Advent
December 23, 2018
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:39-55
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
–Luke 1:38-45
My social work career started in 1969 when the choices for unmarried pregnant women were limited: shotgun weddings, back-street abortions, placement for adoption, or a life lived in shame. At that time child welfare routinely found an out-of-the-county relative or foster placements for mothers who became pregnant out-of-wedlock and planned to place their baby for adoption. The family told neighbors and friends that their daughter had gone to live with her grandmother or whomever to help for a while or some such story. It was all very hush hush and awash in shame. A short three years later in 1972, the world had changed. Young women were keeping their babies and raising them on their own. We rarely received any to be placed for adoption. In 1973 abortion became legal and the nightmare of dangerous back-street abortions waned. In 1975 the federal Child Support system became law. It was an amazing cultural turnaround in six years for good or bad.
Mary could have been ostracized or even stoned for becoming pregnant. Joseph could have made a public spectacle of her. Instead, she was sent to a loving relative’s house where she was not only greeted with unconditional love but her coming child was recognized for the potential he possessed. Joseph did marry her making her baby “legal”. And the rest, as they say, is history.
What would our world look like if we treated all with unconditional love and welcomed every child recognizing their full potential? What would happen if shame were replaced by better preparation for life in the first place and restorative care as a response to mistakes? What kind of world would we have if we all loved like Mary’s little baby?
Prayer: Lord, you took the extraordinary steps to show us how to be whole through love. Guide us in our personal journey to follow the path laid before us and to be the catalysis for spreading that love to the ends of the earth so that all may experience and live it. Amen.