E Devotions are the offering of a community and not the work of Padre Warren
Advent 4 Tuesday
AM Psalm 66, 67
PM Psalm 116, 117
1 Samuel 2:1b-10
Titus 2:1-10
Luke 1:26-38The story of Hannah’s appeal to God for a son in 1 Samuel and the quite surprising and unsolicited visit from the angel Gabriel to the maiden Mary, Mother of Jesus, serve as remarkable poles on the continuum of God’s action for those at the margins of society.
The commonality here is that God acts in an unexpected and largely irrational way to get his voice into the world.
Hannah is beyond years for a son by all accounts and yet through her steadfast prayer and petitioning she becomes pregnant by her husband Elkanah and brings the prophet Samuel into the world. Samuel is God’s vehicle for the call and anointing of David to be the archetypal King of Israel.
Mary is enlisted to redeem the kingdom not through her ardent desire and dedication but because God chooses her, partly because she’s engaged to a descendant of David’s line. Of course it wasn’t that simple.
At each end of these disparate stories is the God who delights in surprise and is well-versed in undoing our notions of royalty and worth. As the final days unfold before we celebrate the Nativity as the gateway to the Incarnation, expect the unexpected and allow surprise to lighten the dark, cold nights of this winter.
As you await God’s next surprise, continue to fervently pray for the desires of your heart and prepare to be led into new things by unexpected pathways knowing that God’s way is always to give the perfect gift at the perfect time if we are but ready to receive it.
