Try to imagine...

This advent I'm trying to take it easy and not get sucked into the stress that seems to have captured people wherever I look. I want to make this advent a special advent and really ponder what happened around 2000 years ago. So I'd like to invite you on a journey with me and maybe we will discover something "new" that we never noticed before.

Two Sundays ago I was talking to the kids at Sunday School about the angel visiting Mary. And it struck me that this story has become so familiar to all of us... like it's just a fairy tale we tell every Christmas. We are not amazed by what happened but rather think about it as a cute and beautiful story, - but it is SO much more than that!

Let's walk through that day with 15 year old Mary (she may have been younger than that).

As usual Mary goes about her daily routine. She gets water, cooks and cleans. She is a devouted young Jewish girl who is soon to be married to a young man named Joseph. As she is working around the house she sings a little tune having no clue that moments later her life will be completely changed. Suddenly a man appears in the room. Mary drops what she's holding. Her face is pale with fear. Where did he come from? The man looks straight at her and speaks gently but with great authority: "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary is stiff with fear and can't move... what kind of greeting is that? What does it mean? She is shivering. "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God," the man says, "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Mary calms down, but she is puzzled. "But I am a virgin, how can this be?" The angel answers, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Mary begins to understand and she replies, "I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said."

That day the prophecies about the Messiah were fulfilled. What the Israelites had been waiting for for hundreds of years finally took place! And God chose this 15 year old girl for the important task of being the mother of His Son. Just think about it for a moment... This significant moment in history happened within the privacy of a home. God's Son was to be born! The Redeemer was on His way... That is big! Yet God chose to reveal it only to a few humble servants of His. Do you understand how extraordinary that day was?