Called to be God-Bearers!


The reading for the fourth Sunday of Advent is Luke 1:26-38.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, is known in the church as "God-Bearer" as Jesus was fully divine as well as fully human.   We too have been chosen by God to be God-Bearers; that is,  we have been chosen to bear or bring Christ into the world today.  What attributes are involved in being a God-Bearer?  Here are six that I gleaned from Luke 1:26-38 ~ six attributes we are called to develop.  Remember, developing these attributes is a journey.  God doesn't wait for us to be perfect but calls us now - to the work of reconciliation and redemption - a work that is fully God's and fully ours - the work of bearing God into the world.

Being a God-Bearer involves developing:


1) A Theological Humility

A Theological Humility is a God (Theo) based humility. It is not a fake socially correct humility or a humility grounded in a low self-esteem. Rather it is a humility grounded in God; a humility that knows that all things, including our talents and abilities, time and resources come from and belong to God.

​2) A Sense of God’s Favor

A Sense of God's Favor is not a feeling that you are God’s favorite - not a feeling that you are a Super-Christian.  Rather a sense of God's favor is the knowledge that God finds worth in you, here and now.   Even for Mary that sense was not easy to grasp. Note that the angel had to tell her TWICE that she had found favor with God.

3) An Ability to deal with Disruption

God-bearing means one’s life will most likely be disrupted - that one may find themselves on a detour or even a life long unintended pathway.

4) A Willingness to go against Human Instincts

God-bearing means that God’s will, God’s plans and God’s ways, come first in our lives. The challenge here is that our human instincts call for us to care for ourselves and the ones we love first. Our human instincts call for us to limit our God-bearing to that which is approved socially; to that which makes sense to us; to that which is in line with our world-view; to that which our culture and traditions have taught us and to that which limits our risk and liabilities.  

​5) An Growing Personal Affirmation that nothing is impossible with God in the midst of a world (life) faced with so many impossibilities. 


6) A Trust that God is still working in the world.

                                                                                                             Pastor Mike Williams, December 18, 2011