Friends

Christian mythology is powerful in the way it presents events that are revolutionary and transformational (myth is the deepest longing of human beings to understand, it is not fairy tale or falsehoods). The story of the Annunciation is particularly powerful for Advent. A teenage girl is approached by a messenger of God to see if she would be willing to give birth to God’s own Child. How would you answer that one? What is God up to? A cosmic game like Candid Camera?

The season of Advent reminds us to always be awake and aware. Those are the first steps in being prepared for God’s momentous questions that just might come your way and mine.

Mary was asked to give birth to Christ. After recovering from the jolt of that request she gathered herself into that moment fully awake and aware and simply answered, “Let it be done to me as you have said.” In the gentleness of that answer God’s light was released into the world.

Advent is a season that reminds us of the power that God places before us through momentous questions. Awake and aware you and I can recognize pregnant moments when Christ can be born all over again. The question is laid out there, “Will you give birth to My Child?” How will you answer that one?

When did God ever ask me about that? When the moment of service presents itself. When you take the opportunity to say ‘yes’ to offer your gifts to the service of the Church and your community. In the moment of kindness, giving, self-sacrifice, and love God’s momentous question is answered with a resounding “Yes!”

A teenage girl had the courage to say “yes” even though it meant stepping into a future unleashed from certainty. Be prepared, be awake, be aware for you never know, like Mary, when God’s momentous question will find you.

Joel t