Luke 1:26--38 (The Message)
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth 27 to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. 28 Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. 29 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. 30 But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: 31 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great, be called 'Son of the Highest.' The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; 33 He will rule Jacob's house forever - no end, ever, to his kingdom." 34 Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man." 35 The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. 36 "And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months' pregnant! 37 Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." 38 And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her. Blessed Among Women
Smuggling God Into The World
The extraordinary occurs in the ordinary, the uncommon in the common, the divine in the human. This is the mystery we celebrate in Christmas. Where ever love is in human form, something of God is there too, in divine form. Our task is to “keep our eyes skinned“, open for the miracle which is hidden in the common.
It wasn’t as easy as it looks, believing this promise and living with the mystery.
Consider Mary as Barbara Brown Taylor seeks to capture the moment the angel comes to her.
“If you decide to say No you simply drop your eyes and refuse to look up until you know the angel has left the room and you are alone again.
Then you smooth your hair and go back to your spinning or your reading or whatever it is that is most familiar to you and pretend that nothing has happened...Or you can set your book down and listen to a strange creature’s strange idea. You can decide to take part in a plan you did not choose, doing things you do not know how to do for reasons you con not entirely understand. You can take part in a thrilling and dangerous scheme with no script and no guarantees. You can agree to smuggled God into the world inside your own body.” (Mothers of God, pp. 150-53
“And that’s not only how Christmas
happened. It is also how Christmas
happens as we ‘smuggle God into
the world’ in our living”.
Prayer thought for the week: “ Lord Jesus, you ‘rule the world with truth and grace…and the wonders of your love”. Give me the courage to smuggle You into my world
through love.”
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