Luke 1:39-45
Lead in: Young Mary, expectant with child, decides to visit Elizabeth who also is with child. Elizabeth lives in the hill country of Judea. It’s a dangerous trek, about one hundred miles over rough terrain. Not knowing who she might encounter on the way, safety is also an issue for Mary who travels alone. But she goes anyway, trusting that all will be well.
Prompt: Journeys can be long and arduous. Like Mary, what journey are you being called to travel?
Prompt: Where is it in your life that you need to trust that all will be well?
Lead in: As author Kathleen Norris points out, the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth is a rare description of pregnant women in scripture. Both pregnancies defy social norms. Elizabeth is too old, and Mary is a young virgin. Each bears a miracle within her. Mary, the pregnant young virgin from Galilee demonstrates the “scandal” of the Incarnation. God relied on female flesh to come into the world. But this happened only because the young girl from Galilee was willing to say “yes” to a plan she doesn’t understand.
Prompt: What does it mean to you to be willing to use your body to help bring Christ into the world?
Lead in: “Mary set out in haste to travel to the hill country to a town in Judah.” Luke 1:39 As Mary sets out on her journey, there is a sense of urgency. Mary is on a mission.
Prompt: Where is it in your life that you feel a sense of mission that gives urgency to what you do?
Lead in: Luke 1:44 tells us that the moment that the sound of Mary’s greeting reached Elizabeth’s ears, “The infant in her womb leaped for joy.” Joy is a feeling that brings us alive. It’s a visceral reminder of just how good life can be when the happiness of the moment is all that seems to matter.
Prompt: When in your life have you been so happy that you felt like jumping for joy?
Lead in: Elizabeth’s words to Mary speak to us of her deep faith in the providence of God, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:45
Prompt: As you reflect on your experience, what has been fulfilled in your life that you never expected to happen? In what ways has this unexpected blessing changed you?
