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DTSTAMP:20260705T144221Z
UID:189-1080128@christchurchpelham.org
DTSTART:20280325T140000Z
DTEND:20280325T143000Z
CLASS:PUBLIC
CREATED:20260629T165458
DESCRIPTION:Today’s feast commemorates how God made known to a young Jewi
 sh woman that she was to be the mother of his Son. The Annunciation has be
 en a major theme in Christian art\, in both East and West\, and innumerabl
 e sermons and poems have been composed about it. The term coined by Cyril 
 of Alexandria for the Blessed Virgin\, Theotokos (“the God-bearer”)\, 
 was affirmed by the General Council of Ephesus in 431.\nMany theologians s
 tress that Mary accepted her vocation with perfect conformity of will. Mar
 y’s self-offering in response to God’s call has been compared to that 
 of Abraham\, the father of believers. Just as Abraham was called to be the
  father of the chosen people\, and accepted his call\, so Mary was called 
 to be the mother of the faithful\, the new Israel. She is God’s human ag
 ent in the mystery of the Incarnation. Her response to the angel\, “Let 
 it be to me according to your word\,” is identical with the faith expres
 sed in the prayer that Jesus taught: “Your will be done on earth as in h
 eaven.” But while many Christians emphasize the submissiveness of Mary\,
  according to the sixth-century Syriac writer Jacob of Sarug\, the most im
 portant words that Mary spoke were not those of quiet acquiescence but rat
 her\, “How can this be?” Indeed\, in Jacob’s account of the gospel e
 ncounter\, Mary’s response is much more than a single question. Instead\
 , a teenage girl takes on an archangel in a theological debate and freely 
 consents only when she has been convinced that the angel’s word is true.
  In this interpretation\, it is Mary’s eagerness to understand God’s p
 lan and her own role in it that makes her exemplary rather than her meek c
 onsent. Jacob contrasts her behavior with Eve\, who did not question the s
 erpent that tempted her in the garden but uncritically accepted the claim 
 that she and Adam would become like gods without testing it first. In Eve
 ’s case\, “lack of doubt gave birth to death” because she simply bel
 ieved whatever she was told and “was won over without any debate.” In 
 both of these interpretations\, however\, our salvation is only possible b
 ecause of Mary’s free cooperation with God in that salvation. It has bee
 n said\, “God made us without us\, and redeemed us without us\, but cann
 ot save us without us.” Mary’s assent to God’s call opened the way f
 or God to accomplish the salvation of the world. It is for this reason tha
 t all generations have called her “blessed.”
LAST-MODIFIED:20260629T165458
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:The Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
URL;VALUE=URI:https://christchurchpelham.org/events/the-annunciation-to-the
 -blessed-virgin-mary/2028-03-25
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 png:https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2026/06/29/20/54/08/29d10f7f-96ed
 -46c4-9dc3-ee225d39c24a/ChatGPT-Image-Jun-29-2026-at-04_53_43-PM.png
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