Dear Theophilus

Mother Mary, after reflecting on the coming birth of Jesus, sings this song. This is what the birth of Jesus means according to her: "God has shown strength with his arm;    the Lord has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,    and lifted up the lowly; The Lord has filled the hungry with good things,    and sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1). The social order before Jesus is one where the biggest, strongest, and richest are in power and most valued. The birth of Jesus, Christmas, begins the process of flipping that on its head where now the lowly are lifted up and the hungry are filled. God's economy, God's heart, will become the new norm - THIS is the promise of the Gospel. God's Kingdom, God's economy, is coming and it will be "without end." Which economy are you supporting? Are we taken with confidence, power, and wealth? Or are we invested in the humble, meek, lowly...

the text: John 2:2-12 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs,...