It seems like January 1st can’t get here fast enough. We don’t have to scroll very far to see 2020 memes with hearty “good riddance” salutations, and this headband above, my friend’s Target purchase, made me laugh – I think we\’re all ready for some comic relief.
As we consider the Christmas story, I think even thousands of years ago Mary would have happily turned her calendar page to a new year. What she endured leading up to Christ’s birth was nothing short of a jarring, life-altering interruption. The angel’s appearance filled her with fear, even to the point that Gabriel needed to comfort her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.” He described that even though a virgin, she’d give birth to the Son of the Most High, Jesus. Mary responded with submission, but surely with an anxious and uneasy spirit.
But she forged ahead, believing God.
Then Mary had to tell her fiancé! She had to tell Joseph that not only was she pregnant, but about Gabriel’s visit, and how the angel had described the Holy Spirit coming upon her, the power of the Most High overshadowing her. And hoping Joseph would believe her – this incredulous, miraculous, albeit fearful and unfamiliar situation.
She forged ahead and told Joseph anyway, believing God.
Joseph had his own decisions to make. By choosing to believe Mary, and sticking with her, he risked becoming the laughing stock of all of Nazareth. What man would ever be comfortable with his fiancé carrying a baby not his own??
But Joseph forged ahead, believing God.
Shortly after, Mary’s relative Elizabeth described her saying, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
Both women, in their unexpected pregnancies, forged ahead, believing God.
In her song to the Lord, Mary said, “His mercy extends to those who fear him.” She was admittedly and understandably afraid. But then she continued to praise God, to name him Holy and Mighty and recount his faithfulness. We look at“Mary’s Song” (Luke 1) as if Mary were a woman of extraordinary faith, but surely she was just a simple, inexperienced, and likely scared young girl. Not even yet a wife or mom with years of faith muscles built up. And what did she do in the face of that fear?
She practiced remembering what God had already done.
And then she forged ahead, believing God.
In the midst of Mary’s intense pregnancy and engagement, Caesar Augustus had the nerve to issue a decree for a census of the entire Roman world – and all the people had to travel! At Christmas!! 🙂 And we all know how the story of Christ’s birth unfolds in the stable, the child born in a manger and wrapped in whatever swaddling clothes Joseph could find laying around. With the birth of her first child, with the already-overwhelming circumstances, Scripture does not indicate that Mary had her own mother, her relative Elizabeth, or her family around to help. Or to celebrate. Or to do the laundry and bring dinner. She did not even have her own bed or home for a birthplace. She had to get right back on that donkey and travel home, trusting the man she had pledged to marry to care for her and the babe, and the Lord to do bring about what He said he would bring about.
Again, Mary and Joseph forged ahead, believing God.
So here we are back to the final days of 2020.
What we do know is that these difficult years can be the training ground for building our faith muscles – they can make us bitter or make us better. To lean into the “better,” perhaps the answer is not terribly complicated. Perhaps it involves following Mary’s example of praising the Lord in the midst of fear and the unknown. Making space and time to grieve what we have lost. Naming God as Holy and Mighty and recounting his faithfulness in our lives and in the world around us.
And then forging ahead, believing our God.
