Mary, Who Worshipped God (New Year Service)

When the angel Gabriel brought Mary the news that she would conceive, she asked how she could have a child when she had not known a man. Her question was a protest: how could a pregnancy before marriage happen to her?

The angel answered that no word of God is without power, and pointed to Elizabeth as proof. She had been unable to bear children, yet she was already in her sixth month. Mary replied that she was the Lord’s servant and longed for it to be done according to his word, but only after meeting Elizabeth did she truly believe it. Until Mary accepted this with all her heart, God waited for her, pouring out the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Seeing that the covenant promise of the Messiah was to be fulfilled through her, Mary confessed, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” An unmarried virgin, she faced the hardship of bearing a child, yet she obeyed willingly, because the accomplishing of God’s will mattered more to her than her own life. That obedience is why all generations call Mary blessed.