Opening Prayer
Gracious God, I put myself before you in this moment with waiting heart, expectant desire. Open my eyes that I may see your promise fulfilled; open my ears that I may hear your word whispered to my deepest being.
Amen.
Passage
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.“May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Reflection - Deb Pritchard
Immaculate conception. Virgin birth. Did you ever stop and think of the uniqueness, the strangeness of those words? Oxymorons. They are terms we’ve handed down through the ages, sometimes without much reflection. But take a moment right now. Pause and think of the wonder of it.
How could a virgin become pregnant and give birth? Mary questioned the angel because it simply seemed impossible. Gabriel’s reply to her was an explanation, an example, and a truth. His explanation was mysterious, miraculous, and beyond her comprehension. He then gave an example of God’s power – Elizabeth, who was beyond childbearing, was now six months pregnant. Finally, he closed with a truth that expressed that God was able to carry out what he planned. Mary could hold the example and the truth in her heart; an anchor for the storms that lie ahead, even if she could not comprehend the explanation. What truth about God do you hold in your heart today? Say it out loud.It is your anchor when the things around you are hard to understand. And, if you need a truth anchor, you can use Mary’s. “For no word from God will ever fail.”
Closing Prayer
My Lord, may all that I have seen of you and all that I have heard from your word now enflesh itself in me. Send me from this place as the incarnate promise of life to all whose life I will touch this day.
Amen.