Mary Moments and Miracles

If you've ever had a Mary moment at Christmas, you're not alone. First of all, what is it like to have an angel visit you? And, then to be told you're going to be pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Lord Most High even though you're engaged to a really great guy named Joe.

Here's how it all went down:

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[b] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

There's a lot to unpack there. In order to believe any of it- you need to believe in angels, and the Holy Spirit and God's word never failing. In fact, you need to believe that God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son-- and that the son was fully human and fully God. Yes, I know. It's enough to knock your socks off and we haven't even talked about the miracles of Jesus that come later.

Let's begin with the arrival of a baby into the world. The fact that the process includes being suspended upside down in amniotic fluid, and fed through a cord for nine months is wild to begin with. Add in, that despite the same process, no two humans, not even twins have ever had or ever will have the same DNA. Then consider, that somehow, at birth, every baby's central nervous system knows how to kick in when exposed to the new environment and gasp for air to fill their lungs. #breathoflife Over and over, miracles happen. You are one of them.

What we need to add to our Mary equation is that the conception of her baby was a one time, way beyond the extraordinary event that can only be explained as God's divine power at work.

Now, I never met Mary. And, it looks from the write up in the Bible that she responded to the angel really well. I'm thinking that when the angel came and said "Don't be afraid", she wasn't. She just wanted to know how it would all happen. It's hard to explain but on

a much smaller scale, I have had experiences where normally I should be terrified out of my mind, but for some reason, I am not-- like when a man walked into the library in 10 degree weather with only camo pants on screaming he was on fire and needed help. All I can tell you, was that I felt protected and at peace and I called 911 very calmly with all the information and worked with my supervisor to assist the man and other patrons who were a little freaked out until the ambulance arrived. God's prescence in your life, if you recognize and believe it exists, will enable you to do what you didn't think you could do.

Mary believes that something extra ordinary, beyond extraordinary can happen. Her servant response is: "May your words be fulfilled." Immaculate conception--yes, that's a hard one to wrap our heads around. It's beyond the scope of our humanness. Believing it will require us to have Mary-like faith. Not there yet? That's fine. God would rather have your honest questions than not have you come to the stable at all.

This Christmas, my prayer is that you experience something so extraordinary that you know only God could make it happen!

Coffee talk: What extraordinary moments have you had?