“Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”
What we treasure and ponder in our hearts shapes our lives and creates our reality. These days many forces around us seek to tell us what to treasure in our hearts. The pre-Christmas advertizing has told us to ponder our needs and what we lack so that we will treasure the multiplicity of things they have to sell. Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to want us to ponder our status, power and entitlements so we will treasure winning more than working together for a greater good. The media seems to want us to ponder our fears about our health and security. Pondering their fears leads many to treasure anxiety or violence in their hearts. So it’s no wonder many people find themselves anxious and afraid, dissatisfied and lonely, angry and lacking. Those are the attitudes fostered by the culture around us.
However, we can choose what we will treasure and ponder in our hearts. Tonight we are given another reality to ponder and other images to treasure. We are given the birth of a child to treasure and the mystery of the divine living among us to ponder. Tonight we hear and treasure words of peace from the God who loves us. We ponder the many ways God has brought about healing and goodness in our lives and the life of the world. Tonight we treasure the presence of Christ in the bread and wine, in our assembly gathered at the table and in the Word passed down by the prophets, evangelists and faithful people before us. We ponder the ways this Word has found a home in our lives.
What we ponder grows and what we treasure directs our energy. When we ponder the love and mercy of God for all creation, our hope grows. When we treasure the presence of Christ in all people, we reach out to others and community and justice grow. When we ponder the ways the Holy One has touched our lives, our sense of peace and security grows. When we give ourselves the silence and space to ponder these things, the reality of a good and generous universe grows in our hearts and in the world. Tonight, may we sit with Mary in the silence to treasure all these words and ponder them in our hearts.