People of Hope:
Every year when Advent rolls around, I start thinking about Mary, the mother of Jesus. I start thinking about the angel Gabriel’s visit when he announced Mary would deliver into the world the savior of the world. I start thinking about those nine months of pregnancy, the first few months of nausea, then the weight gain, the sore back, the heartburn, the constant bladder pressure, the hormonal ups and downs. Just like other mothers, Mary too experienced all of this. I think about this because Mary did not receive the news from the angel Gabriel and suddenly give birth. No. She pondered this news and prepared herself physically, emotionally, and practically and waited for nine months before giving birth to Jesus.
In her brilliant novel The Red Tent, author Anita Diamant has her midwife-heroine ponder: It’s the nine months of pregnancy and the sometimes agonizing delivery that give women the strength to become mothers. Or, for those who become mothers through adoption or foster care: It’s the lengthy process full of risks and requirements, ups and downs, that gives women the strength to become mothers.
Birth is a process, not a moment.
I have now walked with you, the Esperanza community, for a year in this interim period. We could not have skipped this interim period — for birth is a process. There were problems that needed solving; we solved some of them and continue to solve others. There were relationships that needed strengthening, and we are in the middle of strengthening them. There were joy and hope that needed discovering, and in the well of scripture and tradition and community, we are discovering them. Birth is a process.
This whole year, we have been living in Advent, waiting for God to birth in and among us who God has called us to be — so that this community would be ready to welcome a new pastor. It’s the interim period that gives a congregation the capacity to welcome a new leader. Whenever Esperanza calls a new pastor — because I truly do not know the timeline — I am convinced that you are ready.
And that makes my heart glad.
Being ready doesn’t mean things are perfect; they never will be. I’m sure Mary’s delivery was still painful and difficult. But being ready means there is an openness to seeing God work in this community, an openness to hearing God speak through one another and through scripture, an openness to God’s call even when it invites us to do something uncomfortable.
As we enter Advent, I believe, we are ready for the new thing God is doing in and among us.
With anticipation,
Pastor Sarah