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

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

God's Blessing in Each of Us

I am not a scientist; I am a theologian, a master of things divine, or so my degree states. I love seeing God’s handiwork all around me. Every day, even several times a day, I encounter God in the simplest activities. I believe that God created life and blessed it. Think about it. The DNA, which to my understanding holds the key to our lives, our hereditary traits in just a few elements of code. All life, maybe there is an exception, contains DNA and when we look at that of a banana or that of a human, they are not that different. All life possesses this remarkable code. (Bill Bryson) I believe that all life is of God and that God knew us in the womb and guides our DNA, if you will, as we delve into any aspect of life. God is with us – guiding us. I do not know how. But what I do know, or maybe it would be better to stick to what I believe, is that God made all of creation. (Genesis 1-2) Since God made all creation, God should be guiding us as we interact with each other, all c
Post a Comment
Read more

On Gun Violence Awareness Sunday

Episcopal Churches here and there will declare Sunday an awareness day to educate attendees on gun violence. The clergy will sport new or died old orange vestments. No one actually looks good in orange so it won't be a fashionable affair. St. Mark's Church, Frankford is in the lowest portion of what might be called the lower northeast; we butt up against North Philadelphia and Kensington and the formerly sleepy little neighborhood, Junieta Park. Frankford has several nice quiet neighborhoods, but in the area that I serve most often that is not the case. Our neighborhood is anything but quiet. If the el is not rushing by, there is a hoopty barreling down Frankford Avenue, with occasionally incomprehensible, but generally fully articulated, music blaring. Why we are not wearing orange at St. Mark’s Church, Frankford on Gun Violence Awareness Sunday. There are several reasons for this and the first and maybe most obvious is that we, as a congregation, are intimately aware of gun
Post a Comment
Read more