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Rector's
Messages
Advent
and Christmas 2002
“God has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has
lifted up the lowly."--Luke 1:52 ( The
Song of Mary or “Magnificat”)
We reckoned the fence we were building would last longer than the house
which it surrounded. However, in a matter of mere months, a wicked wind
storm easily erased whole sections of the fence. The weight of the fencing
materials, together with our cantilever like design, actually contributed
to the collapse of both the fence and our confident prediction about its
life span. Things which seem durable, strong, and permanent often fall.
Frequently the forces of demise are as elusive as the wind.
One of the great ironies of history is the speed and ease at which
seemingly important and solid features of the culture are readily
overturned. I remember watching with wonder as the Berlin Wall came down.
Almost in a twinkling of an eye, wholesale assumptions about how the world
was organised had to be revised. Every generation can point to examples of
how the mighty have fallen, the invincible have been overcome, the
unthinkable has come about. The poet Shelley offers this observation in
his poem Ozymandias:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: / Look on my works, ye mighty and
despair!” Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal
wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
One of the themes of Scripture is the way in which God’s steadfast and
enduring commitment to justice and righteousness challenges human
endeavours. There is no facet of human culture that cannot be shaken in
advance of God’s unshakeable kingdom. The promises of God often seem
like folly in a world captured by its own sense of things. It is a
prophetic spirit who hears and recognises the faithfulness in the voice of
God. Mary is certainly one such prophetic spirit. The Song
of Mary praises God for the manner in which salvation will over turn
the order of things with favour towards those who long for justice and
righteousness. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. ... He has
cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.” The
Magnificat summarises the wisdom of prophets, psalmists, and
evangelists about the power of God to transform and defeat the most deeply
entrenched injustice. Often human needs seem so permanent, but the
remedies seem so seasonal. The liturgies of Advent and Christmas offer a
profound challenge to us to see things in dramatic reversal. Despite the
transitory trials and tribulations of the times, the mercy of God in the
Christ child endures forever.
Archdeacon
Rod Gillis
Advent & Christmas 2002
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