Advent 5: God is in the Ordinary

Zechariah met an angel in the temple but Mary encountered an angel in her everyday life!

“Greetings, favoured woman! The Lord is with you!” is probably not what you would expect to hear when you are doing the dishes or working on your wedding dress!

We actually don’t know what Mary was doing as the angel appeared but she wouldn’t have been expecting this divine encounter in the midst of her everyday mundane existence and so it is understandable that she was confused and disturbed by what was going on.

How about us?

Do you know that God is present in your ordinary and everyday existence?

Do you expect to encounter God in everyday life, perhaps while you are doing housework or travelling to work?

How do you talk with and look to God when things are ordinary and mundane?

Jesus promised that he is with his followers always and so it is right that we learn to look for what he is doing in the everyday routine of life.

Mary was changed through her encounter with God and her life was never the same again.

Mary thought she was ordinary but God said she was favoured.

Perhaps you need to hear this from God today as well!

If you are a child of God, you aren’t ordinary, you are favoured.

God is at work in the ordinary and we should hope and expect that his presence would fill and transform every moment of our lives so that we would never be the same again.

This is a part of a series of short thoughts for advent to help us to consider the events surrounding the birth of Jesus as we prepare ourselves for Christmas. You can look at the other advent reflections by clicking here.

There is a thought for each day in December leading up to Christmas day, so check back tomorrow to see what happens next between Mary and the angel.

You can read more about Mary’s encounter with the angel in Luke 1 starting at v26.