Co-Conspirators For The Beloved Community

When I was growing up, I watched Sesame Street religiously. Not only did I love it, I learned so much from it – along with generations of kids. One of the regular pieces they ran on the show was “One of these things is not like the other,” and I can still sing the song that accompanied this regular segment: “One of these things is not like the other. One of these things doesn’t belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the other by the time I finish this song.” 

Well this came to mind as I looked at today’s readings – especially the gospel from Luke 1.

We’ve been getting deep into readings from John’s gospel lately, and our recent Lenten reflections were all about betrayal, the shadow emotions of the human heart and people plotting against one another (and against Jesus). And then in the midst of this, we get the Feast of the Annunciation today – which celebrates when Mary received her visit from the angel Gabriel to become a special kind of co-conspirator with God! It is a welcomed break from all of the other heavy stuff!

I have reflected on other aspects of Mary’s acceptance of the invitation here and here and how this is a radical  act – both by Mary and by God. But for today, I want to focus on the surprise nature of this amazing invitation and acceptance.

I know that I have been weighed down by the national and international political realities that are unfolding each day. It just seems to be increased tension, more bad news, increased callousness and saber-rattling. A lot of things feel fractured, uncertain and unraveling at a quick pace. Many people have been hurt and killed. I echo the great Marvin Gaye’s song, “What’s Going On?”

But I am guessing that Mary’s world was not unlike ours. There was oppression and turmoil. The Romans occupied the land she lived in. Life was uncertain. People were scared.

And yet into the midst of this, God speaks to a poor, teenage young woman with no significant social standing, power or influence to bring hope and healing into the world. 

What I love about the Annunciation is that it is testimony to the fact that God is ALWAYS at work in the world – finding new co-conspirators for the beloved community. And I love the word co-conspirators because it means “those who breathe with.” Thus beloved community co-conspirators breathe with God in this world.

I have often mentioned Rebecca Solnit and her book Hope in the Dark. In it she tells stories of “untold histories and wild possibilities” and speaks to the reality that history is never finished and that “The future [may be] dark, [but] with a darkness as much of the womb as the grave.” She talks about processes of change in this world and how, throughout history, momentous change has often come from unlikely sources or unexpected events. Something unforseen breaks through.

Of course like much of life, what we might notice in the world has a lot to do with what we’re looking for. If we are looking for evidence of tragedy and breakdown, we will certainly find it! But if we might instead be looking for how something new is breaking in or breaking through, that might come in to clearer focus for us.

I worked with a woman for years who would often use the phrase, “Look at God!” She was a Black woman in her 50’s living in poverty and public housing. She had a long history of trauma and hardship and now lived month to month on disability for mental health reasons. By many accounts, someone looking at her life from the outside whould not say, “Look at all the good this person has in their life.” And yet that was often her conclusion! When something good happened to her – and she was always on the lookout for small things – she’d say, “Look at God!” – meaning “Look at what God is doing in my life. Look at this blessing. Look at this surprise.”

No matter how things look, today’s readings remind us that God has wild cards that She uses even when things look bleak. The Annunciation was one of those wild card moments, and the reality is that God continues to play wild cards in the world and in our lives – moments where something new has the possibility of breaking in.

These ‘break in’ moments require two things from us, however. Noticing and cooperation. Mary did both. She trusted her inner life enough to trust that an angelic appearance (in whatever form it took) was an invitation for her. And even as she pushed back on Gabriel a bit (when she asked how this could even come about), she decided to cooperate – even though it may not have looked like what she thought a “blessing from God” ws going to look like.

Rebecca Solnit, in describing how history moves, says that it is not cause-and-effect or even linear. She says,  “It is a crab scuttling sideways, a drip of soft water wearing away stone, an earthquake breaking centuries of tension. Sometimes one person inspires a movement, or her words do decades later, sometimes a few passionate people change the world; sometimes they start a mass movement and millions do; sometimes those millions are stirred by the same outrage or the same ideal, and change comes upon us like a change of weather. All that these transformations have in common is that they begin in the imagination, in hope.”

Mary’s “yes” to God began in her imagination and hope as she leaned into an invitation that she did not understand nor have a clue as to where it would lead her. In doing this she becomes the prototype for our faith response as we all try to align with the divine imagination and then bear God into this world.

Theologian Nadia Bolz-Weber says, “To be a people marked by the faith of Mary is to be a people, who say OK, I don’t understand what’s going on and I know that my life [or life in general] isn’t going to end up looking like one I would choose out of a catalogue but I trust that God is at work in all of it. ”

As we take a pause from whatever heaviness may exist in this world or in our lives, may we just breathe with God – conspiring with Her and listening for what She may be saying to us in our lives. And may we also say, “Yes,” to whatever invitations are coming our way – even if it is the invitation to be patient in the unknowing.