Advent
December 18, 2015

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:39-45

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

Those of us who have read The Red Tent* from the reading gained better insight into the importance of mentorship among women in the tradition of Abraham’s descendants. People with shared life experiences can help all of us through the valleys of the unknown. I think we “modern” women lost some of that along the way and then perhaps, as often happens, regained it with a great flourish.

Pregnant-too-soon Mary seeks out her elder cousin for help in making sense of the events of Mary’s pregnancy. I have always wondered if word of Elizabeth’s late-life pregnancy had reached Nazareth by the time Mary decided to garner Elizabeth’s wisdom. Don’t know that it mattered in her decision, but the older woman’s unexpected pregnancy might have provided comfort to young Mary whose life had also forever been changed by her impending parenthood.

I wonder how willing I am to have my whole life totally turned around in service to God. On the other hand, how willing am I to invest myself in doing the mundane everyday chores of service to God? Do I like Brother John** approach each pot of coffee I make, lesson I prepare, chairs and tables I set up as if God’s Kingdom depended on it? Do you?

Prayer: Lord, prepare me for whatever service you need me to do. Place mentors in my path when I need their knowledge. Place willingness in my heart when I need to make just one more pot of coffee. Amen.

*The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. St. Martin’s Press, 2014

**Read more about John of the Cross at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_the_Cross

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.