Relationship, courage, and surrender – An Advent Story

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." Luke 1:39-45

Dear friends in Christ, 

In this Year A of our lectionary cycle from Matthew, the Sunday gospel focuses on Joseph’s faith.  He is visited by an angel in a dream; an angel who tells him that Mary is, in fact, pregnant, but it is the child of God.  Joseph is to stay with her and care for her as she harbors this precious, amazing, once in all of history child.  We won’t hear this Luke story –The Visitation, as this story is referred to–so I wanted to be sure this part is also in your heart!.  The Visitation is a story about relationship, surrender, and courage. Mary goes to see Elizabeth after she, Mary, was given the astounding news that she was to give birth to Jesus.  The angel Gabriel gave her this news and she immediately went to see her cousin Elizabeth who was also with child.  The news was too much to hold on her own, perhaps she didn’t even believe it herself yet.  

Upon seeing the pregnant Mary, we are told that Elizabeth’s baby, who will grow up to be John the Baptist, leapt in his mother’s womb….somehow, he recognizes Jesus’ presence, as does Elizabeth who proclaims “the mother of my Lord comes to me.”  – What began as a story of one young woman, Mary, is now a community of relationships – Mary, Jesus, Elizabeth, John…and off screen Joseph and Zechariah too. Children come into the world with relationships all around them.  Like you and all of us, we are in the midst of community, connected to others from the moment we were conceived.  This reality of our human need for one another is one of the beautiful things reflected in Luke’s story.  Mary, who feels alone reaches out to Elizabeth, and both of them find themselves in this circle of relationship not only with each other, but with God, with their unborn sons.  As we await the Christmas birth, carrying Christ in us,  who might we reach out to?  What unexpected connections might we foster?  How might we see the Christ in someone else? 

Courage is found in this story too.  Courage to face a complete unknown – Mary with her news; Elizabeth, pregnant at an old age; courage is required as a parent, grandparent, husband, wife, child, …for our lives unfold without our knowing what will happen next. We know this story of Mary and her child, of Elizabeth and her child so well, it seems inevitable.  But for them, and for us, we awake in each day without knowing what happens next.  It takes courage to trust in the Lord each morning; it takes courage to reach out to friends and family, and to the stranger. It takes courage to listen to someone else’s pain, some one else’s worries, to really listen and try to understand different points of view, different experiences.  It takes courage to read the Bible and hear the Word of God. Where are you being courageous in this season?  How are you like Mary proclaiming God’s truth of love and mercy for all people? 

This story today is also about surrender.  Mary has surrendered herself to being “theotokos”…the Christ bearer….  She does not know what it will be, what it means really, at this point, but she has trusted God and is living in trembling faith “Let be with me according to your Word” she said to the Angel,   She has reached out to Elizabeth and found community, and she sings a song of God’s mercy and love, particularly for the poor.  For those who struggle.  In surrendering herself to God’s will she finds herself–clear about who she is in God’s eyes, what she is called to do, to be.  She is called to bring this Light, this life of love and mercy into the world and she shows us how to do it too.   Relationships, seeing Christ in others,  surrendering ourselves to God’s will.  Are the keys to transformation-  

Br. Nicholas Bartoli of the SSJE writes: 

The way of Jesus was never meant to be easy, but that’s our calling: to courageously surrender to God in each moment. And so for the sake of Christ we become the transformation we seek, sharing peace and joy in our communities, and inspiring the world to a new story, the story of God’s beautiful Kingdom.  

Like John the Baptist who leapt in Elizabeth’s womb, may you feel the presence of Christ in your life each day.  And may you never know a day when Christ is not in you and with you.   May you be the mansion prepared to receive him once again on Christmas morning. 

Amen. 

Your sister on the journey, 

Nancy+