Season of Epiphany Message from Bishop Cedric Bridgeforth
12-23-25
"On the Mystery of the Incarnation" by Denise Levertov
the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know
the taint in our own selves, that awe
cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:
not to a flower, not to a dolphin,
to no innocent form
but to this creature vainly sure
it and no other is god-like, God
(out of compassion for our ugly
failure to evolve) entrusts,
as guest, as brother,
the Word.
There are many jarring elements to the story of Christ's birth, elements that we tend to sanitize and sterilize to an extent that the Christmas story loses some of its power. The story of Mary and her response to the angel, her willingness to say yes, is at times incomprehensible. It is easy to read the Annunciation as if Mary was overwhelmed by God and had no agency, no choice, to bear Jesus. Does that resonate for you?
It does not resonate for me. God is more invitational, more willing to interact. To overwhelm someone, especially with something as dangerous as giving birth, does not sound like a God who is expressed by lovingkindness, or chesed as it is known in Hebrew. It sounds like a God who has been shaped by a propensity to perceive things with violence. To give Mary no choice sounds unlike God and it also takes the power out of the Magnificat, the response Mary gives when the angel appears and delivers the gestation of good news.
One of my favorite songs, The Canticle of the Turning, is based on Mary's Magnificat. Its lyrics are steeped in a joy that Mary feels at the new thing God is doing. The lyrics attest to God turning the world aright which requires turning things upside down and upsetting the order of Empire...the first shall be last, etc. You might like to use these poetic lyrics to pray this week. You can also listen to the song at this link:Canticle of the Turning .
1. My soul cries out with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things
that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight,
and my weakness you did not spurn,
So from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?
Refrain
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!
2. Though I am small, my God, my all,
you work great things in me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
and to those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.
3. From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev’ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.
4. Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God’s mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror’s crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
‘Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.
12-3-2025
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing God directly just as we are known by God!
These words from 1 Corinthians 13:12 remind us that Advent is a time when the fog lifts a bit and light shines to show us that God knows us and sees us not only as our Creator, but as one of us. All of creation, heaven and nature, extoll the wonder of being known. Let every heart prepare Him room to move in and redecorate wherever, whenever and however needed! Make our hearts beautiful, Lord, we pray.
