He came to her and said, 'Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.'

Luke 1:28

Seminary-level academics are doing serious theological work around her participation in God's purposes for humanity. And she's making her way onto the popular level, too, most recently in a wonderful new film called The Nativity Story , which I highly recommend to you.

I'm told the film was written and financed by a pair of Presbyterian elders, so you know it's gotta be good. And all the more surprising, too. For while The Nativity Story may ostensibly be about Christ's birth, Mary - and Joseph, too - they are the real stars.

And what a gift that is. The film does what it is so hard for us to do, removed as we are from the Biblical world. It portrays Mary as she actually was, before the angel came and changed everything. It shows us what her life was like as a simple Jewish peasant girl.

We know that's true. We know she was a simple peasant girl. But it's still hard for us to imagine her that way for Mary has worked her way deeply into history, and into our religious imaginations. She's the subject of 10,000 paintings. She is the inspiration for Ave Maria. She's inspired entire religious orders and generations of nuns. She is literally an icon.

But first, before the paintings and the songs and the naming of all the convents, before all of that, Mary was a peasant girl. She spent her days picking olives and fetching water and giggling with her girlfriends.

Her story, at least the part we know, starts here, with the annunciation. The story is unique to Luke's gospel, and it's one of the most beloved scenes in the NT. A bright angel shimmers out of the mists of eternity and into the realm of time, into the realm of human life, where we live and move and have our being. And he makes an announcement that will literally change the world:

You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.

But before this news changes the world, it will first change Mary, directly and profoundly. Her life will never be the same, assuming her life doesn't end. Assuming she's not stoned to death in the public square the moment she begins to show.

Gabriel saw her as favoured by God, but what does some guy who dresses in all white and sports a pair of angel wings know about the plight of a young, unmarried pregnant woman in a conservative culture?

I doubt Mary felt favored, at least initially. She knew the implications. Most Jews in the first century thought the sign of God's blessing was prosperity. But for Mary the sign of God's blessing may as well have been a bright red A on her chest. For this was scandalous stuff. Getting pregnant before you were married was a potential capital offense.

Fear not, Mary . . . for nothing will be impossible with God.

Maybe Gabriel got it right after all. Maybe that angelic declaration not to fear isn't so much about a virgin conceiving a child -- a simple miracle by God's standards -- as it is about a pregnant peasant girl surviving the icy stares of the village women and the literal stones hurled at her by the men.

Whatever those words might have signified, one question remains: is this story true? Are we gonna believe in something so preposterous as a virgin birth?

Frankly I find that impossible to imagine. And yet I know we must try to imagine it, because that's what our faith asks of us.

All of the stories that inform our faith -- the parting of the red sea, turning water into wine, feeding the five thousand, Easter -- all of these stories are just as unlikely as this one. We don't really have the option of choosing which ones really happened and which ones are just too fanciful to believe.

So the question before us is this: Will we believe this and all the stories? Will we trust that in some way they are true? Will we let them transform us and our world, or will we write them off as faily tales for adults?

Will we surrender to the limitations of our finite minds, skeptical minds and declare "Bah humbug!" Or will we be open to the creative force, the unfathomable mystery, that made life in Mary's womb possible? That made life on earth possible---life on this tiny planet hanging in the blackness of space?

"Fear not!" Gabriel admonishes Mary. And he shouts it to all of us, and to our world, "Fear not, dear ones!"

Heaven knows we need that admonition now just as much as Mary needed it then. We need it when the unwelcome diagnosis comes back: "Fear not, for I am Emmanuel, God with you!" We need it when the company insists we pick up our deeply rooted stakes and move to a new place: "Fear not, for I am with you always." We need it when we've got to confront a difficult colleague, or a loved one who needs help: "Fear not! The truth will set you free!"

Fear not, favored one. The Lord is with you. Do not doubt but believe.

I'll admit. I added that latter part - the believing part. But the command to believe is built into the command to fear not, don't you think. Because without faith, the "fear not" is almost impossible.

Recently a dear friend came out of surgery far quicker than expected. "Isn't that unbelievable," his wife exclaimed!

It wasn't a question so much as a statement, and I understood what she meant. But I heard it a bit differently. "No," I said, "It's not unbelievable." Not for people whose faith is rooted in these stories. Not for Advent people.

Because isn't that the point of the annunciation? That God can and will and does invade ordinary lives to accomplish God's own purposes. That God can and will and does do impossible things, great and wonderful things, things that can happen to anyone, at any time.

That doesn't mean it's easy. It wasn't for Mary. Gabriel is standing right in front of her, shimmering like a literal angel, and yet she reacts the way most of us would. She's skeptical. She wonders. She ponders. There's a one hundred percent chance she's afraid. Afraid of what could happen to her. Of what's being asked of her.

Why does she yes? Why does she come down on the side of those who consent to participate in miracles when it could cost her so much?

I think it's because she knows something about this God she has always worshiped. She's read the stories. She knows them by heart. And she knows that God rarely acts alone. She knows that God's purposes in the Bible, God's purposes in history, almost always depend on human partnerships.

Don't believe me? Well, imagine if Moses had thrown water on the burning bush.

"Moses!" God's voice booms out from the fiery branches.

No! Sorry to interrupt, God, but I don't care what you're about to say. And I don't care if you are the Great I Am. I am The Great I'm Not . . . Not interested. Not up to it. Not available. In a word: No.

Imagine if Mary had said no to the angel.

"Fear not, Mary!"

No! Count me out, Gabriel. Whatever you're up to, I'm too young. Too inexperienced. Thanks for thinking of me, but no.

Imagine if Joseph had said no to Mary. "Really, Joseph, this child inside me is God's own child. I promise I've been faithful to you."

No, Mary. I don't care who the father is. I don't care who the son will be. I won't live with a woman who's been despoiled. Go. Leave me. No.

Fast forward just a bit. Imagine if the wine stewards hadn't filled up the jugs at that wedding at Cana, Jesus' coming out party. "Fill 'em up! Life is sacramental! It's time to celebrate! I don't care if all you have is water! Fill the jugs!"

No. We're fine with water. Really, Jesus, we're fine. Just go home. We're not interested.

Imagine if Lazarus had opted for the easier route. "Lazarus, come out!"

No. Thanks, Jesus, but it was hard enough to die once. I'd rather stay dead. I'll just stay here in the tomb if it's all the same to you.

Fast forward a bit further.

Imagine if hunger in Africa, hunger even here in Asheville, seemed unsolvable and we stopped giving to the 5 Cents a Meal offering, stopped participating in One Great Hour of Sharing.

No. The problem's too big, God. I'm wasting my money on these petty offerings. No.

Imagine if peace in the Middle East and elsewhere seemed unachievable and we stopped giving to the Peacemaking Offering, stopped sending teams of peacemakers there, and stopped bringing them here. Stopped praying.

No. The problem's too big God. I'm not wasting my money and my prayers. No.

Or that homelessness seemed too chronic and we opted not to participate in Room in the Inn.

No. I'm not sleeping on some stupid inflatable mattress just so 10 women can have a place to stay. I'm just not doin' it. No.

Imagine if the barriers to a fully inclusive church seemed too formidable, and we stopped working for a church where everyone whom God calls can be ordained.

No. It's too hard. We live in western NC for heaven's sake. There's not a chance in the world we can help end discrimination in the church. No.

Imagine that!

Do you see what a difference you make in the world? Yes, you!

Ahhh, but you think, I'm too old to make any difference. Alas, I've got news for you. No you're not! Not according to Gabriel. 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.'

[Please note: I'm not saying you should have a baby necessarily. And if you want to try, that's your business! I'm just saying you're not too old to serve God.]

Or you think, I'm too young too make any difference. I haven't even graduated yet.

You do realize Mary was, like, 15 when this happened, right?

See, there's something about Mary, something that speaks to all of us. For maybe she's not that different from us ordinary people, after all.

The Greek Orthodox church has special term for Mary. They call her Theotokos , the bearer of God, the mother of God. I believe we're all meant to be theotokos, in our own unique way.

"We are all meant to be mothers of God," writes the Medieval mystic, Meister Ekhart. "What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself. What good is it to me if Mary is full of grace and I am not also full of grace? "

Fear not, favoured ones. The Lord is with you! Do not doubt but believe!