{"id":115,"date":"2016-12-25T21:45:14","date_gmt":"2016-12-26T02:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/?p=115"},"modified":"2017-05-27T22:03:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-28T03:03:39","slug":"courage-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/?p=115","title":{"rendered":"Courage for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 2016 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 Luke 1:28<\/p>\n

Right around now, life can get a bit squirrely. You\u2019re probably more organized; I seem to pick up the pace, make long to-do lists, collect stuff, and then try to remember where I put it.<\/p>\n

But, that\u2019s not really what Advent is about. Advent is not about squeezing Christmas into a busy life. It\u2019s not about fitting Christmas into a time of sadness.<\/p>\n

Advent is about allowing the fact of Christmas to re-shape life<\/em>. God has come to us! God has come to reshape our sadness, our hope and our joy. That\u2019s what it was about for Mary; and that\u2019s what it is really about for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord is with you, Mary. Don\u2019t be afraid!\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary has a lot on her mind. She\u2019s preparing to get married. She has responsibilities at home. No doubt there are issues. Suddenly, an angel appears, announcing: \u201cYou are highly favoured. The Lord is with you!\u201d And Mary is greatly troubled.<\/p>\n

The message that God favours her, that God is here<\/em> with her, is a disturbing experience for Mary. Really? Why? Perhaps most of us, most of the time, don\u2019t really expect to hear from God. It\u2019s one thing to say we want to draw near to God \u2013 but perhaps we don\u2019t expect him to show up.<\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019re just as glad if he doesn\u2019t. Because when God shows up, we can\u2019t control the outcome. Our plans might have to change. When God shows up, he asks us to meet him with courage. Most of all, he asks us to trust him. To make ourselves available.<\/p>\n

That can be tough for us, because we get confused about our purpose.<\/p>\n

We like the idea that God will helps us in what we set out to do<\/em>\u2014finding a good job, raising a family, enjoying retirement. But we\u2019re not convinced about God\u2019s agenda. What if God\u2019s plans are different from ours? We forget that God created us, not just so he could participate in our<\/em> plans, but so that we could participate in<\/em> his<\/em>. God calls us to be available.<\/p>\n

At first Mary is troubled. But she makes herself available. \u201cI\u2019m the Lord\u2019s servant,\u201d she says. \u201cHere I am.\u201d Wow. Buckle up, everybody. Because we\u2019re no longer in this alone.<\/p>\n

At every stage of our life God shows up, assuring us of his favour and his nearness. He invites us to trust him. To be available. To engage in his work<\/em> among our colleagues, our neighbours, and in the world. It\u2019s true when we are 20; it\u2019s just as true when we are 60 or 80 or 90.<\/p>\n

When we trust God, he gives us courage. In fact, the Lord becomes our courage<\/em>. He enables us to do things we never imagined we\u2019d do. Like serve as an elder. Or reach out to a neighbour. Or volunteer at a shelter. Or invite someone to church. Or tell a colleague that God loves them.<\/p>\n

The Lord is with you. You are highly favoured. Don\u2019t be afraid.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

Denise<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 2016 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.\u00a0\u2013 Luke 1:28 Right around now, life can get a bit squirrely. You\u2019re probably more organized; I seem to pick up the pace, make long to-do lists, collect stuff, and then try to remember where I put it. … Continue reading “Courage for Christmas”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ststephensottawa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}