Dear Friends ~ Advent themes swirl in my mind, each an Advent wreath candle: Hope, Faith, Joy, Peace. Regardless of location, languages, ethnicities, or skin tones we humans celebrate these age-old notions in diverse ways. Yet we know their challenging opposites: Hate, Fear, Despair, and Conflict haunt us.
In the Christian Advent story, young, pregnant Mary and her husband travel to fulfill a census requirement. Although angels reassured her, I can’t help but feel Mary’s fear on this long journey, realizing her baby is coming in a strange place, sharing "emergency housing" with barnyard animals. Yet Mary maintains hope. Her joy spreads to shepherds and kings. Mary’s faith proclaims all will be well. Her tiny child comes heralding peace.
Despite fears of Covid, worries about the world, wildfires, and violence, we recently traveled from Washington, D.C. to Washington state to care for our toddler grandson while Mama and Papa birthed a baby brother, an act of hope in our own unsettled times. This December letter is birthed in this milieu reflecting the Yin and Yang of hope and despair, joy and worry in the welcome of babies, and the unfolding of the winter season. As celebrations resound and the year’s triumphs and travails fade into the New Unknown, what will be birthed in 2021 in each of us and in our world? How will we play midwife to Hope, Faith, Joy, and Peace? ~ Mary Ann