Luke 1

²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

³⁴"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

³⁵The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^{c]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]} the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God."

³⁸"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

I've been thinking a lot about Mary lately. The Bible doesn't give a lot of commentary on what was going through her mind, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say she was more than a little freaked out. I'm playing Mary in our church's Christmas production called The Twelve Voices of Christmas. Mary is the voice of wonder, and as I read more about her, I have to say I agree with the assessment. Having never been pregnant, I can't understand all of it, but what I do get makes me admire her all the more. I like that she didn't protest, just wondered at the mechanics of it and then said "Okay, God, I trust that you know what you're doing."

Kinda puts things in perspective...