We are now just past the midway point in the Advent season. The tone shifts to more-comfortable Mary from scary John the Baptist. It reminds me of many things. This would be the time when Mom would bake some sixty loaves of German schtolen bread to take to neighbors, friends, and family. My brother and I were the “couriers”, the “Dash Door” duo, jumping out of our VW bus via the sliding door with these gifts. More recently, my last (first) congregation I pastored had a Montessori school. The kids were given chicken eggs to keep warm until they hatched. Preparation, anticipation, expectation: signs of the greatest miracle, greatest gift bestowed on humankind.

The Holy Spirit gently encourages Mary to assent to God’s plan. In this plan, the choice was still up to Mary. She could have said no. There is a nuance here that I don’t completely grasp. While it was certainly God’s will that Mary would agree to this, He always counts on our cooperation. Old Testament leaders, and then ultimately Jesus at the end, discerned God’s will for the future of His beloved children and boldly responded.

This holy season grabs us in every way conceivable (pun intended). Our emotions are all over the place. Our eyes well up when we hear “O Holy Night”. People are nicer. Loving sacrifices are made. Altruistic giving of a share of our abundance. On the other side of the feelings aisle, loneliness and longing for a lost loved one cause our hearts to ache.

Nothing is impossible for God. Not a virgin birth, not the parting of a sea, not the astonishing victory of the cross.  The whole story arc, the narrative of God’s story enfolding yours and mine, captures our imagination with reverent wonder. If we attend to the sacred story, we will fully appreciate how God’s unconditional love overcomes all obstacles and odds against our worthiness. For us, for this, a Savior was born.

Pastor Art