The angel of the Lord says to Mary, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

How do we make sense of that?

How do we make sense of it when we consider what Mary’s life may have actually looked like? Mary didn’t look like she was favored. It probably looked like she was given up for dead.

Mary’s experience call us to ask this question: What if our hands our too full to receive the fullness of God’s grace at Christmas? What if we’re bereft of Jesus because we’ve come to God with our hands and hearts full?

Message from Sunday, December 14, 2014