Common Ground

Luke 1:46-56; Philemon 1:10-21; Romans 6:20-23 Mary. The teenage mother of Christ. She was born in occupied Israel. Rome had been the ruling presence for years. Outside rules and outside taxes forcing outside oppression over a people long oppressed. Then, at the birth of the newborn king, the insiders begin their fragility. Herod asks the wise men where the child is to be born. The hunt begins. The lies begin, “I too want to come and worship him.” Then the decree, “All male children under the age of two are to be slaughtered in Bethlehem.” Oppressed from the outsiders while on the run from their own king, Mary and Joseph find themselves in an unbelievably difficult position. The kind of position that Christ himself, had come to alleviate. The song O Holy Night, says, “Chains shall he break, for the slave is his brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease.” While we do not see this ceasefire in the governments of oppression and greed today, we do see the kingdom of Christ in the hearts of all who have