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Podcast: West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast
Episode: Surprising Joy
Description: Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent and also Christmas Eve, the scripture is the section of Luke where the young Mary responds to the announcement of her pregnancy with “the Magnificat,” praising God for raising her from her modest place to this place of honor as mother of this holy infant. This comes when Mary famously visits her cousin, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant, blessed at an old age with a child who will turn out to be John the Baptist. The words of Isaiah, which we have been reading through Advent, may seem to promise something way off in the...