Advent, Day 19

Unexpected and mysterious is the
gentle Word of grace.
Ever-loving and sustaining is the
peace of God’s embrace.
If we falter in our courage and
we doubt what we have known,
God is faithful to console us as a
mother tends her own.

In a momentary meeting of eternity and time.
Mary learned that she would carry
both the mortal and divine.
Then she learned of God’s compassion,
of Elizabeth’s great joy,
And she ran to greet the woman
who would recognize her boy.

We are called to ponder myst’ry
and await the coming Christ,
To embody God’s compassion
for each fragile human life.
God is with us in our longing
to bring healing to the earth,
While we watch with joy and
wonder for the promised Savior’s birth.

Words: a hymn by Jeannette M. Lindholm titled "Unexpected and Mysterious," which appears in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006)

Image: "Incubation," the first panel in an eight-piece work titled "Tabula Rasa" by Linda Witte Henke