By Traci Hubbard
Luke 1:26 – 38; Isaiah 43:18-19
As most of you have read or heard, I have two daughters, Sarah and Amy. In January 1993, Amy would turn six years old. By nature, she was inquisitive, curious…she consistently wanted to know, needed to know “How” – the HOW’s in everything. She reminded me of the TV Show Dragnet – “Just the facts Ma’am” – type of mindset.
When she was three, after church one Sunday, Amy was sitting on my lap, facing me, her little hands folded on her chest as she sobbed, “But how Mommy? How did God make something out of nothing, nothing’s not even a color, it’s not even black? I want to believe.” My heart broke open for her; she was just beginning to accept that having over 40 stuffies on her bed meant that each one had to be picked up off the floor and placed back after she made her bed, and each one had a history – a real story she had created that made them REAL. Some were even in remission from horrible diseases
Amy was born an RN, now NICU RN. She was a scientist and a dreamer, a seeker and became a songbird with a four-octave range and she was always very sweet. The Christmas before she turned six, in her letter to Santa Claus, she only wanted one thing… just one thing… the cup that Jesus drank out of in the Upper Room – you know the Last Supper story where they all sat on the same side of the table and had a group picture taken.
Sarah, Amy’s big sister… much older and wiser by two years and four months, read Amy’s letter to Santa and took a minute before she held her hand and prophesied in her precious voice, “It’s okay Amy, nothing is impossible with God.” Stay with me and you will learn how the prophecy unfolded… in other words, if Santa came through.
The historical and cultural context of today’s familiar text leaves truth seekers decaffeinated at best. Some of us can hold both science and faith. When daring to peer between the civic and religious lines in the sand, one needs to remember we live in human reality and spiritual mystery, understanding the limitations in all human languages. And these limitations are perpetuated by millenniums of systemic patriarchal lens, where in some systems among us today, women continue to be treated as possessions for the purposes assigned to them. I don’t believe that Solomon was the wisest man… I mean come on, he had a thousand wives and hundreds of concubines… seriously gentlemen, that’s a lot of birthdays to remember. Still, Solomon had some wise things to say, one of them being, “History proves to us that we do not learn from history.” Solomon wrote,
“All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun”
…and sadly, what we are seeing December 8th, 2024, is the same old system that was in place when the book of Ecclesiastes was written – the time debated between 970 – 931 BCE – 450 BCE. Our collective human history is built upon the premise of power and domain, not love and liberation. So, how do we discover real peace among all the pieces of ourselves, others, and our world?
Well, do you want to know what I think? I think it’s time we all choose to become pregnant with peace… yes, the “we” includes men. Remember, nothing – no thing is impossible with God.
I want all of us to remember what it was like to be fourteen. If you’re anything like me, you may not be able to exactly remember the angst and thrill of racing hormones, or how you understood everything, and your parents didn’t have a clue. And how your friends were your chosen family – your main social influencers, and you’d rather hang out with your cool aunt or uncle for six months than spend another day in your house with family who felt like strangers. If you are having trouble remembering, just imagine it.
Each one of us grew up in a cultural system inside our family’s ancestral stories and family of origin and those systems existed inside civic and religious systems surrounding us…watching us…and dictating who we were and who we were allowed to become. Some of us did not question the stories and roles designed to define us. Some of us were not allowed to question any thing or anyone. But some of us questioned just about everything and everyone because we wanted PEACE; peace in our hearts, in our minds, and our bodies. The kind of peace that passes human understanding, although none of us understood that concept at fourteen.
In order to have our being grounded in peace, we needed to understand HOW to get it. And in order to know the HOW, we had to ask about the meaning in the stories behind us, the stories inside of our minds, and inside of our homes, and in educational and religious institutions. We needed to understand the dragnet – remember…“Just the facts Ma’am” – to ensure we would not become another fish caught in the big net of power and greed. We needed to know who was in charge, why were they in charge, what our purpose was, why we were thinking and feeling that way, and especially when would we know the answers. How would we find our pathway to peace, hope, joy, and love?” I bet some of you didn’t realize you were teenage philosophers!
Imagine Mary, fourteen years old, taking her time walking home after doing errands for her family. She runs into her two besties, both carrying clay jars of fresh well water, and they speak in giggled whispers about Josiah, how he grew 9 inches over the summer and how his face cleared up. And as they giggle and walk, they pass Joseph’s house – and he’s out in his dusty yard hammering on the legs of what looks like a cradle.
OMJ (Oh My Jehovah)! One of Mary’s friends’ whispers, “Your parents just betrothed you to him”, while her other friend twirls her hair and whispers, “What if he has pimples all under that beard!”
“YEWWWWW” they all say as they walk away, and Mary turns slightly to wave hello to the cradle maker, her soon to be husband, and as he wipes his brow with his sleeve and smiles.
Mary’s house is a little further down the hill, past the last golden field and batch of fig trees. The sun is getting lower, and she begins to walk slower. While her mind is still wondering about what could be under Joseph’s beard, she bumps into a guy out of nowhere – he dresses a little different from her Nazarene village - says his name is Gabriel…he has a glow to him – something about him catches her off guard and Gabriel can see this – he can feel her angst – He’s thinking – “Stay calm dude – you know this message inside and out – she’s a young girl – a young maiden – a teenager – just be cool". He talks a little like a hippie from California.
Gabriel: “Hey you – YOU…chill, it’s all good, don’t be scared”.
Mary’s looking around thinking, “YOU” is he talking to me? Yep, no one else is around – yep…I’m all alone with a guy that dresses like a bohemian and he doesn’t want me to be afraid of him…MMMMMM OKAY.”
Mary answers back: “Hey you.”
G: “I came here to tell you that God likes you. I mean really likes you more than all the other young girls. Yeah, God likes you so much he – she – whatever – like totally hangs out with you all the time.”
Mary: her eyes are slowly moving side to side – up and down – she is checking out his body language, his tones, her surroundings and thinking what is he talking about?
As she wonders – Gabe keeps on talking…
G: “Yeah, and because YOU have found favor with God, God is going to do a favour for the entire world – sit down sit down, this is so awesome. So, here it is, you are going to become pregnant with a boy – you know, a male child, and he (points up) who’s name we are not supposed to say.”
Mary – “What are you talking about?”
G: (Whispers) “Okay, so the Most High, Yahweh – Jehovah – up to you – the Most High wants you to name your son Jesus – it means savior.”
M: “Seriously?”
G: “Pinky swear.”
G: (He Pinky swears Mary)
G: “Yes! So, Jesus will be the son of God and he will get to sit on his great Uncle David’s throne – and be the ruler – like the King over Jacob’s house – another ancestor right – but here’s the inside deal – Jesus’ kingdom – it will never end – I mean, there’s no end.”
Mary: “WHAAAAAAAT? I’m not married. I’ve never had sex, I mean never, I actually just began wondering about sex because I’m betrothed”…she’s looking away and nodding her head…”I mean we’re a small village, we all live in one room houses, no walls, so I’m not stupid, but still…there’s a lot I don’t know but I do know virgins don’t have babies. Yep, I know that. So HOW is Jesus going to you know, (she points to her stomach area) then says…GET…IN…THERE?”
G: “Don’t worry about that detail, God’s got a plan for this holy dude. Oh, one more thing, your cousin Elizabeth, how old is she anyway?”
Mary: “I dunno – I think around 70.”
Gabe: “70! Wow, okay. Well, she hasn’t been able to get pregnant right?”
M: “Right.”
G: “Well in three months she’s going to have a boy too, and her husband has no words about the whole situation because it’s soooooo cool I mean nothing, truly nothing is impossible with God.”
Then Mary uses the freedom that every human being has always had – between the stimulus / the information – and the result / the outcome – there is freedom and space to control one’s thoughts (Viktr Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning). Of course, Mary wants all the W’s answered for her – but, she decides to trust the true love of her soul , God – the one she spends time with in her heart, in her mind, out in nature, at school, in prayers – and now she will trust God with her body and she trusts God with how all of what Gabriel shared with her will unfold. She chooses to trust God -and when she does, she becomes pregnant with peace.
Mary: Looking up at the sky, and then deep into the eyes of the angel replies: “I am me. This is who I am… a lover of God – God whom I trust and serve with my thoughts and my ways. And I am here, right now, in this moment…so bring it all on – whatever that will be – let it be unto and within me.”
She waited a moment for a sacred ending from Gabriel, but all he did was smile and touch her arm while he said something strange like “Let it be….hum…that will be a number one hit for the Beatles some day” and then the sun’s last rays blinded her sight for just a breath and boom, Gabriel was gone. Mary checked around her sandals for beetles…he said something about beetles when her thoughts jumped to OMJ! What will my parents say? My friends? Joseph- I mean they’re going to kill me – God…when they see my belly growing so big that I cannot hide it anymore are they going to kill me?
And then another thought raced into her - “I’ll ask Papa if I can go and stay with Elizabeth and help her with her pregnancy. Elizbeth loves God too…and she’s such an intentional listener- she has amazing faith – she must be freaking excited about having a baby. And Zachariah – he’s an odd one, probably on the spectrum somewhere, but aren’t we all– but he loves her – and we can support each other through this – we will laugh, cry, wonder and trust together. We will not be alone.”
Webster defines Peace as a state of tranquility or quiet; a state of security; freedom from oppressive thoughts or emotions – the intransitive verb Obsolete – to be, become silent or quiet.
Mary, a young woman, and Elizabeth, an old woman, were able to live in their questions and in the energy of outside assumptions and speculations because they trusted God, because they accepted what was unfolding in their lives, in their bodies, and in their hearts. They which were bursting with gratitude all the while knowing they had zero control over the outcomes. All they could control were their thoughts and beliefs – and they had been practicing this self and sacred awareness since each one could remember.
Folks, peace has never meant the absence of doubt. Both women made a choice to accept, trust, and fill their hearts with gratitude. Neither one pushed against the tide of their unfolding. Both young and old, understood pushing against the unexplainable reality would be like trying to hold back the ocean one clay teacup at a time.
We too have the freedom to choose our response in any, in all situations. Instead of falling to pieces when we do not know the way, the why, the where, the when, the who and the how, we are free to trust the one who journeys with us, within us, knowing that no matter how life unfolds, we are never alone.
Reading this story in Luke again, it was again for the first time, because who I am today is not who I was yesterday, and certainly not who I was the first time Luke chapter 1 fell open to my eyes. This time, something leapt off the page and became clear through the translations of Greek, then reading the perceptions of the Stoics, then Constantine, then Augustine, then the Listerine of the extreme right and the cabernet of the left. I saw something, felt something.
I was reminded of a basic truth that is very easy to forget in the hustle and bustle of life, especially during the holidays. We have been created for deep and meaningful connection…with ourselves, others, God and creation. Connection and Time are our most precious commodities. Each one of us is free to choose who we connect with, why, where, when, and what time and energy we will give to our connections and how we will do it.
The most important of the 5 W’s and the How being – when we understand God is with us, that we are never alone - and God loves us with a mysterious eternal fierce love, softness and strength we will never comprehend fully. But if we are free to fully accept God in every moment, when we understand these basic truths and practice them as easily as we breathe, we get clear around our WHY’s. Why we invest ourselves in connecting with love inside ourselves, others, the always moving, always speaking and loving Spirit, and with a beautiful world asking us to heal her wounds we have inflicted. When our “Why is explained because we understand we are love and we are loved” – all is well. We do not have to fall to pieces – because we haven chosen to fall to where peace is. For me, this is the incarnation.
The weekend after reading Amy’s letter to Santa, I was in St. Augustine, Florida as a keynote speaker at a conference. My practice was to fly in the day before I was to be in the podium and get grounded with the area, the culture. I like to go to garage sales, thrift stores, antiques stores, and look for hidden treasures like the first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin I bought at a garage sale for $5 that my friend’s cat peed on – my retirement plan gone!
That weekend, I picked a neighborhood of garage sales, close to the ocean. In one dusty grease smelling garage, a wooden goblet, with a few specks of old gold paint on it caught my eye. I ran to that goblet like it was my first piece of pizza, grabbed it and asked the owner how much? She looked at it and laughed and said, “25 cents, but it’s not even worth that.” I said, “Ma’am, you have no idea how much this goblet is worth.” I ran to my car, drove back to my hotel room, and sat on my bed with the cup of a carpenter in my hand.
Christmas morning, the fire was crackling, the cinnamon rolls were warm on the table paired with chocolate milk. My girls ran down the stairs straight to their stockings and there it was, the impossible, clearly possible. Amy reached into her stocking and felt around… then began slowly pulling the goblet out and held it up in the air, then to her chest, and whispered, “Thank you, Santa” while my heart was whispering, “Thank you, God”.
Then she turned to me and said, “Now my chocolate milk will taste even better Mom. Filler up please!
When we don’t have all the answers, we have a choice to fall to pieces or we fall to where peace is. May we learn from a young girl’s real story, how becoming pregnant with peace can change the world. As you leave our time together,
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Now hop to it! Each one of you go get pregnant (take a pause). with peace. May it be so, amen.
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