Fourth Friday in Advent: December 23

Malachi 3:1-5; Psalm 25:1-4 (1-5 in NRSV); Luke 1:57-66

“What then will this child become?”  What a great question this is.  Those gathered for John’s naming ask it, and the angel seemed to answer it when he came to Zechariah, but we don’t really know how John will become the man he becomes.  What counsel, what encounters, what concerns will lead him into the desert and the river?  What factors will make him so fearless and passionate?  Could things have been otherwise?  The Gospel makes it sound so simple: God wills it, plans it, it happens.  The Holy Spirit comes upon him - the universal explanation.  But that’s just another way of seeming to understand mystery.  Naming it doesn’t answer it.

“What then will this child become?”  Any time a child is born, this question arrives with her or him.  Will this child be enabled to grow into their full potential, or will they be abandoned by the society?  Will this child be loved and encouraged, or abused and distorted?  Will this child be a burning and a shining light, or will she become a scourge and a terror?  What then will this child, this child born this second, become?

Every second around the globe children are being born.  They are born with differing genetic endowments, differing gifts and liabilities, but so much of their lives will turn on how they are raised.  Will they have enough healthy food for their brains to develop?  Will they get enough sleep to process what happens each day?  Will they learn to trust others and themselves, to risk enough to learn and grow?  What sort of schools will be available to them?  Who will mentor them?

Those who speak of the sanctity of life are not wrong, but often this comes up only when discussing unborn children.  The sanctity of life demands that we share responsibility for what our children become.  This week is full of toy drives and sentimentality, but January will come and a huge percentage of our children will be hungry and cold and unable to learn.  As you walk through these holy days, please pray for all the holy children being born and raised this minute.  Pray about what you can do to see that they become what God dreams for them.  And, like Zechariah and Elizabeth and the neighbors in John’s story, talk about these things.  Share the news - God is doing something among us!