I came across this picture of a painting of the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth and it stirred me to smile. I can only imagine the original encounter and wonder if this was not a perfect snapshot. There was a deep connection between Mary and Elizabeth and I can almost hear the echoes of excited laughter when the baby danced inside Mary at Elizabeth’s touch. There must have been such joy at that moment and a wonderful sharing between to people who loved each other.
We tried something new in our church congregation…we held our AGM during worship. It was a celebration of who we are as a church family…our love for outreach and in reach. During this time we had a chance to hear three testimonies from different people. One spoke of her recently celebrating nine years of sobriety and how appreciative she was that we welcomed the AA group into our church space and therefore we were responsible for helping her to stay sober. She also brought with her a prayer shawl given to her from a member of our congregation…it has been a constant companion. Another spoke of her work with our “Footprints” program which does respite work for families of children living with autism. She spoke about her own child who lives with this and she sees firsthand how she knows how important a ministry it is. And finally a member of our congregation spoke about his appreciation that we as his church family have begun the Affirming ministries process which welcomes the LGBT community in a more inclusive way. He spoke about his son who is gay and how he dreams of us agreeing to become affirming.
These three stories were “jumping in the womb” stories for me…a sign of Jesus alive and kicking in our midst and how that can bring joy to our faith journey. We prayed and sang songs that has us clapping and standing and swaying back and forth and then we went down stairs and ate together. There was much love and laughter…it was truly a Mary/Elizabeth moment to watch my church family pregnant with possibilities.
And so as I bring this evening to a close and this great week with you all…I ask you…where have you felt that Mary/Elizabeth moment today or this week or over the past month? And feel free to share it below. Blessings on your journey of faith…thank you for letting me share a bit of my faith story with you. And so this night I pray:
O Holy One
I love to feel the moments when faith is alive and kicking
whether that is when I am up or I am down.
May I be open to those encounters that make me take notice of you.
I pray this night in gratitude. Amen!
