This year, the story of the Visitation caught my attention in a new way. It's a little six-verse story hidden between the high-drama Annunciation (the angel Gabriel visits Mary and foretells the birth of Jesus) and the famous Magnificat (Mary's song of praise and her vision of a transformed world):
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be believed, for there will be a a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
These cousins share the experience of mysterious and unexpected pregnancies; Elizabeth was considered old and barren, while Mary was quite young and supposed to be a virgin. Elizabeth was in her six month, while Mary seems to have been somewhere in her first trimester. No doubt Mary was in the less ideal, less popular spot - she was in real danger of becoming a single mother, unwelcome in the home of her father or her fiance. She was living in that place between promise and fulfillment, a wilderness place full of possibility and fear. It seems as though she had already been visited by the Spirit - but she probably wasn't yet showing. Why did Mary leave her home town "with haste" to visit her cousin Elizabeth?
Upon hearing of Mary's arrival, Elizabeth's son (John the Baptist) leapt in her womb, she was "filled with the Holy Spirit," and then she proceeded to speak (in a loud voice) potent words of blessing. Before even hearing the story, she blesses Mary's pregnancy and her faith. Mary proceeded to sing the Magnificat, there in Elizabeth's living room, and then to stay with her for three months. Elizabeth's blessing gave Mary the breath to sing, and then the space to more deeply believe the miracle that was unfolding inside her.
Part of the pregnant Advent season of waiting involves discerning and sharing blessing, receiving and giving empowering words of confidence and praise, words that give new wings and words that inspire you to sing, words that fill us like refreshing water. Advent is a season of welcoming words of an Elizabeth, or sharing them with one who is Mary. It is a season of stopping at the well to re-fill and to share. The words may be spoken loudly in greeting, whispered over candles, or written in a card. . .
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be believed, for there will be a a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’ These cousins share the experience of mysterious and unexpected pregnancies; Elizabeth was considered old and barren, while Mary was quite young and supposed to be a virgin. Elizabeth was in her six month, while Mary seems to have been somewhere in her first trimester. No doubt Mary was in the less ideal, less popular spot - she was in real danger of becoming a single mother, unwelcome in the home of her father or her fiance. She was living in that place between promise and fulfillment, a wilderness place full of possibility and fear. It seems as though she had already been visited by the Spirit - but she probably wasn't yet showing. Why did Mary leave her home town "with haste" to visit her cousin Elizabeth?
Upon hearing of Mary's arrival, Elizabeth's son (John the Baptist) leapt in her womb, she was "filled with the Holy Spirit," and then she proceeded to speak (in a loud voice) potent words of blessing. Before even hearing the story, she blesses Mary's pregnancy and her faith. Mary proceeded to sing the Magnificat, there in Elizabeth's living room, and then to stay with her for three months. Elizabeth's blessing gave Mary the breath to sing, and then the space to more deeply believe the miracle that was unfolding inside her.
A friend in Texas recently shared about how people continue to pilgrimmage to Elizabeth's village (Ein Kerem) in Israel. Less than six miles outside Jerusalem, the small village is in a valley between the Judean hills, surrounded by olive groves. There is a place called Mary's well where tradition says Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. People come to drink from the well and take small bottles of holy water home with them.
Part of the pregnant Advent season of waiting involves discerning and sharing blessing, receiving and giving empowering words of confidence and praise, words that give new wings and words that inspire you to sing, words that fill us like refreshing water. Advent is a season of welcoming words of an Elizabeth, or sharing them with one who is Mary. It is a season of stopping at the well to re-fill and to share. The words may be spoken loudly in greeting, whispered over candles, or written in a card. . .
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