Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2015

Mark 1: 3 A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

Nairobi University Way at Dusk

I know this verse is used a lot in calling for turning away from our sins especially around this time of Christmas and even in its context John the Baptist preached repentance and baptism.

I want to muse today and let us think of the verse in another way.

ANNUNCIATION STORY
Here I'd like you to think about the annunciation story... here it is Annunciation Story if you haven't read it.

Shrine of Mary help of Christians, Don Bosco Upper Hill Nairobi

Anyway the story is about Angel Gabriel on a mission first to Zachary, John the baptists father to be and then later to Mary, mother of Jesus to be to tell them about the birth of their children.

REACTIONS

Mary asks how the physically impossible will happen and Gabriel says something to the effect of "Mary chill out, God's spirit has all this covered" and Mary is like "okay cool, I am the handmaid of the lord" - you should read the whole story that's where we get the Hail Mary prayer

Anyway Zachary on his part doesn't ask how it will happen he looks at his own and Elizabeth's abilities and says to the angel "With all due respect my wife and I are too old to pop babies" and Angel Gabriel be like "Shut up... oh well until you get a baby".

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD
I am not an expert at translations but anyway here is my musing - the verse doesn't say prepare the way for the lord... which for me would mean "Get my act together the lord is coming" - it says prepare the way of the Lord.

Prepare the way of the Lord means to open our hearts to possibilities even the physically impossible things that God is capable of... be a bit like Mary and say I trust you - I am the handmaid of the lord.

Things are possible - sky above Nairobi

Prepare the way of the Lord means to respond to God's urging to love... Mary gets up and goes to take care of Elizabeth... she doesn't do a million calculations on how she needs to take care of herself or get a prince to marry her so that God's son could have a good education and the upbringing "he deserves".

FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO REPENT

Matumbato road in Upper Hill Nairobi

Not wanting to be a spoil sport - we might still want to repent to feel good about ourselves before Christmas and to put ourselves in a bargaining position with God for 2015... here are a few tips of stuff you and I can put in our confession or repentance or thanksgiving for not being muted when we needed to have been told like Zachary "shut up"etc

• Every time we think things are impossible because we are looking to what we call "our ability" instead of looking to God's continuing blessing and "endowment to us and to the human race"

• Every time we don't reach out to others in love and support because we think we will "strain ourselves"

• Every time we have prepared our path visible to our ego and forgotten the way of the Lord the way of LOVE - the way who is LOVE

ITS CHRISTMAS

We are one humanity... a unity - we are children of God. 

No more selfishness... no more myself, my ability, I can't, I can, I Like, I don't want...

It's time to prepare the way of the Lord open ourselves to that greatness that God is, open ourselves to the beauty that life, our world and humanity is. 

It is time to sing Joy to the World and Peace to all people of goodwill - time to lose the self in greatness

It's time to appreciate the depth of what being human is, the depth of being loved by God, the depth of being part of the world and the universe and God

It's time to LOVE as we are loved by God. Love ourselves and love others