Focus Text: Luke 1:47-55
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for [God] has looked with favor on the lowliness of [God’s] servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me.

Pastoral Reflection by Rev. Jill Edens, United Church of Chapel Hill (UCC)
Like the unwed mother, when we invite Christ into our lives, we cannot hide it from the world anymore than his mother could forever camouflage her swelling belly. Christ will reshape us, displacing our old lives for the new creation.  Elizabeth O’Connor is right, our friends and loved ones will soon learn that we are not in step with them but are in the business of fomenting a great displacement where the first will be last, and the last will be first.

Personal Vignette: An Alternative Christmas Market
In the early 1980’s, several United Church of Chapel Hill members began having conversations about combating the ever-increasing consumerism accompanying each Christmas season. One member in particular, Elizabeth Greenlee, had a vision to create an alternative Advent season, and soon the idea spread rapidly throughout the congregation.  Obvious questions began to surface: what would it mean to offer an alternative? What would it look like? As Jill Edens, co-pastor of United Church, puts it, “we were looking for ways for people to avoid the mall altogether” during the Christmas season—a formidable task!

Key Fact
The incomes of North Carolina’s richest five percent of families have grown much faster than those of all other families over the past 20 years.  Top families now earn, on average, 12 times more than the poorest ones and four times more than middle-income families.