Annunciation
Luke 1:26-38 (The Message)
And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now:
I’m the Lord’s maid,
ready to serve.
Let it be with me
just as you say.
The tales of Greek and Roman gods appearing to mortal women are almost always forceful. Whatever they want you to do—is done. You can’t say no.
Yet when our God seeks Mary, God sends an angel, a softer approach. Gabriel appears, wings all aflutter, and tells the trembling girl that she has been chosen by God to bear a son who will redeem the world. Gabriel paints a glorious picture of what could be, but that future—God’s dream—requires a willing partner. In the end, the angel waits upon a human girl. Will she say yes, or no?
Most of us assume that, if there is a God, He’s omnipotent, which means He orders, commands, snaps His fingers. Yet the Bible presents us with a God who wants a love relationship with human beings. That means inviting us, wooing us, promising everlasting love and faithfulness, but never coercing or demanding. This God is crazy enough to say yes to everyone, yes all the time. The only question is, will we say the same in return?
How do we say yes to God? By saying yes to the life that has been given only to us, yes to each sunrise, yes to each breath, yes to the people God has entrusted to our care, yes to the ache that is inseparable from love, yes to whatever the future holds.
Prayer: Free us, Lord Christ, from the fear and pride which keep us from returning love with love; teach us how to form with our lips that liberating love-word, Yes! Amen.
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So many people think God is a brute, sitting in the judges seat. Free will is a beautiful, loving gift woven into His great plan from the beginning of time. We never contemplate that Mary could have said no. I wonder if she even understood completely the magnitude of the ask. After all she was little more than a child. I love this message today and like how you emphasize that God wants a love relationship with his creation. I say yes, always yes!
Thank you for this message David.
Thanks, Laurie–and you’re right about the beauty of free will. That gets us in our share of trouble, of course, but it’s the only thing that makes possible a love relationship, and that is the only way God wants to be with us.
I love the yesses here, David. That’s what I want to say to God.
You’re following Mary’s lead.
“How do we say yes to God? By saying yes to the life that has been given only to us, yes to each sunrise, yes to each breath, yes to the people God has entrusted to our care, yes to the ache that is inseparable from love, yes to whatever the future holds.”
All I got today David is “YES!” That was beautifully said!
If all you got was Yes–you’re good to go, brother!
David, I get it, really do, but what of the situations in Gaza and Ukraine, et al, other than yes, thank you for another day of life as fleeting as it is there while we sit on our bubbles. just an observation. btw, miss out breakfasts. christine got me hooked on your posts!
Hi Brad–sorry Christine hooked you! But glad you’re tuned in. I don’t have an answer for how to keep saying Yes to life…while looking fully into the hideousness of war. All I can say is, If we are in a bubble we don’t have to stay there. We can speak out, we can advocate, the presence of war can lead us to cultivate an even deeper commitment to peace in our own hearts–in here–so that we can address the need for peace out there. The other thing I know is–it’s a total paradox, but we have to keep saying Yes to a life that includes suffering because–I don’t know–because the alternative is not life-giving.
totes agree! Merry/Happy Christmas!
David,
Your Advenr observations/insights bring joy and seek clarity.
The “yes” of today’s makes me ask if you eould expand on your last observation:
“The other thing I know is–it’s a total paradox, but we have to keep saying Yes to a life that includes suffering because–I don’t know–because the alternative is not life-giving.”
No one can fully address this, of course–because the presence of evil in a world created and nurtured by a loving God has fried a lot of theological circuits over the millennia. In the end, I think our task is to take two and make one–to pull together seeming opposites and hold them as one. That’s the spiritual task of life. So in this case, we have to hold the beauty and grace of life along with the suffering and horror of life. That’s a crazy task and most of the time I don’t want to do that and nobody does–but I know it’s right. That is the hugely paradoxical nature I was referring to.
And–as I said in my reply to Brad–I have to do this, or try to do this, because the alternative is death. If you don’t or can’t pull life and death together and hold them as one, usually you just get pulled down into death, pulled into despair. Who needs that? I don’t.
Ginny Sheay
The “infinite yes” as found in Dag Hammarskjöld’s “‘Markings”, has not only changed the whole course of humanity through Mary’s “yes”, but in a little corner of the world a long time ago, my “yes” to God shook the very foundation of the Episcopal Church. It came out of a deep inner struggle over a long period of time to be called to priesthood when it was forbidden to do so by those in authority of the Episcopal Church. At the time, I resonated with Hammarskjöld when he wrote: “I don’t know Who—or what—put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remembering answering. But at some moment I did answer ” yes” to Someone —and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self surrender, had a goal… You dare your ” yes”— and experience a meaning, You repeat your “yes”—and all things acquire a meaning.
When everything has a meaning, how can you live anything but a ” yes. ” I always trusted in Mary’s infinite ” yes”, and by God grace alone I dared, I surrendered to that divine invitation, and that has made all the difference. Thank you, David, for your inspiring message today.
Ginny–That was a courageous and resounding YES! Thank you for your willingness all those years ago to answer the call with all your heart.
Ginny- even in retirement you never cease to amaze me. Thank you for sharing. Love you and miss you at “our little corner” of Solebury. Eric Evans
Jesus, my elder brother, while engaged in this pretense of being human I never really know what’s in my best interest. I really don’t know what anything means. To claim that I do is also a pretense. Therefore, I don’t know how to respond and all my past learning of the world is of no help. I cannot use it to be my guiding light. So Brother, that being noted, you lead and I’ll follow.
That’s a beautiful prayer, Monte
Saying yes, even when I cannot see, cannot hear or even understand is hard , but I know is right. So much easier to walk away & take my path & not God’s. However, I know in my heart & mind that YES is the only answer. Despite the difficulties, & not having answers, without a God to say yes to, there is no life, there is no love there is only an empty horizon. Only yes can change me & some magical someday, the world. I pray that yes is the only word my soul knows.
That’s one wondrous final prayer, Susie.