Thursday, March 26, 2020

The Feast of the Annunciation - Wednesday, March 26, 2020

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Bob Pierson, OHC
The Feast of the Annunciation - Wednesday, March 26, 2020

Isaiah 7:10-14
Hebrews 10:4-10
Luke 1:26-38

Click here for an audio version of this sermon.

No typescript is available for this sermon. An excerpt is below. Hear the full sermon at the link above.

What does this Feast of the Annunciation have to say to us in our current situation as we battle the Coronavirus? As I was praying about that, I recalled one of our catchphrases in 12-step recovery:
"Let go, and let God."
Here's Mary - a teenage girl - in a town called Nazareth, the middle of nowhere. And Luke tells us she was "perplexed" by the message of an angel. She had to wonder, "What's going to happen to me? Why me?"

She could have thought, "Fake news," and ignored the angel. But instead she said, "Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word." She didn't try to control the situation, she didn't panic - she trusted. She "let go, and let God" take care of her.

Easier said than done, you might say. Yes. It's not easy to trust, to let go of controlling outcomes, to trust that God has a plan for us and is working to fulfill that plan.

That's not to say that we should just sit back and do nothing. We need to do our own part. But in the end we have no choice but to let God work in our lives - "Let it be with me according to your word."

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