Picture the scene. Two women rush to hug each other. Both are partners with God in God’s story of salvation. Elizabeth is of priestly descent. Childless and now in old age, she is pregnant with a son, John. Her cousin Mary is a young woman. She too is expecting a baby. Six months after Elizabeth fell pregnant, scripture tells us that Mary conceived her child, Jesus, miraculously by the Holy Spirit. Both women lived and died and have a special place in what Miriam Therese Winter describes as ‘the memory of tradition.’ So often we don’t know the names of our mothers in faith. But here Elizabeth and Mary are both named and remembered. Their lives are turned upside down. Full of struggle and fear, they step forward in faith, trust in God’s fathomless love and change the shape of the world.
Elizabeth and Mary are ordinary women – sisters, daughters, nieces, mothers, cousins, wives, aunts and friends. They are just like we ordinary women – except for their particular mission. Elizabeth says ‘yes’ to God and comes to understand that she and John have secondary roles to play. Yet they are important roles in a story that points the way to God. Mary says ‘yes’ to God and grows in her understanding that she is the God-bearer, the mother of Emmanuel, God with Us.
As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas, what might God be asking us to do? Who might God be calling us to be?
Rev Canon Nikki Arthy, Rector
