The Season of Anticipation
Luke 1:39-55

 I have been thinking of how much anticipation is a part of Christmas. We anticipate the gathering of families and friends. We anticipate the singing of familiar carols and Christmas songs. We anticipate the warm and meaningful moments of worship. We anticipate the giving and receiving of gifts. We anticipate having a few days off work or school. We anticipate the excitement, the rush, the emotional high that we sometimes get from the pre-Christmas parties and get-togethers. We enjoy the joy and happiness of the season.

Sometimes, the things that we anticipate don't happen so we end up feeling cheated. 

      I like the story of the little boy who received a superman's cape for his third birthday. The little boy's favorite character in the whole world was Superman. He had Superman pajamas and a Superman plate and cup. He had the action figures of superman. So when he received superman's cape he was ecstatic.  He put on the cape and ran as fast as he could around the backyard. It wasn't too long though, before returned to the house, out of breath, with the cape in his hand. In disgust, he threw it on the floor and said, "This thing doesn't work.". He thought he could fly with the cape and found out that he couldn't .Things didn't happen in the way he anticipated.  What a disappointment!  Its like the little girl, dressed as an angel, in a Christmas pageant was told to come down the center aisle. The child asked, "Do you want me to walk or fly?"

Often, our anticipation of the way things will unfold during this season actually gets in the way of being surprised by the true joy of the season.  Our anticipations of all the trappings and traditions of the Christmas season can hinder us from having  the true gift - a new spiritual awareness in our lives.

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The story in the Gospel appointed for today is about Mary meeting with Elizabeth when they were both pregnant. Pregnancy is a time of anticipation.  Both women were anticipating the birth of a child and how their world would be changed and how the world in general would be changed by the birth of these two children.  The important thing about what I have discovered in reading Scripture is that they are stories of people in another time but they are also our stories.  They can talk about the birth of Jesus but it is also about our spiritual rebirth.  The stories around the Incarnation are about God being in Christ, however, they are also about God being born within us. We become aware that God is in us and that we can be surprised at all times by the way we experience God in all the circumstances of our lives. 

The true anticipation of this season of Advent is to expect to be surprised by the way that God is revealed in our lives.

We sing the Hymn "O Little Town of Bethlehem" at Christmas. The last verse being:

      O Holy Child of Bethlehem/
      descend on us we pray/ 
      cast out our sin and enter in 
      be born in us today

The Christ that is born in us is not necessarily the Christ of the happy ending.  It is the realization that God was in Christ born among us to share our humanity completely even the tragedies and sorrows of our lives as well as the joys and happiness in our lives.  God's presence in Christ can be a source of confidence, hope, and strength to whatever is demanded of us.

A certain British poet suffered one of life's most bitter trials just a few days before Christmas. He received from the war department that dreadful message concerning his only son: killed in action. His heart was bursting with grief, and hardly knowing what to do in his agony, he walked the streets of London day and night.

Finally he wandered into a little chapel on Christmas Day and there in the semi-darkness he sat, bewildered and beat. But then, slowly something else took place . . . he felt "the presence of Jesus" as he put it and he wrote this little poem to describe it:

      'Mid all the traffic of the ways, 
      Turmoil without, within,
      Make in my heart a quiet place 
      And come and dwell therein.
      A little shrine of quietness,
      All sacred to Thyself,
      Where Thou shalt all my soul possess - 
      And I may find myself.

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It is important anticipate God being born once again in our lives this Christmas season but we can't anticipate how we will experience it. God comes in unexpected ways. God comes as a surprise. You can't determine the way God may be experienced.  You just have to be open to it.

      Robert Fulgrum, in his book Words I Wish I Wrote tells a Buddhist teaching story in which a monk encounters a man who has spent his life looking for beauty and truth.. "Have you found what you are looking for?" he asks. "No" replies the man. "Wonderful," the monk responds. "What do you mean by saying that my unfulfilled search is wonderful?" demands the truth seeker. The monk replies, "I mean you still have something to look forward to."

Our minds always have to be ready for new knowledge. We learn to keep our minds open in silence and solitude. It is a way of listening to the deep thirst that is within us. As Thoreau said, "A man who has to go to the village to get the news hasn't heard from himself in a long time". In these times we listen to ourselves and we keep our minds and hearts open for the possibility of meeting God in a new way. There is always something to look forward to.

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 I hope your Christmas is one of anticipation, not necessarily the anticipation of thrilling and extraordinary experiences but finding God in the most ordinary experiences

I hope that your Christmas may be one in which you discover the essence of life, and that all that happens at Christmas (the frills so to speak) does not distract you from the true happiness that comes from simple things.

I hope that you will find strength, and confidence, and hope in Christmas story, that God does not leave us comfortless, but is with us through it all.

The greatest Christmas present is the Christmas presence

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    THE GODDESS WITHIN
    MUSIC PROJECT

    Each year, thousands of women and children become homeless as a result of domestic violence.  "The Goddess Within" music project is designed to empower those whose lives have been affected by domestic abuse and to raise awareness of this issue.

    "The Goddess Within" compilation album will showcase artists and their songs, written for or relating to those escaping the cycle of violence.  The C.D. will be distributed throughout North America and proceeds from the sale of the C.D. will be donated to women's shelters.

    More information on the CD is available at ARTISTS FOR CHANGE

    My daughter Carly is featured on the album with her song The Mask. 
    The art for cover for the CD album is the creation of another daughter, Mary Anne Molcan.

    Another site to access is Ending Domestic Abuse

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Mary Anne is a very talented artist.  She has a new web site called Faerie Artist where she displays her Art.   You can access her site at:


Faerie Artist