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

And so the Spirit Speaks

Earlier today, February 21st, I opened my Daily Office book for an inspiration for me to "share the message" as my Baptist brother calls the role of preaching for our Wednesday morning joint worship event with Oxford Circle Baptist Church; I call it preaching. I opened to the reading for today and found 1 Corinthians 2:1-13, which I've printed a portion of below. After a long day, the reading kept haunting me, as the Scripture is known to do. I opened the Mission St. Claire website and they had published the wrong lesson, 1 Cor 1:1-13, which I have never found them to do before today. So, what was the Spirit trying to convey to me? I think it means that the Spirit wants me to pay extra attention to today's lesson(s.)  I have been following posts on the Facebook site of the Third Order Franciscans for years. I have the pleasure of working with a Third Order Franciscan and so I sought out the group. There has been a running discussion over the past few days abou...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

What it is to be a Christian

A mini statement of religious instruction used during our worship in the Episcopal Church when we baptize new members can act as a mustard seed, upon which to build our faith. The Baptismal Covenant contains five questions regarding how we, as Christians, are called to live out our faith. And where we, as the beloved children of God that we are, can find help. The answer from our worship is:   I will, with God’s help.   Our help comes from one place and one place only, and that is God. Our Baptismal Covenant concludes with five questions. 1.    Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? 2.   Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? 3.   Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? 4.     Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? 5.   ...
Post a Comment
Read more