So on the calendar today is what has come to be called “The Feast of the Annunciation.” It’s a celebration of an announcement. Most celebrations involve the event itself. For example, one doesn’t celebrate a “Save the Date” e-vite (though you could be kinda happy about it, depending on how you feel about attending)–one saves the celebration for the event itself. In this case, the announcement itself is A Big Deal.

What announcement? According to Christian scriptures and according to tradition, an angel named Gabriel (the same angel that appeared six centuries later to Mohammed, by the way, and called him to the founding of Islam!) told Mary that she would become pregnant and bear a child who would be called “Son of God”–and the date of this special announcement is counted backwards, exactly nine months from the date marked for Jesus’s birthday (December 25).

Now, I’m a geek when it comes to the actual Hebrew or Greek that underlies English translations of Jewish and Christian scriptures. Of course, it gets attenuated–the Greek itself purports to be a translation of the language spoken by Gabriel to Mary (undoubtedly not Greek, but likely a form of Aramaic). So a Greek translation of a private conversation–presumably in Aramaic–between an angel and Mary, being discussed here in English…well, it’s a stretch to speak with any certainty about this.

Nonetheless, back to the Annunciation. This much seems clear: Mary comes away knowing that she is pregnant–Gabriel works as an ancient obstetrician in this case, and tells Mary not to be afraid (either of the presence of an angel [!!] or of the impending pregnancy). And the Greek, if translated literally, has Gabriel telling Mary “the holy thing (that is) germinating shall be called ‘son of God’.”

I love this announcement–telling another person that “HEY–you know that child, that idea, that hope, that dream, that (fill in the blank), that thing that is slowly growing within YOU?? It is HOLY!! And it is related to God!” Yes, that’s my own gloss on the Annunciation (and, frankly, it’s my blog). This key message that is Good News to anyone and everyone! Imagine a world where we can be angels to one another: telling anyone, especially someone in crisis, that what is within them is holy, that it’s worth the time it takes to grow a dream, a child, a hope, and that what results will be totally worth it, totally god-given and totally godly.

So I say to you, Dear Reader: Fear not, for behold: that thing that is in you? It is germinating, it is holy, it comes from God. Don’t worry what society says. Don’t even worry what your Significant Other believes or how your family reacts. It’ll be ok. More than that, YOU’RE ok. And YOU are participating in what is holy, and life-giving, and godly! Let it grow!