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Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent

December 21, 2022

Invitatory

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Our King and Savior now draws near: Come let us adore him.

Reading - 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, favoured 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 favour 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 for ever, 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.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy

Is heaven's perfect Lamb?

That sleeping child you're holding is the great, I Am

These lyrics come from the perennially popular Mark Lowry song, “Mary, Did you Know?” I’ve heard the song my whole life, but only in recent years has it captured my attention. I find myself increasingly frustrated by the words that question Mary’s awareness of her role in the world’s history and therefore patronize her. Of course Mary knew! After a few seconds of questioning (“How can this be, since I am a virgin?”), Mary surrendered to God and accepted this divine responsibility with words heard throughout the Bible by those chosen by God: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” She was not some ignorant, passive participant in God’s story. No, Mary was a strong, willing actor who understood almost immediately the gravity of the responsibility and gift God was laying on her.

The passage appointed for today ends right after Mary agrees and calls herself the Lord’s servant, but just a few verses later in Luke is the Magnificat, the Song of Mary. A beautiful and important piece of Scripture, the Magnificat describes the power and might of God. Mary proclaims that God has already done amazing things: he has “looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant…has scattered the proud...has brought down the powerful…has filled the hungry with good things.” Before she has even experienced her own pregnancy, she sees the power of the Lord she will bear. Her faith, from the moment of Gabriel’s announcement to the words of this hymn to her presence in her Son and Savior’s ministry, is astounding. In my mind, there is no question: Mary knew all that was to come through the life she carried.

I understand the unfathomability of a virgin birth. It is a wild concept. But what I can fathom, and hope you can too, is the idea that Mary was integral to the story of salvation. She was fully human and gave birth to a child that was also fully human. We seem willing to accept the God part - Jesus was the Son of God and Jesus was, himself, divine. His life’s work of miracles and teaching, and his ultimate role of resurrected Savior had been foretold for centuries. But Mary filled a critical role because she lent the world her humanity to bring forth a man to live between our world and God’s, to cross that plane, to join together the world we know and the one that is to come. Mary’s willingness to carry this child and do so faithfully with confidence in God’s ultimate plan, is truly remarkable. She knew all that was implied in bringing Jesus to earth, and she still said yes. Thank God for that.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

     hallowed be thy Name,

     thy kingdom come,

     thy will be done,

         on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

     as we forgive those

         who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

     but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

     and the power, and the glory,

     for ever and ever. Amen.