He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. - Luke 1:51-53

These words are from the lips of Mary as she sings that great song known as the "Magnificat." Luke used these words to set the theme for his account of the gospel of Jesus. This is what Christmas is all about. It is the good news of the coming of the Upside Down Kingdom in the person of Jesus of Nazareth; a kingdom in which the rich and powerful are deposed and the poor and weak are lifted up.

Mary grew up among the peasants of Galilee, where abject poverty was the rule, and where the brutal Roman Lords and their client king Herod ruled with an iron hand. Mary's baby, born in the midst of that poverty and brutality, brought hope to his people, not as a powerful king, but by bringing them that upside down kingdom.

This past week as we saw pictures of a dirty, scroungy-looking Sadam Hussein emerge from a hole in the ground, we got a new image of how the powerful can be brought low. As we look back across the centuries, we see it happening again and again. All the great empires and their powerful leaders have eventually collapsed.

As Mary sang that wonderful song, she must have had images of "Pax Romana" in her mind. She had seen how the cruel Romans had lined the roads with crosses bearing thousands of freedom fighters within just a few miles of her home. Her dream like that of all of Israel was to see the rule of the Caesars come to an end.

It is interesting that some in our present administration in Washington have begun using the term, "Pax Americana." Many millions around the world have experienced the brutality of rulers who are under the influence of American power and wealth. The Christmas story, the good news of the upside down kingdom is for them today, just as it was for Israel, 2000 years ago. God will not grant America an exemption as he judges the nations.

We have sanitized Christmas, and turned it into a feel-good experience with our images of tinsel, Christmas trees, expensive presents, and all the rest of the commercial enterprise we call Christmas today. But the real story of Christmas is in that dirty, smelly stable in a land of abject poverty where the messiah who would eventually turn the world upside down was born.

Prayer: God of the Advent, we praise you for sending us Jesus. Forgive our foolish ways. The message that Jesus brought is so clear. Yet we have managed to distort it again and again. May our hearts be opened anew to the true meaning of Christmas. May we return to that stable in Bethlehem where the infant came to show us a new way. We pray that our country which has been so blessed will once again bring hope rather than destruction to a hungry, dying world. Let us replace "Pax Americana" with "Pax Christus." In the name of the Christ child, we pray. Amen