REFLECT
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. It’s a season of four Sundays that help us to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. During this season we remember that for centuries, the Israelites waited in hope for their promised Messiah. We see the promise fulfilled in Jesus, and we remind ourselves of the reality that we live as people waiting for the second advent. We continue to cling to the promise that Jesus will return, and with His return all that is broken in the world will be restored. It’s an incredible thing to look forward to, especially when the waiting in the reality of our world, is at times, anything but hopeful.

This week we began to look at the life of Mary. From what we know from scripture, Mary was an ordinary girl from an insignificant town. But the role that she played in history was anything but ordinary. God invited Mary to participate in bringing about His plan to redeem the world. When God gives you the opportunity to participate with him, in moving his purposes toward completion, you have a choice to make. What if you say “no”? For sure, God's purposes cannot, and will not, be frustrated by our ‘No.’ But does that mean that you exclude yourself from participating in what God is doing? What if you say “yes”?

Let Mary's words guide and encourage you: I am the Lord's servant ... may it be to me as you have said. Let her words influence your mind and heart as you’re invited to cooperate with God – whether in something small and apparently insignificant, or large and utterly unimaginable.

The God, who calls Mary "Highly Favored", is still at work in the world. The Messiah, Old Testament prophets wrote about, the one whom the Israelites had longed for, came into the world as a human baby that first Christmas. He lived a perfect life, he showed us the perfect example of sacrificial love through his ministry on the earth and by his death. Jesus displayed His power over death in His resurrection and while he may no longer walk on this earth, we are highly favored by God because of the grace given to us in Christ Jesus. Like Mary, we are invited into being a part of God’s continual work on this earth. We need only respond in humility and faith. 

RESPOND
Over the course of 2020 there have moments where it has been challenging to feel hopeful. What is it about the Christmas story that brings you hope? How are you participating in God’s redemptive work? Where is God inviting you to serve? To what do you need to say ‘yes’?

READ
Luke 1:26-28; 39
²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” ³⁸“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.”