You who were darkness warmed my flesh
where out of darkness rose the seed...
I wither and you break from me;
yet though you dance in living light,
I am the earth, I am the root,
I am the stem that fed the fruit,
the link that joins you to the night.
Woman to child, Judith Wright

Our final theme: Love. The heart and soul of Advent and Christmas. We will look at love from three perspectives. Longing, almost a description of Advent, the world waiting and longing for God, our greatest love. God's great, faithful, patient love for his world. And finally finishing where Advent ends and Christmas begins, with a mother's love for her child. Mags Bryan reads Jan Pickard. Image: Pregnant girl, Philippe Halsman (wikipaintings.org)

Pregnant girl, Philippe Halsman (wikipaintings.org); listen to Mags Bryan reading Jan Pickard

Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. Luke 2:19

And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart. Luke 2: 35

To have and to hold

The intimacy of gestation and of birth, edged with pain, may have no equal in this world. For Mary who held and bore Jesus, this was a particular mystery of staggering proportions. The same Spirit who hovered over the dark waters at creation, moved upon Mary, is the same Spirit who would bring this Jesus close to us too, nearer than our very breath.

I am Mary, God’s servant
A handmaiden:
This is hands-on ministry-
And having a baby is just the beginning
Now my heart cherishes each moment
In time, it will be broken.
Jan Sutch Pickard