As you read this blog post, likely, most of your Christmas celebrations are already past. Family has gathered, hymns have been sung, presents have been opened, and meals have been enjoyed. In these final days of the year, there is a natural tendency towards introspection about the previous year and the year to come. And as the celebrations fade there is a quiet that invites us to reflect on what has transpired.
In Luke’s gospel, we read these words, “and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19, NRSV) In a similar fashion, after the birth of Jesus, after the shepherds arrive and breathlessly share the wonder of the angels’ message, Mary rests in the now quiet place of Jesus’ birth and ponders what has happened.
None of the gospels record Mary’s thoughts at this moment, but we have the words of the Magnificat, Mary’s Song of Praise (Luke 1:46-55, NRSV), spoken in response to the Holy Spirit’s confirmation that the child she bears will fulfill the promise of the angel who visits her. In these words, we hear Mary’s willingness to accept God’s promise of a Savior and her role in his coming. There is a strength and certainty about the goodness of God in Mary’s words. She trusts that the future God promised will be a blessing for Israel and her own life.
The strangeness of Jesus’ birth, the multiple angelophanies that precede and accompany its events, the arrival of shepherds, the lowly from the edges of society, who come to celebrate the birth of a Savior, surely these things might well have given Mary pause. And yet, she treasures these events. Counts them one by one as if they are bright stars, shining in the skies over Bethlehem and looks forwards to the years to come with a hopeful anticipation of God’s promises being fulfilled.
In the quiet of this moment, between Christmas and the next year, may you also pause to ponder the goodness of God, to treasure the moments of the past year, and to look forward to the year to come with a hope-filled belief that the same God who Mary trusts is the God who made himself known to us, as Immanuel-God with us, a Savior born again in our hearts and minds in this blessed season.
- Dr. Kathryn Helleman, Assistant Professor of Church Ministries | Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program