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Weekly Devotional

December 15, 2008

God’s Peace be with you all.

Luke 1:26-33  ²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,  ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.  ²⁸ And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."  ²⁹ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  ³⁰ The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  ³¹ And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.  ³² 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.  ³³ He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

If we were to put a theme to yesterday, the third Sunday of Advent, it would have been “Mary and Elizabeth.”  It was a part of Sunday School, our lessons, and the sermon.  It seems that even though our Gospel was about John the Baptist, we are far enough into Advent that we needed to begin talking about the nativity story.  And so yesterday we heard bits and pieces of that story.

            The story of Mary and how God works through her is an interesting one.  We all know that Catholics regard Mary on a higher level than other Protestant and non-Protestant churches.  In some places, Mary has services, prayers, and rituals that are specifically for her as the mother of God made flesh.  However we as Lutherans do not have any of this.  There is no “Mariology” that we have, or any Marian devotion either. 

            In Seminary, I read a book for one of my classes called Mary in the Plan of God and in the Communion of Saints.  This book says that “The Reformation Churches, today as in the past, refrain from giving Mary a place other than her proper one, the one assigned her by the angel.”  However, we can still see a developing “piety that, des as it is by the gospel, pays increasing heed to the praise-filled faith of Mary that is so well expressed in the Magnificat.”  So what does this mean?  Well, it means that we as Lutherans look to Mary as an example of faith.  We look at her as someone so strong in her faith that God choose her to be the mother of Jesus, God made flesh.  We look at her as someone who despite the struggle she was going to face in the coming months, praised God through song. 

            While we may not have specific worship services, rituals, or prayers to Mary, we still regard her as a powerful instrument of God’s work in the world.  We still look to her as an example of how we should live our lives, praising God no matter what situation is in front of us. 

In our prayers this week: 

Alma, Ann, Doris and her mom, Todd Kallam's grandmother Nancy Gillespie, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Richard Greene, and all those in our congregation who are traveling over the holidays.  Also, my neighbor Paul Martin is having surgery today, so please keep him in your prayers

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson