Annunciation

By Rev. Elizabeth Rechter, Executive Director

Detail of “Annunciation” by John August Swanson

This time of year, our sacred text tells a new and old story of a young person having an encounter with the Divine that changes the course of her life and of history. It is the story of the Annunciation. At the heart of this encounter, Mary is assured she need not be afraid. Somehow, incredibly, fear is lifted, allowing her to take a journey impossible in the grip of fear. How many times I have said, “my mind tells me not to be afraid, but my body can’t believe it. I’m still afraid.” Joseph, Mary’s soon-to-be partner, has his own annunciation in which he is also assured, “do not be afraid.”

Annunciations are encounters of the heart, the soul, so deep that the ego hasn’t a chance to prevent them. We are told it is angels, God’s messengers, that help this happen in us. It is an encounter of love that seems beyond us, but is within us in our deepest desiring.

It is love who encounters Mary. Perfect love that casts out her fear. Annunciation is an encounter with divine love. Often the apparatus of the ego keeps us from this love. The door is locked. And our lives are locked inside.

Do not be afraid, the Divine is with you.

“Annunciation” by John August Swanson

John August Swanson is the author this version of Annunciation. His may be my favorite because he knows annunciation is happening all the time. Not just to Mary and Joseph, but to all those who make way for their appointment with the Angel Gabriel. And their annunciation makes way for generations to come.

What Swanson knew is that biblical sacred texts are meant to connect us to our story, our holy longings and knowings. While Mary is magnificent, she is also every young soul being told we are all called to be mothers of God. Do not be afraid. Can hearing this story again this year help validate your own encounter?

We are all to be mothers of God.

John August slipped away from the earth October 2021 while we were ensconced in the Pandemic. I just learned of his death, and I wanted to honor his gifts in this piece. Thank you, friend, for painting Love into the world. Your spirit magnifies the Lord.

What is your annunciation story? Have you shared it with anyone? The one that lingers with you to this day, when fear was cast out, and is still assuring you that you are not alone, that Divine Love is with you?

We need witnesses to our divine encounters, people who will be able to hear and hold our story. Often in spiritual direction, people share sacred experiences they have never told another, perhaps because, “how can this be?” Or “No one would believe it.” One of the best descriptions of the role of the spiritual companion is one who communicates in the witnessing of another’s sacred text:

I am listening.

I believe you.

That which is to come from God is the most important thing we have, in the past and in the present as well as in the future. It is only in God’s coming that even the Bible itself has value to us, let alone all the other things we call ”means of grace.” -Christoph Friedrich Blumharde

Spiritual friends also help us connect our story with the larger story. Annunciations are not meant for us alone. What are we being asked to do or be for God, in our communities? This exchange helps bring our story into life. Christoph Friedrich Blumharde continues

“Unless what comes from God is a part of it, it remains like a dead seed and does not achieve what must be achieved if God’s kingdom is to be. There are many today who sigh to heaven, “Savior, come now!” But they are not sighing for the sake of God’s kingdom. They cry out like this only when they are in trouble and want God to help them. And they don’t know of any help that is more effective than to have a Savior come and put a quick end to their troubles. When it comes to the things of God, however, we must not be concerned for what is ours, but only for what belongs to Christ. We should do this not merely for our own edification; we must become workers for God. This leads us to God’s vineyard, a place where there is not a great deal of talk, but where everyone is intent on deeds.”

To have fear lifted from us does feel like one of life’s great miracles. Often it is unexplainable. It carries us to a different plane on the earth. It doesn’t keep us from ever fearing again. Mary and Joseph’s challenges continued far beyond Bethlehem. They would have to return many times along the way to the experience recorded in their souls of hearing the Holy One’s words,

Do not be afraid.

Divine Love, she is with you.

Blessings for your Journey,

Elizabeth+

Twilight, when sun fades and night swells.
That’s the spirit-moment
when we close our day’s work
and without much thought, begin to engage
the marriage of day and night.
It is a moment when angels call
and invite us over the brink
of the possible to the impossible.

Standing at that threshold,
not in, not out...
we hear the call and catch a flash
of precious insight.

It is yesterday. It is tomorrow.
And right now, the spirit angels
have slid through our reality
and let us know that our simple,
everyday tasks are pregnant with the eternal.
Angels do that.

The ordinary is shot through and shining.
The ordinary is extraordinary.

Gertrud Mueller Nelson, 2017
Author, Artist, and Lecturer on Myth and Ritual

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