The First Saturday in Advent -- Philip Britts

A Reflection on Philip Britt’s Yielding to God (pp. 109-17)

I confess that I am a bit of a control freak. I’ve never liked surprises and one way I have managed to cope with the unpredictability of life is to plan, to be prepared, to try to get ahead of things, to stay in control!

Which is why I need to hear Philip Britts’ message today. For what Britts reminds us is that we are not in control. God is. We cannot save ourselves through our own efforts. Only God saves.  One of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith is that it is only in letting go that we receive. God gives when we stop grabbing.

In reflecting on the Nativity, Britts notes that we sometimes become too preoccupied with the how of the Incarnation:  the lovely story of the infant Jesus in the manger, the shepherds, the angels, the stillness of the night sky. This time of year we tend to focus on the details of how God became human in Jesus.

The why, Britts insists, is more important. God became human because we are lost on our own. We need God to come to us. And it is only in the surrender and obedience of Mary that we see a faithful human response to this divine act of love. “When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, he told her, ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.’ And she answered, ‘Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.’” (112)

God acts first in love. We receive in gratitude.

So, let us stop trying so hard. Listen to God’s entreaty in the words of the Psalmist: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Ps. 46:10.


Philip Britts (1917-1949) was a British poet and horticulturalist. 

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