The Annunciation
Advent IV, 2020
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 • Canticle 15 • Romans 16:25-27 • Luke 1:26-38
Sometimes I think about times in my life when my wife and I were active in the world and yet completely unaware of each other’s presence. When we were in high school, for example, just completely unaware that the other was 400 miles away. Or maybe even the few seconds immediately before a friend said to me, “I want to set you up on a blind date.” Until that moment, I had no idea Eileen was alive in the world. But, in an instant, I went from having absolutely no awareness of her, to knowledge and some perception of her presence. Until the moment that we know something, or the moment that we know we don’t know something, we confront this category that some refer to as the unknown unknown. We don’t know that we don’t know.
You know, in a way, God’s story kind of unfolds this way. In the beginning, there was absence. But through some combination of evolutionary process and creative act, God brought into being the heavens and the earth – everything from the expanse of the Universe to the smallest microorganisms and subatomic particles. God created night and day. God separated waters from sky. God created the dry land and the seas. God brought forth grasses and foliage and trees of all kinds; sun and moon and stars; creatures of all kinds; and, then, us. Humans.
And the Son was there. Father, Son, and Spirit were there at the beginning and before the beginning. The Son, who John calls the preexistent and incarnate Word of God, was there, as was the Spirit moving over the Creation. We believe that God in all three persons inspired the Exodus, and the Prophets, and the Psalmists. But, until the Annunciation, could anyone perceive there was this second or even a third person of God?
Perception is reality. At the Annunciation, perceptions began to change. At the Annunciation, as Saint Paul writes, the “mystery that was kept secret for long ages” was disclosed. Mary’s perception changes. Mary’s encounter with Gabriel is the first perception that the second person of the Trinity would be among us – Jesus Christ would come among us. In that moment, when Gabriel meets Mary, she couldn’t have known how God’s story would unfold, or what this “yes” would mean for her life, but she embraced it. And in this highly particular moment, this highly specific moment, from Mary’s one particular “yes,” human perception of God’s liberative, transformative, and loving movement would be forever changed.
The Annunciation was an intensely intimate and highly particular moment, but one that would have immeasurable implications. In the moment when Gabriel meets Mary, in the moment when Mary says “yes” to God’s invitation, she didn’t know how the story would unfold. But she responded with a faithful “yes.” It was a “yes” rooted in love and in hope. Hope that her “yes” would bring mercy. Hope that her “yes” would mean the lowly would be lifted. Hope that her “yes” would mean the hungry would be filled with good things. Hope that her “yes” would participate in some way in the fulfillment of God’s promises to God’s people.
Today’s Gospel is about the Annunciation, but I believe in a God who makes annunciations all the time, all throughout human history. These annunciations invite other “yesses” rooted in hope and love, that we might participate in some way in the fulfillment of God’s promises to God’s people. I believe in a God who speaks to us still, calling us to imagine and reimagine, to perceive more clearly, and to respond to the needs of the world with hope-filled and love-filled “yesses.”
In his poem “Blown by God Toward Newness,” Walter Bruggeman writes:
The news is that God’s wind is blowing.
It may be a breeze that cools and comforts.
It may be a gust that summons you to notice.
It may be a storm that blows you where you have never been.
Whatever the wind is in your life,
pay attention to it.
And the blessing of God, Father, Son and Spirit
Will abide with you always.
Annunciations are real. God moves within us and among us, inviting us to places we have never been. And, so, I wonder: what new gift is God asking you to birth for the sake of God’s people? What “yes” is God inviting from you? Listen for the voice of God to disclose that mystery to you. Keep noticing until what is hidden is revealed. And when God’s invitation is perceptible, say “yes” out of hope and love despite the unknown. Fear not favored ones. The Lord is with you.