"When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David's house. The virgin's name was Mary. When the angel came to her, he said, "Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!" She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be."
-Luke 1:26-29
Yo! What’s up? How’s it going? How are
you? Good to see you! Hiiiiiii! Hey!
There are so many ways we greet each
other. Each is slightly different, but all with the same general meaning – I
noticed you, you mean enough for me to speak to you, you’re important to me.
What, then, was Gabriel’s greeting to Mary about? No hi, hello, how ya doin,
just, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” No wonder Mary doesn’t know
what to think. What sort of greeting is that?
What if someone came up to you and
said, “hey, chosen one!” I think I’d be thrown off if that happened (not to
mention, this isn’t just anyone, it’s
an angel, and I hear angels can be frightening). As the story unfolds we find
out just why Mary is the favored one – she will carry and birth God in flesh.
That’s pretty impressive. That seems like quite a calling.
Like Mary, we’re all called to
something special. Now, we may not be called “favored ones of God,” but in some
ways we are just that. We are favored because God loves us. We are favored
because God calls us to be the church. We are favored because God calls us to
specific tasks available to and do-able by only us. We are favored because we
are children of God, all given gifts that God calls us to use for God’s
purposes.
As I look forward to the birth of
Christ, I will, once again, consider my calling, and I invite you to do the
same. I’ll ask myself – where is God using me now? Where is God pushing me to
go? What are my gifts? How can I use them to help others?
A large task? Probably. But a do-able
one? Definitely. And the best part? We don’t do it alone.
Celebrate, special one! God is with
you!
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