Skip to main content

Mary and Elizabeth


In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (NRSV Luke 1:39-45)

One of my favorite places in Israel is Ein Karem situated on the outskirts of Jerusalem and the Church of the Visitation. Tradition has it that it is the place where Mary and Elizabeth had their famous encounter; two women because of age and circumstances should not have been pregnant, yet they were. Mary, the Virgin and Elizabeth, the barren woman encountered each other and knew, and the babies leapt. When I visited Ein Karem my daughter had just announced her third pregnancy and I felt so close to her at the Church of the Visitation.
This year, in our liturgical cycle we will miss the encounter, but know that it was the remarkable follow-on to the Virgin’s encounter. 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. (NRSV Luke 1:30-38)
Peace and blessing,                
                                                Jon + 
Location: Ein Karem, Jerusalem, Israel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting ready for Lent

Lent is a special time for me. It is a time of introspection and mathematics: As I look inwardly at myself, I often add and subtract a few necessities. It kicks off with Ash Wednesday, a solemn day for me and my denomination and it will end on the eve of Easter. Deacon Phil and I will - on Ash Wednesday - be making ashes available at the north end of the Frankford Terminal beginning at 6:00 am for the early morning commuters. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity for those who are separated from the Christian Church to return. The forty days of Lent are days of introspection when we delve deeply into ourselves through subtraction by fasting and rest, as well as days of addition, when we add study, service, and prayer specific to the season to our spirituality. I read, and pray the Daily Office every day, which guides me to lessons which focus on the Lenten themes of the church; in theory, as I pray the Daily Office, I am praying alongside Christians of every denomination, but especial...
Post a Comment
Read more

And Christ Will Come Again..........

Advent is a season of preparation; we prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. In this third week of Advent, I think it would be beneficial for all of us to think about the truth that Jesus was born; he performed miracles; modeled what it was to see God in our midst; taught with true understanding; threatened authority; served all of humankind; gave up his life for many; and then ascended to sit at the right hand of God. He will, we know, come again. But how will he come? Will he come as he came? Will he be born of a marginalized young woman in a way that astounds all?  Will he be raised on the periphery of society, steeped in spiritual tradition, and yet, clearly not in the inner circle of respectability?  At Bethlehem there is a large Cathedral over the place where Jesus was remembered to have been born.  It seems improbable that the Second Coming of Christ will be in a Cathedral or the seat of religious hierarchy.  It seems much more likely that the Christ, at...
Post a Comment
Read more

Basin and Bowl

So often we see the cross as the core imagery of Christianity; in the Episcopal Church we often use a crest and shield as a symbol of our denomination. The executioners cross and the shield are images of imperialism, one of Rome and the other of the English crown.  I offer that the picture painted by Professor Osvaldo Vena, New Testament Professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, and published at workingpreacher.com is one that truly resonates with me. The image he paints of basin and towel rest easy in my heart; the elements used by Jesus to wash the feet of those he loved should be the imagery of our denomination and not the marks of imperialism.
Post a Comment
Read more