“Chosen”

“Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Lk.1:45

Dr. Thomas Long was teaching three Sunday school children about the church year. When he got to Pentecost, one of the students said, “What’s that?” Dr. Long thought for a while then explained that Pentecost was when everyone who happened to be in church suddenly started to tell about Jesus in languages they had never heard of before and as they were speaking a great wind blew out of nowhere and flames appeared and landed above their heads. Two of the students listened politely. But one, the one who had asked the question, hung onto every word. Her eyes grew bigger and bigger until finally, unable to remain silent any longer, she informed Dr. Long, “I must not have been in church that day.”

The point is not that she should be in church every week. The point is that she believed that Pentecost is something that could have happened to her.

A lot of people believe that God is at work—healing, blessing, forgiving, providing, creating, redeeming—that miracles happen. They just believe that it happens to other people and not them. Thus, the challenge of being an evangelizing church is not to make others believe. Faith is God’s gift. The challenge is to recognize that what God does through Jesus Christ happens to us and that we are different from the experience. Then we can go on to sharing what that difference might be with others.

Dear Lord, as we begin another year, may we like Mary believe that Christ may be born into the world through us and like the Shepherds believe that a Son of David has been given to us so that we become instruments of your redeeming love. Amen.