Monday March 25
Readings: IS 7:10-14; 8:10; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38
Today the church celebrates the feast of the Annunciation where Mary receives the invitation from the angel Gabriel to bear Jesus. And she accepts!
I have always loved this “feast” because, for me, it celebrates all of the many ways – big and small – that we say, “Yes,” to God with no promise that anything is going to work out. I think it honors the risks we take, the random acts of kindness we perform, the intuitions we follow and the acts of justice we pursue – often with only a vague clarity.
At the health center where I work, we have a sign with a quote from business leader, Peter Block. It simply says, “The answer to how is ‘yes’.” I think this sums up Mary’s response today. She has so many questions, so many details she’s going to have to think through, so many things she’s going to have to tell other people. How will she do it all?
For many of us, how rises as the primary question. Sadly when we lead with that question, it can choke off a lot of great potential. By not getting stuck in the how, Mary is able to say a yes – knowing that God will work with her, as the expression goes, to “make a way out of no way.”
The dominant culture that we live in favors so-called practical doing. If it’s not going to work and work in an efficient manner, don’t bother with it! God, however, is not so practical and hardly seems to be bothered by inefficiency. And so God chooses unlikely characters with rather thin resumes to do some of the most important jobs. It is the faith response of “yes” that God seeks, not the greatest promise of success.
One of my recent organizational change she-roes is adrienne maree brown from Detroit. She talks a lot about “emergent strategy” which is a way of understanding how change happens. In her book (by the same name), she speaks of nine key principles that are guiding her work these days. One of these is “less prep, more presence.” For me this fits so well with our theme from today. Instead of getting all wrapped up in the details, our expectations and the outcomes, can we just remain present to what is emerging and trust that we will be given what we need to address it when it emerges.
Maybe for today we say a yes to that which we cannot understand and don’t try to have all the answers up front or fully know the grand master plan. We, too, like Mary might only be given a promise to not be afraid, that God is with us and we will figure out the “how” together.