Annunciation (Ευαγγελισμός της Θεοτόκου, Evangelismós tēs Theotókou)

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."

St. Luke 1



I love the greek use of "theotokou" in this story about the Annunciation. The news to troubled Mary was "you will be the God-bearer." Wow! How terrifying, overwhelming and seemingly so impossible.



Since such a recent Sunday I have been preoccupied with the Annunciation. Yes, annunciations! The Virgin Mary isn't the only one who gets messages out of nowhere. For those who are thrown by the terribly proper english, annunciation is not referring to , as my mother would say, "quit mubbling and speak up!" The meaning this time has more to do with an announcement or a critical message "you need to know about." Sort of like when the televison goes dead and makes this god-awful screeching sound and a voice out of a blue zone says, "this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system in your area." I wonder if that screech would come on the TV if a tornado actually touched down in our town. The screeching TV and apocalyptic messages seem to go hand-in-hand. I think if the angel Gabriel showed up anywhere in front of me, I would consider it an apocalyptic emergency. The TV may not screech, but I sure would scream. Poor Mary, you know that she was wetting her pants, let alone the fact that the news was not really that good for her. You think getting preganant out of wedlock was bad in the 1950's , well let me tell you about the sixth month, year zero!



As much fun as I would have in telling you about the life of a young peasant woman in first century Palestine, my blog tonight has to do with my recent preoccupation on the issue of announcements or "the annunciation." I remember the night that George Bush announced that he had launched a new war with an attack on Iraq named "shock and awe" in 2003. The President assured us that it was an altrusitic endeavor to bring democracy to Iraq all in the name of "freedom." Yep, the angel Gabriel said to Mary, not to be afraid...good one Gabriel. As we sat back in our arm chairs and reassured ourselves there was a just cause for this assault, I know that it must have been petrifying for Iraqis. The news wasn't good for everybody back in March 2003 as modern weapons went hurling everywhere over Baghdad.



How many people do we know who have received the very truthful announcement "you have a serious disease?" The doctor goes on to say, "I hate to tell you this." Or, "we are going to move you to east bum-f---- and this will be a good move for you?" I would tend to think, "are you nuts, what planet do you live on?" Another message that I have seen delivered this Christmas to some folks in our congregation, " In 10 days from today you will be evicted from this dwelling...this is a foreclosure." With such news, angels calmly say, with best intentions, "it will be OK, it will all workout."



Annunciations usually are earth shattering news. Whether they come across the world wide web or they come to us in a doctor's phone call, we know the information is going to change us. More assuredly, the others who live close to us will be changed by the news too and that can be a worrisome thought. The Christmas story gets romanticized and dolled up to accompany a winter holiday ideal. The fact is, annunciations are made of scary stuff, like the truth. Another adage that I love, "there is nothing stranger than the truth" comes to mind. In such revelations, I hear comments like, "you have got to be kidding?" or "my worst fears have been confirmed," or "what am I going to tell my family?" So that I am not a totally depressant Christmas goat, since there are such things as good annunciations. Well, a few like, "you have just given birth to..." or another one I like, " you have just won..." I can say on a brighter, more cheery note, comments like, "you shouldn't have!" or " you know that I will always love you," or "you were right all along."



Whatever annunciations that you have reckoned with these days, remember the final words of the angel Gabriel to the troubled Mary, "For with God nothing will be impossible."