Making Room in AdventExemplo

Making Room for Community

Whatever trepidations Mary had, they likely melted away when she glimpsed Elizabeth standing before her, ripe with hope. Mary is not alone; Elizabeth also bears a promise in her womb.

Elizabeth makes room for Mary.

“Come on in, Mary. There’s room for you here.” There’s room for your fears and big dreams. There’s room for your destiny. There’s room for your voice at the table. There’s room for your gifts.

Elizabeth isn’t threatened by Mary. She recognizes that in God’s economy, blessing is not a finite resource. The Spirit inside her empowers her to see beyond the young virgin, beyond the lowly servant, beyond the girl from the backroad town of Nazareth, to see the mother of God.

In essence she says, “I see you, Mary.”

“I see the new thing growing on the inside that no one else can see. What God is doing in me testifies to what he is doing in you—and leaps with joy.”

Elizabeth prophetically declares the significance of what is happening and responds in worship. A shout of praise bursts from the Spirit and from John leaping within her womb.

As Elizabeth’s song rises, it stirs something within. An aria is called forth from the innermost place in Mary and it sweetly dances through her lips: the great “Magnificat.”

If you’ve ever had someone name the stirring within you, you know what this is. It’s the moment when an underutilized gift is named by a friend after you have secretly been ruminating about it for months. It’s the moment when the dream you can’t quite put your finger on is identified by someone who truly sees you. These are holy moments.

I know this because I have experienced the sacredness of them myself. I have felt the stirring in my spirit when an Elizabeth sees the new thing God is doing in me and names it.

Sometimes it takes the voices of others to help us find our own. And when an Elizabeth sees something within us and gives it a name, she calls forth who we are becoming. She calls us to arise into the handcrafted masterpiece we were created to be. And when she does, we sing the song we were made to sing.

Ponder

What is stirring inside you that needs to be named? What do you see in someone else that you can name aloud to them?

Pray

Inhale: God, you made room for me.

Exhale: I can make room for others.