Seeker

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin May, celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans and some other churches on 25 March each year. In England this used to be New Year's Day until 1752. It is also called 'Lady Day'. It is an approximate pregnancy length of time from the next Christmas, when Christians celebrate Jesus' birth. Today is about the Angel Gabriel’s astonishing announcement to Mary that she was to bear a son, to be called Jesus, who would be 'great'. You can read the account in Luke 1: 26 – 38. Today's feast gives me an excuse to share a memory of a visit my husband and I made 3 years ago to the Marienkapelle, a church in Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany . We were with a small group being shown around the church by a knowledgeable and entertaining local guide. Towards the end of the tour he asked us, 'how did the Virgin Mary get pregnant?' Somebody said 'by a miracle', another said, 'by the Holy Spirit...

The Advent Word for today is 'Greeting'. We're now well into the season of Christmas Greetings. Christmas is almost here. Some greetings arriving by card, text, email, phone call or in person come as a surprise. Someone you had not expected to greet you makes contact because this time is special. I cannot think of a more surprising greeting or more surprising visitor than the one Mary the mother of Jesus received in Nazareth a little over 2000 years ago. In the image (above) of an icon of the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel appears eager to deliver his surprising greeting to Mary. There is also a suggestion that the angel is bowing the knee as if in obeisance to this ordinary but uniquely chosen and favoured young woman. Gabriel begins with the sort of greeting people expected to give to powerful and important people. I think I will let Luke tells the story: 'In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a ...

Christmas is only a pregnancy length away. I suppose that is why the church chose 25 March to celebrate the unexpected message that Jesus' mother Mary received from the Angel Gabriel. We mostly hear the story read at Christmas. It is also the gospel reading today, the Feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here's the story from Luke's gospel: "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God wil...

Today 2 5 March used to be known as Lady Day in England. It was also New Year's Day until 1752 - a point that historians and genealogists need to bear in mind when considering year dates. The 'Lady' after whom the day was named is Mary, mother of Jesus. Today is a Feast Day in Anglican, Roman Catholic and other church calendars - the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It celebrates the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she would bear a son conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can read the story in Luke 1: 26 - 38 . For obvious reasons this feast is calendared 9 months before the celebration of Jesus' birth at Christmas. Last Sunday I was travelling on the London Underground and heard an announcement that was completely incomprehensible. Had we understood it we might not have tried to change to the Jubilee Line at a station where that was temporarily impossible. Perhaps we should have taken more care to ponder what it meant a...

It's the Feast of the Annunication, so here's an artist's interpretation of the visit of the angel Gabriel to a young girl called Mary. I like this painting by Henry Tanner. Mary seems to be listening attentively but not yet saying 'yes' - perhaps she's at the stage of asking the question 'how can this be...?'  I love the way the angel is indicated by light which is also reflected in Mary's face and the covers of her unmade bed. Will she say yes? Collect for Today: "We beseech you, O Lord,   pour your grace into our hearts,   that as we have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ   by the message of an angel,   so by his cross and passion we may be brought to the glory of his resurrection;   through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,   who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,   one God, now and for ever. Amen."