Modern Nativity: Mary

-Rev Amy BeVille-

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38

Mary could not have known what was to come when she offered, “Here am I…”  It seems to me that none of us knows at critical junctures in our lives, what is to come.
 
Christmases come and go.  What the day may hold is kindly unknown.  This year begins with trepidation; perhaps every year does. My father has Alzheimers.
 
At six thirty, I call my dad’s caregiver and ask if he is up.  “He’s already had his coffee.  We’ll have your dad ready!”  I get in my car; an unusual gift of 2 inches of snow lies on the ground.  Ahhh, a white Christmas; dreams are made of such things. I drive through the winter wonderland to pick up my dad.  He is excited and ready to roll. Back in the car, we talk.
“Beautiful, huh, Dad?” 
He nods.  He asks if it is Friday. 
I say, “No, its Christmas day… its Saturday.” 
“Oh, Saturday.”
“Merry Christmas, Dad!”
“Merry Christmas,” he replies with little affect.  “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to open Christmas presents.”  He nods. 
The roads are a bit slicker; snow is still falling.  I down-shift; the car begins to slide from side to side.
“What do you think dad?  Do you think we can make it?”
“I believe we can.”
“Do you know who taught me to drive in the snow?”
“Who?”
“You did.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“How am I doing?”
“I think everything will be okay.”
“Yes, everything will be okay.”
“Dad, if we’re gonna make it up the next hill, we’re gonna have to get some speed.  What do you think?”
“I think if you do this everything will be alright.”
“Can you feel us sliding?”
“I think you’re doing the right thing.”
“I’ve got to go faster or we’ll never make it.”
“Uh huh.”
 
Words echoing: everything will be alright.  I wonder if he had said them to me when I was younger?  I wonder if he said them for me or for him?  I wonder if they are just words that somehow made the long trip from his brain across his lips?  Everything will be alright.We join the family. Dad sits by the Christmas tree and opens his presents. He doesn’t realize there is a gift inside. Gifts lay on his lap, and he doesn’t notice. I look at my dad, “What are you thinking?”
 
“You know I’m not quite right.”
“I know.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Well, Dad, just sit back and enjoy the fire.”
“The fire needs another log,” he reminds me yet again.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Everything’s gonna be alright.”  I put another log on the fire.

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Here we are, Lord. Going through our lives, our struggles as well as precious moments of joy… striving to be the people you call us to be. May we accept your gift of a Savior, who comforts us and leads us to safe places when we need to know everything’s gonna be alright. Amen

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Rev Amy BeVille, from Signal Mountain, Tennessee, is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); she currently serves as pastor of Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Fayetteville, Georgia. She has served churches from Kentucky to Texas and back to Georgia! She has been a popular speaker and the music resource at a number of women’s retreats. As a complement to her ministry, BeVille is a singer/songwriter and currently plays venues from Nashville to Chattanooga to Atlanta. She has several albums to her credit, with her latest, “Second Chances” available on CDBaby.com.  She also works as a music therapist focusing on work with seniors who have dementia or Alzheimers. In her free time, BeVille is found restoring her historic home in Acworth, GA.

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