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Pay attention.  This is another timeless theme of the spiritual life.  Paying attention.  To our lives.  To our spirits.  To our feelings.  To others.  To the presence of the sacred, the holy.  

In the stories of the nativity of Jesus in the gospels, there are lots of special ‘signs.’  Joseph has dreams.  Elizabeth’s baby kicks.  Mary entertains the angel Gabriel.  The wise ones see and follow a star.  The shepherds see the skies open up and hear the songs of angels.  There is one magnificent manifestation after another.  But these are only impactful because someone is paying attention.

Joseph could have dismissed his dreams as indigestion.  Of course baby’s kick inside the mother.  Why does Elizabeth think that is some kind of sign?  Mary could have turned up the radio or the podcast she was listening to and ignored Gabriel.  Had he gone to other young women before Mary?  The shepherds could have been fast asleep in the fields and missed the whole show with the angels.  The wise ones could have dismissed the star as some kind of anomaly, noted it in their charts, and gone home to bed for the night. 

All of the characters in these stories are paying attention.  They are open.  They have space in their lives, time, for the breaking in of something important.  They are not so distracted by entertainments and information and greed that they miss the power of Divine Love active in their lives.  

We can be so heavily scheduled and distracted by a million things, literally a million or more with smart phones and the internet, that we may very well miss how God is seeking to love us into wholeness.  In these last days before Christmas, may we remember to pay attention.  

Prayer:  As advent comes to a close, may I remember to pay attention.  May I seek to be aware of the power of love in my life and in the world around me.  Always.  Amen.

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

For these last few devotions of the Advent season, we turn to classic spiritual themes that are highlighted in the Magnificat, the Song of Mary.

We start with the Beatles:    

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

After Gabriel has visited Mary, the story of the annunciation concludes, “Let it be with me according to your word.”  

So, an important theme as we come to the end of our spiritual preparations for Christas is surrender.  Let it be.  Acceptance.  Yes, we have our plans.  Mary was a poor young woman from a small village but still she undoubtedly had plans and dreams for her life.  Yet when confronted by God’s agenda, she surrenders.  Let it be.  She does not fight or contest God’s plans as many male prophets have done before her.  No, she submits.  Surrenders.  

We can spend a lot of energy – spiritual, physical, emotional, verbal – countering God’s plans and intentions for our lives.  We are masters of making excuses.  Offering counter strategies.  Scheming our dreams.  All the while ignoring or combatting what God is trying to do in our lives.  

How can this be a season of surrender for us?  When we simply say to God’s dream for our world, for our lives, Let it be.  To the God of justice.  Let it be.  To the God of the nonviolent Jesus.  Let it be.  To the God  whose love confronts at every turn in the natural world.  Let it be.  

Prayer:  Advent was once called ‘the little Lent.’ In this holy season, may we re-turn our lives to God.  Let it be.  Amen.

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

The phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid,” was part of Bill Clinton’s winning strategy for president in 1992.   Well, the economy is important.  It really controls reality for most people in this country.  The economy dictates how many jobs a person has to have to feed the family.  The economy dictates access to healthcare.  The economy controls people’s ability to take care of basic needs like housing, food, healthcare, and transportation.  It even influences what Christmas gifts will be given.

The economy controls the wellbeing of a vast majority of the population of our country.  So, for politicians, the economy should be a main concern.  Unfortunately, in recent decades, the economy has been doctored to make the rich richer.  And, consequently, the poor, poorer.  But the rich contribute to political campaigns, not the poor, so the preferences of the rich are catered to by politicians.  They have to keep those donations flowing in.

And, of course, we have all kinds of data and charts and graphs documenting the state of things economically.  They show that the wealth gap in America is growing not shrinking.  And for those of us not inclined toward the analysis of economic data, there is the grocery store.  You can get a pretty good read on things as you traverse the aisles with list in hand.  And we know one thing for sure at the moment, prices are not going down.  It is often cheaper for a family to get discounted meals at a fast food joint then go to the store and buy actual food and prepare it at home.  No wonder America is having a health crisis.  

This highlights something that I think is of interest in the Magnificat.  The song of Mary is an economic manifesto.  Mary refers to her own servile status.  The proud, arrogant, and powerful are scattered.  Those are the rich.  You aren’t proud, arrogant, or powerful without money to back it up.  And the rich are sent away empty.  And the lowly are lifted up.  That’s the poor.  Those with little money, land, education, and access to power.  Lifted up.  Filled with good things.  

This Magnificat is very much an economic manifesto.  It doesn’t refer to gender, to race, to ethnicity.  Fix the economy and many other problems are solved.  There is the mention of promises fulfilled to God’s servant, Israel, in terms of economic well-being.  A complete shift in the power structure.  Based on economics.  But it is for all, not just for some.

It’s all well and good to talk about how God loves everyone.  It’s another thing to announce a complete toppling of current economic realities.  That’s what Mary does.  That’s what loving everyone amounts to.

Prayer:  To much of the world, we are the haves.  We are the ones with financial resources.  Help us to be part of God’s economic revolution announced by Mary.  Amen.

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

I have noticed something about the people in our congregation.  When I visit parishioners in the hospital and someone from the cleaning staff comes in, they know their cleaning people.  They greet them by name.  And they introduce me to the cleaning staff.  In one case, the parishioner told me that he made it a point to get to the know the cleaning people and to try to understand their lives.  This man was extremely well educated and intelligent and highly cultured.  He wanted to know about the people who actually cleaned his room and him.

Now, most people have no idea who does the cleaning in their hospital room, or their hotel room, or their office.  They just ignore the cleaners.  

In the Magnificat, there are different translations, but Mary refers to herself as: a slave, a humble servant, a bond slave, a handmaiden, a slave of humble station, a servant in her lowliness, a lowly servant, a low status servant.  I mean, this is like a cleaner.  A maid.  The custodial staff.  The ones who deal with the dirt, grime, seepage, spillage, etc. of all kinds that no one wants to know about let alone clean up.  

And this is who has been chosen by God, to give birth to one who is seen by millions the world over as the most important person in human history.  Born to a servant.  A maid.  A low class cleaner.  In our situation, we may not even expect such a person to be a US citizen, to speak English, to have a driver’s license, or a bank account.  

And this is who is chosen to give birth to the Messiah.  This is who is entrusted with raising the child into adulthood with the values and morals that reflect the purposes of God.  This is the person who will see that Jesus is instilled with faith in the God who prioritizes the oppressed.  

This Mary lady.  Or was it Maria?  

Prayer:  This Advent season, let us expect to be surprised.  Let us open our eyes to the God that is working where we may least expect it.  Through a lowly one who serves.  Amen.

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

In the first century, the Jewish people were very much a community of solidarity, united against the occupying regime, the Roman Empire.  Oppression sometimes breeds solidarity.  People. band together against a common enemy.  

The most hated Jews were those who were in collusion with the Romans  for their own personal, individual benefit, like the tax collectors, and King Herod, and many of the religious leaders in the Temple in Jerusalem.  

One thing that is noteworthy in the gospels is that the promises of God are extended beyond the Jewish community to everyone and anyone in need;  including foreigners and those perceived as historic enemies like the Samaritans.  

Jesus extends Divine Love to everyone.  Ethnicity, religious connections, poverty, power, none of these things influence Jesus when it comes to embracing people with unconditional love.  Jesus is certainly not restricted by perceived blood ties to Abraham and Sarah considered the progenitors of Judaism.  

We notice this commitment foreshadowed in the song of Mary, the Magnificat.  We are told of the lifting of the lowly.  Not just the lowly who are Jewish, but the lowly.  Whoever they may be.  The poor are filled with good things.  All the poor.  Not just the poor from one group, tribe, religion, or ethnicity.  The insinuation is ALL the poor.  

And the mighty are cast down.  Not just the Jewish people who were colluders.  But all people of power.  Cast down.  Roman and Jewish and others.  

In the gospels, our blood ties are our ties as human beings, they are our ties as a species.  There is no place for preferential treatment for people of a certain color, or ethnicity, or language, or religion, or citizenship.  In the Magnificat, Mary expresses the commitment of God to justice, not to a certain group or sect or color.  Yes, the children of Abraham and Sarah will receive justice as promised, but it is not only for those descendants. 

Christmas is the most celebrated holiday in the world.  But do we really know what we are celebrating?  God’s love for everyone.  Even those we hate.

Prayer:  Like Mary, may I know that I am tied by blood to all people, not just to people who seem to be like me.  I am even in relationship with my enemies and those who consider me enemy.  Amen.

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