Today’s gospel reveals a shift. It focuses not on the end times but on the lead up to Jesus’  birth and Joseph’s reaction to the announcement of Mary’s pregnancy. Whenever something new is to happen in the scriptures, we hear the words, “Do not be afraid.” We are called to be open to God in changing times, as was Joseph, Mary. ‘Do not be afraid’ when Jesus is about to be born, when the resurrection is revealed, when the Holy Spirit is celebrated. Fear has become increasingly a guest on our national table and disguised as ‘national security’.

‘My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised?’

Rev Jesse Jackson

Isaiah invited us last week to imagine a different world and a different way of being together by using images of a world restored. Pope Francis keeps referring to a ‘culture of encounter’. Advent’s vision of a peaceable realm is not just about a lion and lamb together, but about seemingly more unimaginable – people living justly and peacefully together and in harmony with creation.

We are being prepared to bring God into our hearts, lives and world. We are being prepared for the coming of the One who reveals God’s priorities which are different to those of the world’s rulers.  Something powerful happened when God became flesh who in Jesus hit the streets, especially those of the poor. Jesus’ mission in bringing ‘good news to the poor’ and identifying with ‘the least of these’ was expressed in nonviolent living: turning the other cheek, practicing  humility, going the extra mile, putting away their swords, loving one’s including one’s enemies in order to usher in ‘peace on earth, good will toward all’.