\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nto show mercy to our ancestors<\/p>\n
and to remember his holy covenant,<\/p>\n
the oath he swore to our father Abraham:<\/p>\n
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,<\/p>\n
and to enable us to serve him without fear<\/p>\n
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAnd you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;<\/p>\n
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,<\/p>\n
to give his people the knowledge of salvation\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nthrough the forgiveness of their sins,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n[Jeremiah 31:34; 33:8]\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
because of the tender mercy of our God,<\/p>\n
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven<\/p>\n
to shine on those living in darkness\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nand in the shadow of death,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n[Isaiah 9:2; Psalms 107:9-10]\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
to guide our feet into the path of peace.\u201d (Luke 1:68-79)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nunc Dimittis<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cSovereign Lord, as you have promised,<\/p>\n
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.<\/p>\n
For my eyes have seen your salvation,<\/p>\n
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\na light for revelation to the Gentiles,<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n[Isaiah 52:13-53:12]\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
and the glory of your people Israel.\u201d (Luke 2:29-32)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right after this last poem, Simeon blesses Mary and Joseph, saying that their child is for the \u201cfalling and rising of many in Israel<\/i>.\u201d This statement harks back to Mary\u2019s song of some being lifted up and others pulled down, and it looks forward to the economic teachings of Jesus where the poor will be blessed, but the well fed will go hungry (see Luke 6). \u00a0Lifting up the poor and pulling down the elite is a direct call to reducing societal inequities.<\/p>\n
So many are suffering hardship right now in the U.S. These stories of the birth of Jesus aren\u2019t distractions from that suffering. They don\u2019t turn our focus to postmortem bliss or internalized private and personal piety. Instead, they speak to hope and deliverance from the very tangible economic, social and political realities that people are suffering through today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis is the focus of the Jesus stories. How much more should this be our focus if we claim these stories at the core of our religious tradition? The liberation in these stories applies to what people are going through right now, here, in the present unjust system. And this pandemic continues to reveal how disproportionately unjust our systems are for so many.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe songs of liberation speak of political, economic, social, and even religious conflict, and of deliverance\u2014God\u2019s just future\u2014breaking into our suffering today. That just future is rooted in the teachings of this \u201cbaby\u201d found by shepherds \u201cwrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will we choose it?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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![\"manger\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1222\/2020\/12\/SJTCLNA03.png\")
<\/p>\n