4th Advent
Luke 1: 26-38
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.
 |
| Fra Angelico |
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.
4th Advent
December 22, 2013
Luke 1: 26-38
In today’s reading we hear of
an act of conception: the Holy Spirit descends upon the open soul; the dynamic
creative power of the Most High surrounds her in a radiant cloud. And her
offspring is called Son of God.
We too are involved in an
ongoing act of conception. Invisible to most, angels hover around us. A spirit
of wholeness wishes to descend upon open souls. The creative power of the Most
High wishes to work in us. FOR WE ARE
TASKED WITH CREATING A NEW WORLD. Working with angelic hierarchies, we are to
bring into being offspring that will populate a new heaven and a new earth.
The Act of Consecration of
Man is the archetype of just such an act of conception. We open ourselves to
the message of the angels; we receive a spirit of healing and peace. Our
actions for this hour are guided by the divine world. Working together with
divine beings, with Christ and the Father, we are creating eternal offspring
that will live into the next age.
What we do here, what we do
whenever we act out of the spirit of wholeness and peace, may be largely
invisible. But its effects are more real, more lasting, of greater significance
than most of what we see around us. For what we are generating is the future of
the earth. For the poet says:
To remember
 |
| The Awakening, Thomas Cooper Gotch |
the other world
in this world
is to live in your
true inheritance.
….
Now, looking through
the slanting light
of the morning
window toward
the mountain
presence
of everything
that can be,
what urgency
calls you to your
one love? What shape
waits in the seed
of you to grow
and spread
its branches
against a future sky?[1]
www.thechristiancommunity.org
[1]
David Whyte, What to Remember Upon Waking, in House of Belonging. Picture: The Awakening, Thomas Cooper Gotch
