Flames and Angels

They stand as the two great “M’s” of the scripture, one from Hebrew scripture and the other appearing in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Both are confronted by God in the ordinary business of their lives, both are told they have been selected for an extraordinary role in salvation history. They are given a choice about whether they will respond positively to God’s unexpected request and they both agree; otherwise they would have disappeared from the story. Once they have said yes, their lives become closely aligned to God in wonderful and frightening ways.

Who are these “M’s?” They are Moses and Mary, two people who have been so revered, so studied, and so speculated about that their hagiography overshadows whatever complicated humanity they lived on this planet. Each story is so fantastic that I have trouble believing them, and I have wondered what they really saw, or felt, or knew.

Yet, we still read their stories over and over again. We read to understand how God reaches out to each of us, requests each of us in our own significant way to carry God’s message into our world. We read them, and imagine how we might respond if we saw a burning bush while mowing the yard or a creature with wings tapped us on the shoulder.

We wonder or even worry that if God were to call us, we also would be expected to pay the same kind of price in physical pain and emotional suffering.

I will continue exploring God’s calls to Moses and Mary through this time of Advent, to see what I can learn about how they responded.

How do you look to Moses or Mary as you try to understand God’s call to you?