Advent is a time of invitation - to hear old stories anew, and to see ourselves anew.

“Advent is preparation for the demands of newness that will break the tired patterns of fear in our lives.” So writes Walter Brueggemann in a meditation for the First Sunday of Advent.[1]

2020 is a year that has already broken many tired patterns. Usually, we tend to think that the way things are is the way things must always be. By now, we should have learned better. So much of life has been disrupted this year, so many surprises have come our way, so many changes forced upon us by the Covid-19 pandemic!

There is a deep longing for things to get back to normal. And understandably so. But we need to be cautious, for “normal” often means the same old tired patterns: patterns of economic inequity, of self-defeating fears and other-demeaning prejudices, of clinging to the familiar and shunning new possibilities.

My prayer is that 2020 might have shaken us out of old ruts, shaken us enough to be open to the newness to which Christ calls us. As Brueggemann puts it, Advent offers the possibility that “we may be visited by a spirit of openness, generosity, energy,” a spirit that may “carry us to do obedient things we have not yet done, kingdom things we did not think we had in us, neighbor things from which we cringe. The whole tenor of Advent is that God may act in us, through us, beyond us, more than we imagined, because newness is on its way among us.”

-- by Bill

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent (Westminster/John Knox, 2017).

Sunday I heard on the radio someone describing details of the story of the birth of Jesus. It was explained that Mary was visited by an angel who related the wishes of God: that she, Mary, would become the mother of God’s son, Jesus. The angel spoke the word of God and the Word became flesh. Hm-m-m, an interesting twist to the story told in the gospel of John, In the beginning was the Word, (1:1) And the Word was made flesh (v.14). I also heard that Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, were aristocrats. If that is so, why did Mary offer doves at the Presentation, doves being the offering of peasants?

 

Inquiring minds need to know. I sought to learn as did 11^th century Christians, from cathedral stained glass windows, tympana, and sculptures. The greatest cathedral, in my experience, is Chartres Cathedral in France.

 

The Jesse Window: From the groin of Jesse, who reclines at the foot of the window, springs a stem, in the branches of which sit four kings of Judah, then Mary, and Jesus at the top, surrounded by seven doves symbolizing the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. According to the Jesse window, if the prophetic stem (radix) is Jesse, then the rod (virga) represents Mary (virgo), and the flower (flos) is Christ. Central figures, sculpted on the trumeau, Joachim, Mary’s father, and St. Anne, carrying her child Mary, refer to the apocryphal narratives of Mary’s birth.

 

The Life of Mary Window: In four panels we learn of the birth of Jesus. First, Gabriel announced to Mary, who has risen from her seat, that she will be God-bearer (theotokos). She then visited her cousin, Elizabeth, and they greet joyfully, both having conceived. In the nativity scene, as was customary in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, Mary reclines. Joseph is seated nearby, and the Child is placed sacrificially and sacramentally upon an altar, behind which are the traditional ox and the ass. An angel swoops from a cloud to awaken two shepherds with their dog and surrounded by their sheep.

 

These stories are fascinating and inspiring. As we open the season of Advent, if we open to the wonder of God’s grace, we can experience anew the birth of Jesus. Let us be fascinated as Mary was, and trust that the Lord is with us too, spiritually and sacramentally. Let us keep our minds and hearts leaning into the stories of the nativity. They do tell us several truths: one, they reveal the “thou” that transcends our punctiliar thinking; two, the virgin birth and the birth of Jesus represent the birth of the spiritual life in human beings; and three, we will always continue to search. Have a blessed Advent!

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