Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
Blog Reflection
"It has been said, "God made us without us, and redeemed us without us, but cannot save us without us," Mary's assent to Gabriel's message opened the way for God to accomplish teh salvation of the world. It is for this reason that all generations are to call her "blessed."
The Annunciation has been a major theme in Christian art, in both East and West. Innumberable sermons and poems have been composed about it. The term coined by Cyril of Alexandria for the Blessed Virgin, Theotokos ("the God-bearer"), was affirmed by the General Council of Ephesus in 431." (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 288).
The Rev. Susan Russell has said on not too few occasions quoting her Rector Ed. Bacon: "I am sure glad Mary did not wait for the doctrine of the Incarnation to give her yes to God's request."
I would have to agree and say I am glad Mary did not wait for the Council of Ephesus to be called the "God-bearer" before she consented to the Angel Gabriel's message.
I have written on a few blog posts that I believe that Mary was the first female Priest. She gave her consent to do the will of God, and offered herself in service to God for all God's people when she allowed God to bear God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ through her. She did not wait for some council to give her permission. Though she may not have been sure about everything the Angel may have told her, Mary trusted in God and said yes. In spite of her insecurities and imperfections. The labels that society and others had placed on her, she ignored.
The Rev. Canon Gray Temple in his book: "Gay Unions in Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason" writes:
"I want to suggest one more thought. If we grasp the single-sex/sex-as-violence-between-unequals gender construction, suddenly Luke's and Matthew's insistence on our Lord's virginal conception begins to make urgent existential sense, something the most liberal among us would be fools to part with. It's mistaken to debate about biological parthenogenesis-that's anachronistic. And it's literarily-doltish to ape The Golden Bough and range our Lord's conception alongside pagan semidivinities who are supposed to have been conceived without fathers. Jesus's birth hasn't got anything to do with that. What the first and third Gospels want us to know is that Jesus--and eventually his Movement--represent the destabilization of that gender construction--because at the very level of his very tissues, Jesus has no part in it. And to the extent that we allow Jesus's life to be our own paradigm, you and I in our spiritual rebirths are ourselves virginally conceived. The Prologue to the Gospel of John say as much....
The notion of the virgin birth is not countersexual. It is the beginning of God's healing the world's sexuality in Christ. It is a revolutionary, radical notion, reclaim it from the reactionaries." (Pages 92, 93).
The Annunciation for Christians is the beginning of the end of what we call one person (or group of people) dominating themselves over others. The words of the Magnificat (Song of Mary) say as much.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior,
for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you
from generation to generation.
You have shown the strength of your arm
and have scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones
and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things
and have sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel,
for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise you made to our ancestors,
to Abraham, Sarah and their children for ever.
(From Enriching Our Worship 1, page 27).
More importantly it also as Temple suggests "not countersexual." Nor is it to somehow suggest that sexuality in and of itself is a dirty thing as too much of Christian history has stated. Therefore the Annunciation is not an appropriate story to attempt to launch a campaign against a woman's right to choose, or the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. It is also not appropriate to use the Annunciation against the gender identity/expression of transgender people.
What the Annunciation says to us is to be open to God's call in our lives and to be willing to accept the changes that God by the Holy Spirit may bring. God as God's Self is not change-less and neither should we expect that the Church and we as ourselves are also not change-less.
In the Incarnation, God became human so that God could save us as one like all humankind. We see countless examples in the Bible of how God may have intended to do something, but later changed God's mind.
How open are we to God's call in our lives? How willing are we to be the bearer of God in our time?
There are injustices all around us. Prejudice. Political, social and religious oppression against all kinds of people, including LGBTQ people. We see the push for one group of people to dominate another based on race, religion, class, gender, political/social and economical status, health status, immigration status etc. Addictions gripping many, many people. We read and hear the rhetoric of bias, cruelty and violence being suggested towards all kinds of people every where.
All of these things and many more are happening around us. God is calling each of us to do our part to end religious based oppression against other people. How are we answering that call?
As our Republican House threatens to take away food stamps from the children of labor protesters, and funding for those who make sure that nuclear weapons are taken out of the reach of terrorists, how is God calling us to act on behalf of those less fortunate than ourselves?
How is God calling us to a change of heart, mind and how we take advantage of opportunities to help change our world, communities for the better?
As we continue through Lent to meditate on how God is calling us to prepare for Holy Week and Easter, we would do well to spend some time with Jesus and the Cross and see how one act of supreme sacrifice changed the entire world. Jesus learned how to sacrifice all because of the example of Mary. When Jesus spoke those words: "Let it be according to your will, not mine," Jesus was repeating the words of Mary. "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
For the sake of justice, equality, inclusion and peace may we all learn to say those words and not wait for a Parish or Diocesan Standing Committee to consent.
Prayers
Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Annunciation, Book of Common Prayer, page 240).
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, page 99).
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, page 100).
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