4th Advent
Luke 1: 26-38
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| He Qi |
During the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in
Galilee called Nazareth to a maiden engaged to a man named Joseph of the
descendants of David, and the maiden’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said
toward her, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was she was confused at those words, and wondered what kind of
greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for
you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall
call him Jesus.
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the most High,
And the Lord your God will give him the Throne of David your father.
And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever;
And his kingdom will have no end. “
And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have never known a
man?”
And the angel answered and said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon
you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
And for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.
And behold, even your kinswoman Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old
age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For no word is
spoken in the worlds of the spirit that does not have the power to become
reality on earth.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the
Lord’s handmaid; may it be to me according to your word. “
And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1: 26 – 38
Today we hear the story of the angel’s announcement to Mary
that she would bear the Christ Child. Here is a poem by Denise Levertov, which
draws a parallel to our own lives:
We know the scene: the room,
variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a
book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur
of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing
or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a
guest.
But we are told of meek
obedience. No one mentions
courage.
The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without
consent.
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| Birth of the Light, Roland Tiller |
God
waited.
She was free
to accept or to refuse,
choice
integral to humanness.
Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
when roads …
open …
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of
weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
God does not
smite them.
But the gates close, the
pathway vanishes.
….
Called to a destiny more
momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, 'How can this be?'
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s
reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she
was offered:
to bear …
Infinite weight and
lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
…Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light…. [i]
May we, too, be engendered by the Spirit, so that the Christ
Child can be brought to birth within us. May we too gravely, courteously, courageously
accept the destiny invitations whispered to us by angels.
[i] Levertov, “Annunciation”, after ‘Hail, space for the
uncontained God’, From the Agathistos Hymn ,
Greece
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