I am in my 5th year of embracing Orthodoxy as an adult (I left the faith as a 19 year old…hardly an adult). One aspect of the faith that has secured my adoration for this walk, is the rhythm of the Church. We read purposeful Scripture all year long, every Sunday, every service. Sometimes, I may have not heard or sung a song before, but I know the words because they’ve been engraved on my heart in other contexts, and then my heart is full with savoring the words pouring from my lips.
Another beautiful rhythm is found in celebrating the Feast days centered on the events of Christ and His Church.
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation: the moment when Mary was approached by Gabriel and agreed to carry God within her—and from that moment on, she became Theotokos—God-bearer.
There are so many things I have learned about Mary these past 5 years, and I have untangled my misguided beliefs about the Mother of God. I’ve come to realize her blessedness has been muted by the noise of corruption, protest, and reform. Certainly the latter actions were well-intended by their initial warriors, but the chaos of the fight has tarnished her importance in many Christian circles.
On this day, when the one human of billions of humans was chosen by God to do the quiet thing of carrying a child within her, I must also remember to take care to partake in His invitation, even amid the noise. In this cacophonic, opinionated world, so much peace is lost, so much abiding with the Lord is lost. And so much attention to the goodness of God’s story, the saints, and His presence is drowned out by the voices, the shouts, the interpretations.
I love this quote below, about the quiet work of salvation as glimpsed in the Annunciation Scripture. Just as God’s voice is a quiet whisper, the quiet of salvation should be carefully considered, knowing so much can be lost to loudness, distraction, and noise:
“There is something strangely quiet about the work of salvation. I can think of few things quieter than the exchange between the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary. The entire cosmos was undergoing a radical transformation (God becoming man) while the entire interchange might have been whispered. No one noticed that anything was going on.” -Fr. Stephen Freeman
My greatest heartache for those I love most, those who have muted salvation within their hearts, is the power of noise and confusion—and the near impossibility to appreciate the quiet work they might experience, and the devastating reality of passing it by without noticing that anything was going on.
angie dicken 