Tuesday, December 12, 2023
- Reflection by Rev. Blake Shipman
Luke 2:17-19
“When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
To wonder is to hold the tension of the infinite possibilities of reality and the future reality of what shall be. It’s a sacred exercise that invites us to dream our own realities amidst God’s reality. When the shepherds found the Holy Family in the manger, they spoke of what they heard and then left them to tell others what was foretold them. There, the new family of three sat with this glimpse of what would be, and Mary treasured these words in her heart; she wondered.
Do you think she wondered how this would play out? Do you think she knew her firstborn would suffer and die for the sake of the whole world? Do you think she fathomed that on the third day he would rise once more, fulfilling the prophecy of old? Are any of us that good at wondering?
No, I don’t think Mary wondered about the passion narrative, but I bet she did wonder who her son would grow up to be. I bet she had big dreams for him rooted in her deep love for the son of God, her son. Mary holds in tension her dreams amidst God’s reality now incarnate in her newborn son. She wonders these grand plans into being and treasures them amidst a treacherous journey and a trying birth. In the face of so much opposition, Mary treasured these moments in her heart and wondered what was to come.
This Advent season I find myself wondering what will the return of God enfleshed in Creation be like. I wonder this in the face of unnecessary violence this world over from Ukraine to Palestine, to Guyana, to the Congo. While the darkness of sin in our world remains ever-present, I refuse to accept the reality where violence continues to rule. I wonder in defiance of these events. I wonder about a world where all shall be accepted and loved by one another as well as almighty God, and like Mary, I wonder how God will be able to do all of this.
To wonder is to stand in defiance of the narratives forced upon us, just as Mary did through the Magnificat and now through her pondering of the Shepherd’s words. It is a sacred practice indeed that God invites us into for through our wondering God works, and through God’s work, all shall be reconciled back to the creator. Stay curious, and keep wondering because through our wondering come new ideas, and through new ideas come action and change, and through action and change comes hope for a better world to come, the world God intends for us, the world we await after the second coming of the Word made flesh.
