrate the birth of the one whom we believe inaugurates God’s dream of peace and justice for all of Creation.  So what is there to be afraid of?

Maybe what we need to be afraid of is not doing all that we can to celebrate the dream of God and make it a reality.  Maybe we might be afraid of not giving ourselves over fully and freely to creating a world of where every life, human and non human, is cherished. Maybe what we need to be afraid of is missing our opportunities to be part of creating God’s reality where:

the proud are scattered

the mighty are deposed from their thrones

the lowly are raised to high places

the hungry are filled with good things

and the rich are sent empty away.  

Prayer:  May we not be afraid to say yes to Divine Love!  Amen.

This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.

One of the most important features of this season of preparation for Christmas is the music.  We love Christmas music – at least at the beginning of the Advent season.  By the time we get to December 25, we might be tired of hearing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” in the grocery store.  

What are some of your favorite Christmas songs?  What Christmas carols do you love?  What music do you look forward to hearing this season?  Will you be listening to Handel’s “Messiah”?  Or “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”?  “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”?

As we think about the Magnificat, we notice that it is referred to as the ‘song’ of Mary.  The canticle of Mary.   Something that is sung.  Music.  Not just a poem or a spoken prayer.  I think that’s interesting.  It is as if the magnificent thing God is doing, sending Jesus to the world, through Mary, is so powerful and amazing, that is can’t be captured in words alone.  Something so radical and revolutionary needs more than words.  It needs music.  A song.  

This is a season to cultivate joy in response to the unconditional, universal love made manifest in Jesus through Mary.  So how do you cultivate joy?  Joy that needs more than words to be expressed?  Maybe another list?  A list of things to do this season that bring you joy so that you might resonate with the joy God sent Jesus to bring into this world.

Prayer:  Amidst the busy-ness and hustle and bustle of this season, may I pause, for joy.  May I even sing out my praises for the wonders of Divine Love!  Amen.   

Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells

The season of preparation for Christmas brings to mind an image of Santa looking at a list with two columns:  Naught or Nice.  And in each column are lists of names;  those who are considered and those who are considered nice.  And the assumption is that those who are on the naughty list do not get toys, candy, and treats for Christmas.  Maybe they get a lump of coal, something hard and dirty.  Yuck!  And those on the nice list?  Well, they DO get toys, sweets, and treats.  This concept of the naughty and nice is often used by parents in the lead up to Christmas to get their kids to behave:  Put away your clean laundry or Santa won’t bring you any toys at Christmas. . . 

Today is World AIDS Day, and we know since the 1980’s when AIDS erupted on the public health scene, there was definitely a “naughty and nice” list associated with this horrific disease.  When AIDS became prevalent in this country among people who were gay or intravenous drug users, the message became clear:  Those who got this deadly disease, well, they were naughty.  Not deserving of needed health care.   Ostracized.  Blamed for their condition.  Not given much sympathy.  Or, more importantly, funding for treatments and cures.  

This is a season to prepare for the birth of Jesus.  And Jesus doesn’t withhold love or blessing or food or healing from anyone because they are naughty.  And he doesn’t grace anyone with his saving presence because they are nice.  Jesus freely offers his healing love to everyone simply because they are human beings, children of God, and therefore beloved.  There is no naughty or nice list with Jesus.

We see this in the Magnificat.  In this song, God is praised for choosing Mary, who was a nobody, poor, from the sticks, and a woman, to be part of the plan to transform reality through Jesus.   She would not have been on anyone’s list to receive any kind blessing from God.  She would not have had most-favored status in the first century.  

Time for another list:  Who is on your ‘naughty’ list?  Who you consider ‘less than’?  Who do you look down on?  Who do you consider not worthy of favor or blessing?  Who do you view with distaste?  Maybe you have to dig a bit but who is on your naughty list?

Prayer:  This Advent season, may we work on tearing up our ‘naughty and nice’ lists and remember that God sent Jesus to bless the whole world and everyone in it.  Amen. 

Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells

Greetings, and welcome to Advent!  This is a season of preparation for the celebration of Christmas.  And it begins today though most stores don’t seem to realize that and have had Christmas items displayed since Halloween.

Now, some of us, when preparing for something big, make a list.  Or even more than one, depending on the nature of the initiative ahead.  I realize that for some, the idea of making a list is not typical go-to.  I have people like that in my family.  It’s inscrutable to me, how they get anything done, but they do.  

The coming of Jesus is the inauguration of an initiative transforming the world according to God’s intentions for Creation.  That’s a big undertaking!  And, well, maybe making a list might help us to prepare for what the imagination of Divine Love is up to in the birth of Jesus.   

We imagine Santa making a list of gifts for every child, every person.  Maybe you could take a few minutes to make a list – in your mind or on paper or on your phone or on your computer – of the hopes and dreams that you imagine would bring us closer to Divine intentions for reality.  We believe God come to humanity in Jesus to save us.   What gifts is God giving us through Jesus today?  

At Lakewood Church this season, we are focusing on the Magnificat, the song of Mary in Luke 1: 46-55.  [You might want to put a bookmark in your Bible at the Magnificat.  We’ll be revisiting it throughout this season.]  In the Magnificat, Mary outlines a vision of what God is doing through the birth of Jesus to bless the world, to save the world.  What things are on the list in the Magnificat?  How does that list compare to yours?

Prayer:  This Advent season, may our lists reflect God’s gifts to us in Jesus.  Amen.  

Devotion prepared by Rev. Kim. P Wells