The look in her eyes? Luke 1:26-28

An angel came to Mary with words of greeting. Hey Mary blessed/favored by God. The Lord God is with you.

I wonder what the look was in Mary's eyes. Luke says she was silent—but he says she was pondering perplexed by this heavenly messengers words.

We know there's a whole lot that we communicate with out words. And I wonder what Mary's face said to the angel that day as he spoke these words of heavenly messenger.
++Did her face show surprise or maybe fear?
Did the look in her eyes reveal confusion or wonder.
Maybe her face revealed a questions like “Who me?”

Mary didn't utter a word after that initial greeting and the angel continued talking to her—don't be afraid. The messenger called her favored and spoke of God's glory breaking into the world in a baby who she would carry into the world in own her body.

The angel spoke of a plan—hidden for all time—that was about to be revealed. A secret the world has long waited to have made known was about to become reality.

Mary's response to the angel was simple: how?

Maybe you can relate to this question. How God?
We people look at our inadequacies and failures and how seems like a really great question to be asking. Trusting God isn't easy—it means seeing beyond what we think is reasonable or probable to the far horizon of God's limitless possibilities.

The angel came to Mary becuase God was on the move. We need the plan of God to be realized—we don't just need to hear words about love—we need to experience God's love and all the way that great love transforms our lives. And the angel's words for Mary was all about hope breaking in.

Jesus doesn't come because we have it all together—he comes because we have broken places and spaces in our beings. Faith sees past today to the promises of God. For Mary that meant looking beyond her circumstance and the impossibility of her becoming a mother and accepting this word of promise.
Peace and thanks for reading, John

Looking for a savior? John 1

I'm Reading the gospel of John this year with a group at a local assisted living. Right at the start this man John the Baptist stood out. He came calling people to get ready because the savior is coming. But the people, much like us, have certain expectations of what the savior will look like and act like.

John came announcing a promise on God's behalf. And people thought he was the savior. He kept telling everyone that someone even greater is coming. And many people, hungry for a message of hope, ran to John. People started asking him if he was the one God had sent. And John said plainly no. One greater is still to come.

People today are looking for someone or something to make things right. We have this desire to find a savior. Fact is we people run to many different less than God saviors rather than trust in God. Some have wisely called them functional saviors. We run to so many other maybe could be saviors rather than let God come for us.

If you think about it you can name some of the less than Jesus saviors you've turned to over the years. We turn to functional saviors when fear is real and worry seems to overwhelm us. Think about what you run to when time is tough. We look for a magic bullet to make everything better for us. Money, relationships, alcohol, drugs, we can all name the less than God saviors we've turned to—and I think everyone has a list. History is full of leaders nations have turned to like Messiahs. We look for someone or something to make everything better. But nobody and nothing less than God can save us.

We can learn a lot from our friends and family in recovery—about naming the less than God saviors we've turned to—and we can also learn from them about the power of God to transform our lives once that functional savior we thought would help us inevitably fails.

John came announcing light. He came to announce Good News. Jesus comes for us when we need him to the most. He comes to give rest for our souls and to teach us again what it means to be loved by the one who made everything.

The truth is I want God to come—but I want God to come on my terms.
I want to domesticate God—telling God where to go and what to do.
And here comes John telling me and everyone that the light of the world is coming to illuminate everything and everyone.

Somehow hearing John's words about Jesus being greater than him makes sense. All the other saviors we can turn to just don't work. And John the Baptist has this great promise to share. He isn't the savior but he has great news. Jesus is coming and the promise isn't dependent on our problems all being solved. Jesus is coming to bring us healing and new life.
Peace and thanks for reading, John