UNEXPECTED BIRTHS

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 19 December 2013

 UNEXPECTED BIRTHS

Pause. You are in the presence of God..

Reading. “Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you are to call him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth.” (Luke1:5-25)  

Reflection.  In speaking of the resurrection Paul describes the Lord’s appearance to him as to one who was “born when no one expected it” (1 Cor 15:8). He was speaking of his conversion but the same intervention of God lies behind the descriptions of births to women who were “barren and getting on in years.” Today this motif is played out in the birth of Samson to the wife of Manoah (Judges 13) and John the Baptist to Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah. Samson will “begin to rescue Israel” with the jawbone of an ass (15:15) with which he slaughtered the Philistines but John will rescue Israel with his own jaw, his words preparing the way of the Messiah.

Prayer. Lord, may your Spirit open our minds to see how you draw us by your presence in our lives, how you rescue us from our fears and lead us into ways that open doors for us and for others.  Amen.