Consistently working at something tends to be the way that human beings go from good to great to phenomenal to world-class. Sure one must start from somewhere and it is hard to think that someone 5’2” would ever play professional basketball or someone born without rhythm would ever work to be a great drummer. Still we are given a certain set of gifts that hopefully we will discover, cherish, and use to bring great joy and healing into this world. This is the story of most vocations (callings) and even our pastimes and non-stipendiary passions. Yet what about spending 6,574 hours being someone?
6,574 hours (9 months) is the amount of time a mother on average spends being pregnant. And, since today is the day when we celebrate the Annunciation we have only 6,574 hours until we will be celebrating Christmas. (Have you gotten all your shopping done?) Mary spent 9 months not working on any particular set of skills, but rather she was called into being a most important servant of God.
Mary was surely given a set of skills from God that enabled her to answer the call from God. And yet, the story of Mary saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” has little to do with working hard and everything to do with a calling we all hear. No, I am not saying we are all called to have children. I can never spend nine months in pain and agony impatiently waiting to bring new life to this planet. Rather, what I mean is that each and every one of us has the opportunity to respond in the same way as Mary to our Christian vocation in an evangelistic way.
OH NO! I said a word that I should not have said in an Episcopal Church. I am sorry. “Evangelism” has a tendency to make us squirm does it not? We have heard too many people standing on the street corner screaming. We have witnessed too many headlines with a televangelist absconding with a pile of money and a pretty, young thing. I do not know about you, but I tend to recoil at these images. Yet, not when I think about Mary.
Mother Mary meek and mild bore the ultimate good news into this world. She was the one who was able to first herald assuredly in a surreal state to her betrothed that she was to bear the Son of God. I do not know how well that conversation went, but Joseph agreed to stick with Mary. For nine months she carried within her God’s own Son. Then for years to come she nursed, swaddled, taught, protected, disciplined, and mostly loved the God Incarnate who was also her child!
Sometimes I can get caught up in saying or typing or preaching the right words, which good evangelists typically try to do. Words are so very important. Yet, on this day when we recognize the Annunciation when Mary began this journey with Jesus, I am struck by the reality that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. She would call him, as Isaiah foretold, Immanuel, which means God with us.
We all have different gifts and talents that bear witness to God’s power working in us. Each of us has the opportunity to find how what we can do will bring healing and joy into this world. Some of us are musicians. Some of us are great at tax preparation. Others might be able to help others in need. This is to be discerned, practiced, and celebrated. Yet, we all have a call that sometimes makes us squirmy. We are called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet.
Mary helps me to know that this does not mean carrying around a Bible with which we beat others. Rather, we are to bear Christ into the world in the humanly ways that we know so well. We are to break bread together, to resist evil, to repent, to seek and serve Christ in others, to strive for peace and justice among all people, to respect the Dignity of every human being. Basically, the way that we bear Christ into the world is to see the God within every person whom we meet and in ourselves too. I thank God for choosing Mary the Mother of God and for her witness that we all carry God within us. How will you share God with those whom you meet?
No comments:
Post a Comment