That ancient saga haunts me still, a classic Christian drama full of worldliness and wistfulness. Yet it is so filled with wistfulness — that “wishful, melancholy yearning” — even Jesus’ mother can’t take in, not all at once. “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”Ponder thisPerhaps we should ponder the gospel worldliness around us still, with all the wistfulness we can muster. In Luke chapter one when she learns what lies ahead, Mary chants the Magnificat, a hymn of worldliness and wistfulness, half praise-chorus, half socio-economic manifesto. The Christ-child enters the world with an impossible agenda: “On earth peace.” That’s where worldliness and wistfulness collide.

Source: Ethiopian News December 22, 2021 12:41 UTC