Advent 2. Purpose.
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.” ~ Luke 1:26-28
This Advent series will follow the course of four mystical appearings. Angels. Messengers. Divine encounters with normal people who responded in hope…and changed the story.
The dilemma. A teenage girl is in love, dreaming of the new life they will make together. A new home, a small family business, children…all within the safe confines of a known culture. Yet underneath all the predictable expectations, there is a restless spirit. An aimlessness. Who am I really? And why am I here? Do you know those questions? Above all things, we long for purpose, for meaning.
The angel. Perhaps Mary was filling up a water jug at the well, perhaps walking in a field, perhaps perched on her favorite rocky overlook above the town…when IT happened. When an otherworldly figure took her breath away and began to speak directly to her deepest longings. “Highly favored,” really? Why? Why me? Why now?
The coming. The message was bold: a conception, a birthing—but not in the normal ways of such things. Something seismic and momentous, not just for her or her village but for the entire world. Greatness was being thrust upon her, but did she even want it? What she did want, however, was a larger sense of meaning and direction. The scope of it shook her to the core, but from a deep place bubbled up an answer. “Yes.”
What are you being invited to say “yes” to right now? Whether it feels large or small, there is something both daunting and compelling about this threshold. Dare you cross it? But how can you say no? It carries the scent of visitation, the echoes of the heavenly.
Name it. Receive it. Trust God’s trust in you.
Say yes.
Next week, the angel appears to her anxious fiance with a word of confidence.