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Just Another Jim

Just Another Essay



We're Going To Have A Baby!

Essay Posted March 27, 2007 by James E. Nelson

I had a most strange conversation at church the other day. Actually, I suspect it was a snippet of a conversation that was either going on in this person’s head or with some unknown person prior to my arriving on the scene. Suddenly said conversationalist asked if I didn’t agree that it’s odd how we American converts to Orthodoxy insist on such thorough intellectual catechesis when churches in the old countries (with the possible exception of Russia, they noted) had such poor catechesis and yet the Orthodox faithful have remained faithful for nearly two thousand years.

It’s amazing how many thoughts can simultaneously flash through one’s brain. Do American converts insist on thorough catechesis? I thought most of them just wanted to get chrismated and get it over with. Did the old countries actually have poor catechesis? It sounded suspiciously like the arrogance of an “ugly American” rather than a statement of fact. And if you’re going to smear everyone else from the Indian subcontinent in a great arc to northeast Africa, why give the Russians a pass? You’re . . . Well, actually, I have no idea what you are other than American, but I’m pretty sure you’re not a Russian.

I may have a multi-threaded multi-processor brain, but I don’t have a multi-threaded multi-processor mouth, so all I said was, “Yeah, uh-huh.”

It turned out to be as good a response as any because said conversationalist went on to say, “You know, we should worry more about getting our lives changed instead of getting our brains filled.”

“Okay,” I thought, “Who can disagree with that sentiment since the Apostle Paul said something rather similar? Besides, said conversationalist doesn’t appear to want to be disagreed with.” So all I said was, “Yeah, uh-huh.”

Who knows, maybe she was thinking about the Annunciation. (But more about that later.)

Sunday morning the high school students seemed to be rousing from their annual winter hibernation. One of the kids in my Church School class actually had a question. It was a probing question. It was a feisty question. It was a question about whether not going to church was a sin. And then, with furrowed brow and ominous, squinty eyes, she said, “And if you say, ‘I don’t know’ one more time, I’m going to walk out!”

(You see, I say “I don’t know” quite a bit. I’ve discovered that “I don’t know” is a perfectly good answer within Orthodoxy; the Holy Fathers said that sort of thing quite a bit. Trying to emulate the Holy Fathers, I say “I don’t know” on occasion in the Church School class.)

I really wanted to say “I don’t know” just to see if she would walk out. I’m pretty sure she was just pulling my chain. Instead, I said, “I’ll get back to you next week. . . . And you may not like the answer.” You see, the question was a bit more complicated and will require a bit more than just a yes or no answer and that’s all we had time for at that point in class.

Furthermore, I’ve discovered that it’s not always helpful to have all these right answer floating around our brains. Right answers tend to mislead us into thinking we’re right with God. But being right with God and having right answers are two different sorts of things. As St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

March 25 is a big feast in the Church both east and west, and it’s one of the twelve primary feasts in Orthodoxy. It celebrates the day when the angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced,

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” (Luke 1:30-32)

It is sometimes said that the Annunciation marks the beginning of our salvation. I myself would push it back into eternity before creation was even created, but I understand the point. It is on this day that we celebrate the beginning of the time when the Second Person of the Trinity set aside his privileges of deity and humbled himself to become human (the kenosis). For those who missed the connection, the Feast of Annunciation (Mar 25) comes nine months prior to the Feast of Nativity (Dec 25).

One of the things that’s instructive about the feast is that it celebrates Gabriel’s announcement and not Jesus’ conception. Celebrating the announcement rather than the conception was neither an automatic nor obvious decision. In some of the older Latin church calendars, for instance, the Feast is called the “Conceptio Christi” (The Conception of Christ). But over time the Church, in her corporate wisdom realized it was better to focus on the Annunciation. We can see Gabriel standing before Mary saying, “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God” (v 30). We can easily imagine the surprise on Mary’s part: “How can this be, since I am a Virgin?” We can endlessly ponder Mary’s magnificent response: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (v 38).

In contrast, if we focused on the conception itself, our enquiring minds would want to know all sorts of things we’re incapable of understanding. Mary was a virgin. So, just how did she get pregnant? The correct answer to that question, by the way, is “I don’t know.” But human nature being what it is, if we spend the day seeking knowledge that is too marvelous for us, we tend to miss the point that God intended. If the church is busy saying, “I don’t know” impatient people just might get up and walk out. In contrast, by focusing on the Annunciation rather than the Conception, we are invited to ponder Mary’s humility and obedience in our hearts.

It’s one of those waysides on the path toward true knowledge of God that causes us to choose between ourselves (and our intellect) or God himself. Are we going to get smart or allow our lives to be transformed? Are we going to try to find God by getting our brains filled or are we going to allow our lives to be changed? Are we going to deduce the process or ponder the truth? Are we going to improve our intellect or prepare our hearts? By settling on “The Feast of the Annunciation” instead of “Conceptio Christ” the wise and holy people who gave their lives for their Savior and his Church point us in the direction we ought to go.

As my conversationalist friend at church and my Church School student reminded me, we love answers. But knowledge should not always be the goal of things. And in a subtle way, the Feast of the Annunciation reminds us of this difficult truth.