December 9, 2020
Luke1:36-38—Mary
“. . . Elizabeth in her old age . . . conceived a son . . . Then Mary said, Here I am . . .” Luke 1:36, 38a
This passage, highlighting the promise of a child to a young woman, Mary, and to an older woman, Elizabeth, reminds me that life-giving births can occur to the young and to the old.
Hanging on my living room wall is a grouping of three figures which are a metaphor for that truth in my own life. A picture of each of my daughters on either side of a framed doily represents life-giving relationships of my young adulthood and of my old age. My girls helped to shape me into the person I have become, while the doily represents my third child, a Russian ministry born in old age that has demonstrated to me who I am.
Richard Rohr in his book, “Falling Upward” says that younger years serve to create a container for one’s life, while older age represents the resulting container which holds the person you have become. David Brooks talks about this same phenomenon in his book, “The Second Mountain.” Russia ministry is my second mountain, my fall upward, the child of old age.
For the last dozen years I have had the privilege of finding my purpose by wholeheartedly committing myself – my time, my energy, my creativity, and my money to a partnership initiated through PCUSA between my local church in Raleigh and our partner church in Smolensk, Russia. And I have found a sense of purpose and uncontainable joy beyond imagination.
Prayer: Gracious God, help us find ourselves in service to others. Amen.
Joan DeBruyn