Talk about being "touched by an angel!" Imagine Mary, a young engaged woman anticipating an utterly conventional life with her future husband and children. Then in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everything changes and her world is tipped upside down. An angel appears, calls her "one filled with grace," and announces that the Lord is with her. Angels usually don't appear for the simple joy of appearing. They deliver messages that call recipients to say and do things that often get them into all sorts of scrapes. No wonder Mary is perplexed and deeply distressed. No wonder she ponders what the encounter is all about.

The angel touches Mary in her depths by calling her to action. As one filled with grace, Mary has work to do. The angel's words call her to let go of the orderly plan she has assumed for her life, to say "yes" to a birthing process that will throw her world into utter disarray. Mary's response is active, not passive. She thinks carefully about the call and asks the question she needs to ask. Then, assured that the Holy Spirit has power to make the impossible possible, she makes a choice. "Behold the servant of the Lord," she says, "let it be done to me according to your word."

What a model of servanthood Mary sets before us! Touched in her depths by the angel's call to action, she chooses to trust the proclamation that indeed she is full of grace and to say "yes" to the work the angel's words set before her. We've heard the story before. We know what happens next. The child Mary bears is God's diaconal heart on earth, calling and welcoming into God's family the outcast and excluded, the broken and bound, the vulnerable and despairing. Mary sees her child grow up and leave her, be rejected and killed. Then, three days later, she hears good news from women who encounter an angel at her child's tomb. God's diaconal heart has not stopped beating! Mary's child has risen! Life never will be the same.

God's diaconal heart continues to beat in the women, men, and children who choose, like Mary, to say "yes" to the call of servanthood in our world. Advent is a wonderful time to ponder connections between Mary's story and ours. Like her, we are invited to trust the proclamation that we are full of grace and to say "yes" to the work God would have us do. Like her, we are challenged to let go of our assumptions about the way life will proceed, to be open to whatever servant adventure God may be setting before us. Like her, we are called to think through our questions, to make choices, and to act. Take time to ponder Mary's story and yours. Who knows-perhaps an angel is touching each of us with a new call to servant action this Advent season! 

About the Author: Gwen Sayler is a deaconess who teaches Hebrew Bible at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.
 

Prayer: Loving and living God, we thank you for your commitment to us, your invitation to us to serve as partners in your healing, life-bringing work on earth. Inspired by Mary's brave response to her call, we pray for courage and confidence to respond faithfully to the servant ministry you would have us do. Amen.