SURE, MAYBE… BUT I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS.
“He did as the angel had commanded him.”
While doing a lesson with my middle school youth group kiddos, I asked, “if an angel were to appear and ask them to do a really important job, what would they say? Would they do it?”
One student said “I’d just do what they told me.” Another replied, “Uhhh…I don’t know.” One kid said, “I think I’d be scared and not know what to say.” I shocked them all when I candidly replied, “Fairly certain, I’d blink a few times, ask them to repeat themselves, tell them they must be joking, assume I was getting punk’d, and that I was going to need a hot second to think all of this over because ‘why me?’ and then answer with a timid, sure, maybe.”
Now before the lesson went rogue, I followed with “and yet, Mary, without hesitation said ‘yes’. And Joseph, too, responded with an obedient ‘yes’. Neither Mary nor Joseph, questioned their worthiness when asked to bring the Son of God to this world. They didn’t pause to think it over.”
Years ago when a deacon asked me to take over leadership for young adult ministry – I had a lot of concerns. I questioned whether or not I was good enough for the role, whether or not young adults would trust me to guide them, or if the priests would take a female seriously. I questioned my worth to the ministry. And now, as I prepare a new group of young adults to take over leadership, I can see the value and worth I added to the program in my hometown. I can see the ways Jesus asked me to say ‘yes’ and not question, but trust. And I imagine that’s how Joseph felt, slightly unsure, but obedient and trusting that all will be well.
This year, Advent for me, has been more thoughtful – there has been more time for quiet nights in and more opportunities to safely be with close family. I haven’t had to plan out my days’ hour by hour, going from one holiday gathering to the next, only showing up out of obligation. I have had more time to reflect on the ways I am called to be like Joseph and Mary – to not question my worth, but know that Jesus has called me, by name, to do great things, if I trust enough to say ‘yes’.
This Advent, how and where have I been asked to trust when the future seems unclear, to be obedient to God’s will and simply say ‘yes’? To be faithful to the dream of a better tomorrow?
Natalie Nathan