Pairing up to Believe #Advent

Some stories are meant to be together. At night, a bedtime story is shared between two people. In counseling, the minister and the client share confidential stories. Conference calls just are not nearly as personal as one voice speaking to another. In the same way, Luke tells the story of Jesus through characters paired together, some side by side, others in conversation. One character parallels another. Disciples go out two by two; two disciples walk on the road to Emmaus. In the drama of the nativity, the story happens in pairs of people who anticipate, teach, and demonstrate how to believe.

In Luke's account of Jesus' birth, you can find plenty of literary features. There are four hymns and two annunciations, two births, and two circumcisions. The characters are also paired together uniquely. They form doublets, running parallel to one another for readers and listeners to compare and contrast. Zechariah and Joseph are two fathers who perform their parts silently. Two mothers rejoice and sing the news: Elizabeth and Mary. The birth of two sons runs parallel to each other. The birth of John the Baptist anticipates the role of Jesus. Two sets of messengers spread the news: angels and shepherds. Two witnesses around the temple offer instructions, blessing, and warnings when they see the child: Simeon and Anna. 

One of the first artists to depict this motif was one of Leonardo da Vinci's students, Jacopo Pontormo. In his painting for the atrium of the SS. Anunziata in Florence, Italy, he paired Elizabeth and Mary with Joseph and Zechariah. These mothers and fathers (and their sons), bear the promise first described in Malachi. The messiah would "turn the heart of fathers to their children and children to their fathers." (Malachi 4:6). Luke elaborates a bit on that prophecy and states more directly that this would turn "the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17).

These doublets will shape each of my messages in Advent. We will compare and contrast these characters to prepare our lives for the coming of the Lord. We will look at their attributes, habits, attitudes, difficulties, and emotions. By doing so, we close the gap between the strange world of the first century and our world. We realize that through their emotions, frustrations, and fears, we share a life that was not meant to be lived in isolation. We live out the coming of the Lord with friends, parents, children, and messengers learning how to believe. Through the message of Advent, God invades each person's life and works in miraculous ways, especially when we share the story with someone else.

Above: Pontormo. Visitation. 1514-16. Fresco. S. Annunziata, Florence. 

FMI: Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons, Illuminating Luke: the Infancy Narrative in Italian Renaissance Painting. (Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 2003), 59-92.

Advent Neighbors

“Honey, call the neighbors. I think there is someone outside.” The best kinds of neighbors are those who make it their business to help protect your business. If you’ve ever witnessed suspicious activity next door, you appreciate the heads up, the warning, the watchful eye, the safety and comfort of friends. But what if your life is the disturbance? What if something happens to you that so changes and alters your world that everyone takes notice?

According to the Gospel of Luke, that’s exactly what happens to a group of neighbors some 2,000 years ago. Jesus enters the world at a time of relative calm. People were filled with the optimism of the Caesar, the celebratory satisfaction of Roman dominance, and the virtuous spirit of Greek philosophy. With little fanfare, a small family in Galilee experiences an upheaval to their world. Highly unusual things begin. A senior adult discovers she is expecting a baby; a virgin betrothed to a faithful man is pregnant; a prominent priest in the community goes mute. Taken separately, these signs might have been dismissed in the neighborhood as strange. As Luke describes the events, however, they are part of a divine domino effect. This heavenly sequence of events occurs over the period of nine months and turns the world upside down.

Before the “all is calm, all is bright” of a “Silent Night,” there is Advent. When society seems to be in the midst of darkness, Advent announces a new beginning. Advent says that life is seasonal. Just as fig trees sprout leaves twice each year, so believers have the chance to sprout with new life in winter. Consider the examples of Elizabeth, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Mary, and Joseph. Each one has a story to tell. Each one heard the news differently. Each one saw God’s work begin in their lives and in their neighborhoods.

In the process, things changed. They worshiped differently. They remained calm and served the needs of others under intense oppression. When necessary, they went into seclusion to collect their thoughts and renew their spirits. They unloaded things when others said to “acquire more.” They lived life from the bottom-up rather than the top-down. The world has never been the same.

We have the chance to experience their lives and decisions for 27 days during the Advent season. We have the opportunity to ask each other, “In our world today, what would it mean to make the same decisions in our neighborhood? How would our neighbors be affected? Do we see signs of life sprouting already that give us an indication that God’s work that has already begun?”

Wake up the neighbors. They won’t want to miss this. Advent is here.