Our fourth Advent candle brings us to the heart of
Life, to God’s heart of love for all that God has
created and sustains.
Luke 1. 26-38 MSG
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
It is no surprise that Mary asks, “How can this be?”. How could she, a virgin, bear a son?
And similarly, how can we comprehend the love of a God who would begin a love story with a birth to a virgin…a perfect love that led God to embrace a lost and fallen people in this way? Perhaps a love this wide and this deep is beyond complete understanding?
Dozens of times this Sunday, we will sing and speak and listen to descriptions of this love. “O living Love, within our hearts be born!” we will cry out. We want this love in our hearts too!
How can we comprehend such love? I’ve been trying all week, and I am now at peace knowing that I may never fully understand. This is the awe and mystery that makes the birth of living Love in our hearts possible. We ask, and let God do the rest.
May it be so.
Faith is not belief, an assent to a proposition; faith is attachment to transcendence, to the meaning beyond the mystery.
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Illustration by Elizabeth Wang,T-03247B-CW ‘Heart of Love’, copyright © Radiant Light 2006, www.radiantlight.org.uk
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