.

That might seem a strange title for a reflection for the feast of the Annunciation, breaking and entering, but I think it’s apt.

Here’s why.

A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.

That theme of breaking in is often troubling. Think of the burglar who breaks into the home.

Any kind of interruption to our comfortable routines and plans is unsettling at least.

In such a break-in we get pushed aside and God stands a chance of being seen and heard in our lives. As the great American writer Flannery O’Connor (born 100 years ago today, 25 March 1925) puts it in her Prayer of an Artist:

“I do not know you God because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside”.

I know I’ve used the Henry Ossawa Tanner.image above on this feast in past years but it remains appropriate – note the unsettled look on Mary’s face.

However Mary remembers while in her troubled state that God was present and active: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

I’m happy that Mary’s immediate response at the Annunciation was to be troubled.

The messenger noticed Mary’s fear and reacted immediately with “Do not be afraid Mary,” and Mary would have  realised that she had no reason to fear because she had already found favour with God and was living with a desire to know what God was wanting of her and for her.

With her encounter with the angel, Mary’s life became an adult adventure of mature faith.

Therefore we pray confident that (in the final words of the Annunciation account) that “Nothing is impossible for God.”

Send your date and time to add to the list, and just turn up at at one of the advertised gatherings, just one hour, focussing on where we are encountering Christ.

LOWER HUTT
Wed 26 March 10.30am
Invite from Catherine
Columbus Cafe in Mitre 10
25 Bouverie St, Petone.

WHANGANUI
Thursday 27 March 7.00am
St. Mary’s Church – & every Thursday
Invitation from Kate

NEW PLYMOUTH
Thursday 27 March 10.00am
Stumble Inn, 200 Mangorei Road
Invitation from Joan

KAPITI COAST
Monday 31 March 11am to noon
The Cafe at Harrison’s
23 Peka Peka Rd, Waikanae beach.
Invitation from Catherine

CHRISTCHURCH
Monday 23 March 10.00am (& every Monday)
Moku cafe, Bush Inn Centre
Waimairi Road.