Seattle Stories

It bursts out among us. The emotions that follow are liberating and sometimes uncontrollable. Glimpses of unexpected sensation are rare, but powerful. If you haven’t seen the viral clip of Susan Boyle from last year http://bit.ly/boyle042009.   The beauty of the unexpected, with Boyle and with our Lord, is that grandeur leaps out from simplicity or even perceived “ugliness”.

Today, a friend in North Carolina sent this update about his insight into the story leading to Jesus’ birth. He’s a fellow laborer among The Navigators’ 20’s Mission. God submerged him in the unexpected wisdom from this passage in Luke 1 – it describes so well our intention with friends in their 20’s. Here’s his writing – we hope you are blessed by it…

There is a story I would like to relate to you because it resonates deeply with me about what I see the Lord doing among 20somethings.

The setting was a meeting with my peers, getting acquainted with the new national director of our 20s Mission. The purpose was to brief him on what we had seen the Lord do as we launched this work over the last decade. It was a west coast meeting, so the time shift had me up before dawn the second morning. I grabbed my Bible and headed out to find coffee. When I had my cup in hand, my reading program opened to Luke 1.

It’s the start of the Jesus story and act 1 is Gabriel announcing to Zachariah – and therefore to Elizabeth – that this childless couple is now going to bear a child who will become John the Baptist. The second act is Gabriel talking to Mary several months later about the virgin conception that is about to take place in her body. Most of us know these parts of the Jesus story well.

What got my attention is what happens next – Gabriel tells Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. In effect, God himself orchestrates a connection between the older established generation (I was thinking of me and Susan) and the next generation of young adults (here the men and women we have mentored and coached came to mind). Whatever else God had in mind, for Mary this connection serves a very useful purpose. How does an engaged single mother learn how to bear a child? By learning from an older woman who has gone (however recently) through that experience.

Mary immediate heads off to find Elizabeth. And you know what happens next. The six-month old baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps and Elizabeth joyously utters a profound statement of blessing to Mary. I see this all the time with Susan and me (and with our peers) – we interact with men and women in the next generation, perceive what God is doing, and then give a word of affirmation regarding that truth.

Mary promptly responds to Elizabeth’s benediction with a statement of vision. It is astonishing in its scope and depth. She begins with the acknowledgement of what God has chosen her to do – bear His son. She notes that the story will never be forgotten. She focuses on the nature of God – his holiness, mercy and strength. She envisions God deposing tyrants and raising up the oppressed (in essence, making all accounts right). She speaks to the national destiny of Israel and concludes with a reference to the promise to Abraham.

Wow! This is vision straight from God – it certainly exceeds anything Mary has seen up to that point in her life. Reading it that morning, it was less surprising than it was thrilling. Because this is what I get to see all the time – our 20something friends embrace great vision. They get a large view of God and a big view of what can – will – happen. Often it is the dynamic of affirmation from the older generation that incites seeds of vision in the younger. This is why we are called to do this ministry.