by Sharon O | Dec 9, 2011 | Uncategorized
After Elizabeth had spoken to Mary the book of Luke
shares with us her response. Luke 1: 46-55
It is called Mary’s Song
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me ~
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
A beautiful prayer from someone so young
A prayer of acceptance
A prayer of obedience
A prayer of deep love
A prayer of trust
In the quiet of the night as she put her hand upon her round frame
did she question
did she wonder
did she pray
did she cry
So much of the story we are not told
but one would imagine through this life altering experience
Mary would have
many quiet moments to think and
to remember
the voice of the angel who said to her
“do not be afraid.”
by Sharon O | Dec 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
In Luke the story is told how Mary after hearing from the angel hurried to see her cousin Elizabeth.
(as soon as the angel left her presence)
Isn’t is like two expectant mom’s sharing tea and each others joy
as they reflect on the new babies to come?
Only this time it would be different.
This time it was not just a cousin to a cousin
it was a moment in time
a moment of awareness
where Elizabeth knew there was something very special in Mary
and where Mary became aware
that her life would be different from then on.
Luke 1:39
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Isn’t it awesome that God would use two precious babies
to declare truth to two women?
Isn’t it awesome that God would do something so exciting
like a fresh new birth
to help us see and feel and experience
his love for us?
I really find it fascinating that upon hearing Mary’s greeting
the baby inside Elizabeth reacted to the holy ‘voice’.
Isn’t it wonderful that God in his word declares
a baby in the womb has value and importance?
When I was expecting our little ones I talked to them, and I know they knew
the feel of my hand and my husbands hand as it rested upon my ’round tummy.’
Perhaps they know and hear the voice of others too?
Why would God not use the symbol of a baby to reach us.
Everyone loves a newborn.
Everyone loves to look upon and gaze into their precious eyes of innocence.
Everyone loves the soft tender skin that smells so pure.
God sent his son in a form that we could accept with
open arms and open hearts
so that we could be like Elizabeth and be excited for his coming.
Mary was chosen among all women
to be a part of the wonderful Christmas story.
A baby would come to save us from ourselves.
Are we ready to receive him?
by Sharon O | Dec 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
I have wondered about Joseph.
How he responded to the angels news and how
he reacted towards Mary and her new baby coming.
He thought about it I am sure.
We aren’t told about his feelings or how many sleepless nights he had.
Don’t you wonder what he was thinking when Mary told him,
“Joseph an angel came to me and told me I am expecting a baby and the father is the Holy Spirit.”
Do you wonder how he felt or what he would have said to her?
Did he sit up late in the night trying to decide what he should do?
Did he tell her, “Wow I have to think about this one for a few days.”
This was his fiancee who he was going to marry.
The plans they were making to be a family were not supposed to start so soon.
Was he wondering how he could break it off with her?
Is that when an angel came to talk to him and tell him to marry her?
How life changing it would be for him to be with Mary but not ‘with her’ as a husband and wife.
He was told to take her as his wife even though she was already expecting a new baby.
It was a choice he had to make.
He could have said no but he didn’t.
He chose intimacy not abandonment perhaps even as protection for her.
If he were to marry her
no one would have to know the baby was not his.
Except for the angel who brought the news to both of them
perhaps Joseph and Mary and later Elizabeth were the only ones who knew
the real truth surrounding this special child.
If he were to expose her
the rule of the day was for her to not just be stoned
but stoned in the doorway of her fathers home.
Which also would include her immediate family ‘stoning’ her.
The rule was anyone who was a relative could throw the stones until she died.
Joseph couldn’t let that happen in good conscience.
Perhaps he really loved her?
Not understanding and not knowing how it would affect him for the rest of his life
Joseph obeyed the angel.
He chose obedience not entitlement.
He could have said ‘my first born son will have my family name’.
He didn’t.
The angel said, “you will call him Jesus.”
So many choices within this story.
It is a love story on many levels.
Isn’t that like God to give us many things to think about?
by Sharon O | Dec 3, 2011 | Uncategorized
Can you imagine the feelings Mary had when the Angel appeared to her?
I often talk about life altering moments.
When our world changes in a split second and it is no longer
what we we are familiar with or knew.
I imagine that would be what Mary experienced
when her heart would receive this ‘special child’.
A mother is a mother always and she would be taken to her deepest level of love and loss.
Can you even imagine her fear or her questions
wanting to be obedient
but realizing what it would cost her?
In that culture if she was known to be with child and not married
her destiny would be death by stoning.
Stoning
where one is placed in a pit and killed slowly as rocks are thrown
to break the body down till death takes place.
Perhaps that is why Joseph was told by the Angel to take her as his wife and love her as a husband would love.
Through his obedience he would save her life.
I suppose he could have said no.
The story began when two people said yes I will obey.
It is a love story on many levels.
We forget she was young
scholars have said she was around age 14 just a teenager.
Can you imagine the responsibility for her and the intensity of the call on her life?
In this life altering moment
she was to have a child
he was to be called Jesus
he would deeply change her and also change the hearts of others.
This was indeed one of those moments I think
when we forget the heaviness of her heart where Mary had to make a choice.
God found favor with her and chose her to be the mother of the Christ Child.
We forget who she was before that happened.
Would we be so willing to do something so profound
if we were asked?
