Four years ago this weekend I had been away on sabbatical in Mexico and had returned to my brother’s house in Bentonville, Arkansas.  Family members from Kansas City had traveled there to have a Christmas celebration.  I hadn’t seen my family in 3 months and I can still see the look of joy on the faces of my nieces and nephew faces when I came through the door.  That’s one of the best things about being an uncle—nieces and nephews generally are happy to see us.

So was the case with Elizabeth when Mary came to visit.  Elizabeth was amazed: How is it that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth knew in her heart of hearts that her kinswoman was carrying the Christ child, the anointed one.  Her son John, the child within her womb leapt for joy.  She knew that Mary was a sacred vessel carrying the very presence of God.

As a devout Hebrew she would have known the history of how God’s Shekinah, his sacred presence, had come to be present in the temple.

Let’s review the history.  Before David had become the king of all Israel and Judah, the Ark of the Covenant was housed by one of the tribes of Israel.  David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and unite all the tribes in one federation, one kingdom.  The Ark was considered to be the very locus of God’s power and presence.  In it were the tablets of the 10 commandments.  To mistreat the ark or behave in appropriately near it could mean death.  For this reason David said, when faced with the possibility of bringing the ark to Jerusalem, How can the ark of the Lord come to me? He delayed for three months, but then discovered that the house of Obed-Edom, where the ark was placed, was being blessed by God.  So he brought the ark to Jerusalem.  And when he did so, he celebrated every step of the way.  David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the Lord with abandon, as he and all the Israelites were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn. (2 Sam 9.11)

So when Elizabeth and little John the Baptist who is still in the womb see Mary, the Ark, the bearer of the New Covenant, they too rejoice before the Lord.  Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s words to you would be fulfilled.  And her little one leaps in the womb.  Mary spends 3 months visiting her kinswoman Elizabeth and she is a blessing for Elizabeth because when we are in God’s presence, we are blessed.

This fourth Sunday of Advent, as we anticipate the great feast of Christmas, we are reminded that we too carry the Shekinah, the glory of God to the world in our persons.  As we come forward to receive Holy Communion we are saying “Yes Lord, I’m ready to bring you to the world.”  Just as Mary said, “Be it done to me according to your word,” so do we say, which our “Amen,” that we wish to become Eucharist for our brothers and sisters.  And our Amen is a cause for joy.  Each time we receive communion the Lord is tap dancing on the marble floors of heaven.  He joins King David and Mary and Elizabeth celebrating because the Good News is continuing to be shared in the world.

We go from this place as tabernacles of God’s grace.  So don’t be surprised if family members dance and leap—or at least rejoice.  The Lord is near!  When their Lord was near David danced with abandon, John leapt in the womb, Elizabeth rejoiced at the coming of the Lord.  May we smile at the coming of the Savior.  Let us take hope that God is near.