The Gospel for the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. In coming to her, he said, hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. If you have found favor with God, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

And you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give him the throne of David, his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end. But Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I have no relations with a man? And the angel said to her in reply, 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 called holy and the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative has also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible for God. Mary said, behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.

The angel of the Lord departed from her. The most important thing about the Gospels is that they’re our story. The story of a change, radical change in religion from rules and regulations outside of ourselves to a source of goodness inside of each of us. And Mary’s our model. The mysterious thing, the message she received from an angel is like a message that you might have in your heart that says, I can’t do this. I want something more.

I want to know what is real and true. And the only way you can do that is to have Jesus born in you, dwell in you, live in you, and through that ministry, in him. It flows out from you to others. And you’re in the kingdom. This is our feast, everyone’s feast, and we need to celebrate it. Satan.

Sam. Satan. Foreign Father. We have a longing, a need, and sometimes it’s just like we want to be more. But what we really want to ask you to help us with is to be who we are, who we’re called to be, to be honest and authentic. We need your spirit born in us to enable that to happen.

And we give you praise and thanks for promising that it will happen. Amen.