Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Saying "Yes" to God

On this Wednesday in the fourth week of Advent, we hear from Luke who tells us about Mary’s encounter with God’s messenger, and we see how different her response is from Zechariah’s:

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, favored 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 favor 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. (Lk. 1:26-38).

Unlike Zechariah, who thought that it all depended on him so what God wanted to do was impossible because he and his wife were too old, Mary is “perplexed”, Luke tells us, but she cooperates with God saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” She understood the angel’s statement that “nothing is impossible with God.” Nothing. Some of us respond like Zechariah who is quick to limit God, others respond like Mary who cooperates with God, trusting in God, and not placing limits on God. As Paul tells us, God can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Mary knew that. Today, be open like Mary. God can do the impossible, even with you.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Christmas Eve Eucharist Rite II at 5:00 p.m. on 24 December.

Feeding of the volunteers at William Temple: St. Augustine will feed about 30 volunteers on the week that the workers will be helping us with the Community Garden. This will take place the first week of January. I will obtain the final details from the Diocese of Texas Episcopal Disaster Relief coordinators.

16 January 2010: the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori, and the Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle will be at St. Augustine.

PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially Cindi, Carol, Lee, John, Bob, Peggy Moore Elliott and the family of the Rev. Janet Gilmore.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550

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