Advent 4 A: Greetings, Favored Ones!

Luke 1:26-38 Dear Partner in Preaching, I will confess that until I read Cameron Howard’s beautiful reflection on this week’s biblical story, I’d never noticed that Mary is perplexed by Gabriel’s greeting, not his presence. And… that has stayed with me all week. Most of us, I would imagine, would find the presence of the heavenly being enough to strike terror into our hearts, kind of like the guards at the resurrection in Matthew’s account or the people of Israel shaking in fear at the thunder and lightning of the Lord’s presence at Sinai. But no, Luke specifies that after Gabriel greets her with pretty magnanimous...

Luke 1:34-37

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” “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...

Luke 1:26-29

Luke 1:26-29 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But...