Luke 1:26-38
Advent 4 - Year B
What 13-14-15 year-old has a good image of themself? I got zits. Along comes an angelic presence proclaiming "you're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out!" [The Message]
No wonder there is perplexion (an internal bad complexion?) on Mary's part.
No matter how you cut it, this story is beyond comprehension. In that way it is a great way to demonstrate that everything is possible.
The gift of seeing everything as possible (in slight distinction to seeing "'nothing' is impossible") is important for us as we prepare to come to a manger and to flee as innocents are slaughtered.
It is important still to see everything as possible. It is still possible to not get caught up in the volume and shrillness of an administration saying," we know there are weapons there no matter what isn't found." The technique of big lies is one of our culture's motifs (just listen to the advertisements that stand between your pocketbook and maximum corporate profits). It is still possible to take a huge step toward a living wage and not settle for too little a raise in minimum salaries and too short a life for unemployment and too many uninsured. It is still possible to actively love enemies. It is still possible to accept sexuality as a good gift and not limit it by generativity. It is still possible to commit ourselves to proactively vision GOD inclusively. It is still possible to serve before we are granted conventional authority to so serve. It is still possible to flourish while barren, after all, who says it must be otherwise before we count? It is still possible to live abundantly and fully even in a culture that measures those qualities only in quantitative terms.
And in the midst of these possibilities the angel leaves us. So which possibility will you pick up as your own and carry it on even where angels fear to tread?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/december2002.html
"Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus."
You have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you. Through your life G*D will be revealed - Emmanuel will be birthed through you - your decision and your actions.
So often we limit this announcement to the BVM. Do you know about Elizabeth and Mary? Well, they stand as exemplars for us.
As with E and M of old, so the Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Highest and Deepest and Broadest will be present to you. Therefore the life you bring to birth in the midst of the world will be called Holy. Are you birthing you?
Well, Holy One, the Holy One is with you. Live well! Serve well! Let it be!
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/december2002.html
Genesis: "Adam" is made in G*D's image and, like G*D, needs a helpmeet.
Luke: "Mary" continues the image of G*D and has a betrothed helpmeet.
Where are we to go with this second creation (depending on how you count floods and Exoduses and Exiles and the like - even a seventh creation perhaps)?
From a Rib and from a Womb arise new possibilities to help name and help redeem creation round about.
Precursors have been days called good and ol' cousin Liz.
What a deal. Again we hear that nothing is impossible.
What impossibilities will you give credence to this week? What from the past will you point to as evidence that will make sense of your "senseless quest", your "untenable position" (at least as perceived by less active dreamers).
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/december2005.html
Jesus didn't seem to talk about his birth as a source of authority. Paul doesn't spend any time with Jesus' birth. What then might be its significance?
It seems that Matthew and Luke saw this as a way to contextualize what they had to say about Jesus. The Church (after Constantine) institutionalized a single day of recognition (a birthday party, if you like) for Jesus (was it really based on 9 months after the then acknowledged date of the creation of the world?).
Perhaps we might tap into this story through Mary and the angelic recognition that each of us bears within ourselves a "greatness". Each of us also discounts this greatness. We have a whole series of questions (excuses) why this can't be because if it is true we would need to nurture it and allow it to come to fruition in its own time and then to be set loose from us.
For now, know that the power of the Most High has come over you. May you let it be.
Now on to the rest of your story and the story of the greatness you birth into this sorry world that holds the germ of creation too lightly and the armament of destruction too tightly.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/december2005.html
Perplexity can be left alone or challenged. Our confusion points come from inside and out. David and a Temple raises questions from a prophet. Mary and a pregnant question rise to challenge an angel.
David's going ahead meets reversal and he holds back. Mary's holding back meets reversal and she goes ahead. Both are promised good fruit - descendants for ever and for good.
In the midst of a king's word being his bond and a young girl's fear raising deep questions we find prophets and angels - catalysts for reversal and renewal. In the midst of a world not knowing how to back off from misused power and individual fears arrayed against creative peace, we are still in need of prophets and angels.
Priests would urge us to build a bigger box in which to praise and communal mores would belittle the slightest change in acceptable perspective or behavior. Prophets and angels are where the breaks in our power and fear can welcome an outsider (Gentile Alien) without first shunning or reconstructing them.
What will it take for us to listen to the questions, inside and out? Can we hear the Nathan's currently speaking? Can we listen to a Child within?
What will it take for us to speak truth to power and hope to fear?
- - -
my spirit rejoices
I have been blessed enough
to back down from my word
to forge a new word
blessed enough
mercied enough
steadfastly loved enough
a mysterious revelation
a questing proclamation
release blessing enough
to rejoice my spirit
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
So did the angelic messenger get it wrong? What's with the pronouncement regarding a coming Jesus getting a throne abolished generations before? What's with the language of "reign" or "rule"? And a never-ending "kingdom"?
I suppose we could say that nothing is impossible with God, but does that cut it in terms of the way Jesus will deny a kingdom in this world, dismiss blood family ties, and focus on prophetic acts of mercy, healing, and teaching?
It will take some fancy spinning to have the angelic message end up anywhere near the experience we have of Jesus. While there are many who would set up institutions to rule in Jesus' name, that seems to end up being heretical to the life lived by Jesus.
Here, as we near the focus of Advent – Christmas, it would be well to pay attention to what is and isn't being said. It is all too easy to toss institutional metaphors around as though they were literal.
If we buy into this initial proposition put to Mary we will be able see how her heart will be pierced later – it's hard to put an expectation down. May you watch your story-telling for saying too much. It is easy to use acceptable images, but they have a way of coming around to bite. Think again, speak slowly, don't over-promise. Learn from an angel's over-stated sales pitch and stick to what you know – "Mary, here's a surprise big enough to take your breath away, but G*D will be with you to continue breathing new spirit into you. Relax and enjoy the ride of your life."
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html
A mystery - How did Mary find “favor” with G*D?
A mystery - “Favor” is also yours.
“Favor” here is but another way of saying “Grace”. It is not so much what Mary or you or I have or have not done. Being grace-full is a gift. This gift is available to all and today and brings new life beyond all expectation of life.
When it happens to you (or again to you) I expect you wonder, “How can this happen to such as myself, particularly knowing how far from ideal I have been.” Such is my experience when grace and favor and new beginnings have come my way.
And so we simultaneously shift into two gears - non-attachment and deep-attachment - Here I am; let it be; onward.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/12/luke-126-38.html
Scene 1: Good ol’ sweet-talkin’ Gabriel. His backseat of the car patter wasn’t quite believable until Mary’s hormones kicked in. At this point there is no turning back and, “Let it be”, becomes an imperative.
Scene 2: Powerful Gabriel has never taken “No” for an answer. He is god’s-gift to women. After favoring Mary with his mere presence, it isn’t long before he has a hand over her mouth and with a grunt says, “Don’t yell, you’ll thank me later...God...O, God!”
Scene 3: Accountant Gabriel is present to make the trains run on time. Following instructions from the next level up, Gabriel visits Nazareth (or was it Bethlehem as Matthew reported?). He has an explanation for everything. There is no discrepancy. Nothing is impossible if we just cooperate with The Plan.
Scene 4: How would you describe this scene. Remember that in ancient of days March 25th was honored as creation’s birthday. Was there or was there not a big “Bang”? To keep things nicely tied up, the New Creation, of course, would be conceived then and be revealed nine-months-to-the-day later, December 25th. Or was it the other way around and Jesus really was born in the Spring as a goodly number of scholars suggest?
O the post hoc, ergo propter hoc stories we tell ourselves to reduce tension and thinking.