Last Sunday in our congregation we had a service of Lessons and Carols. Before the service began I asked the readers did thay have any questions and the woman reading the lesson of The Annunciation said, "I'm ready to enunciate the The Annunciation." She was closer to the truth with her quip than I think she realized.
Actually he story of The Annunciation as told in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:26-56) is a clear "enunciation" of the purpose and message of Christmas, i.e. The Gospel. In this rather strange story of two women, one elderly and barren and the other young and innocent, an angel visits them both and tells them they are pregnant and that the babies they grow and carry in their wombs will fulfill ancient promises of God's Presence, Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy for all people.
What is also unmistakenably clear is that these promises are fraught with the burden of becoming real in the anxieties, doubts, and vulnerability of human stories like those of Abraham, David, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The "Gospel" is enunciated in stories of life and death so real and so common that they are shared by all people of all times, until it comes our time to speak clearly in our lives, with sharp diction and pure tone those same promises of Presence, Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy for all people.
Christmas reminds all of us that each and every moment is our turn to enunciate along with Mary, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then we, like her, become "God Bearers!"
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