Across the Pastor’s Desk by Mark Boorsma

 

On this date the church year remembers the visit of Mary to her relative Elizabeth — two expectant mothers-to-be whose babies will be Jesus and John the Baptist. But it’s fascinating how a 2,000-years-ago incident looks different through the lens of this particular day. I write this in Seattle after playing the tourist today. The sights, sounds and fishy smells of Pike Place market and the customary contribution to the gum wall — these contribute to an odd frame of mind in which to contemplate Mary’s visit to Elizabeth.

Odd, but perhaps relevant. Knowing I would be writing about Mary and Elizabeth, I noticed baby bumps way more than I would otherwise, and pondered the random, as-yet uncertain hopes we all experience as we anticipate a newborn in our families. Knowing the rest of the story and the violent deaths of John the Baptist and Jesus, I cringe with every parent’s worst fears about the safety of their beloved children. This world is a perilous place.

It’s also a fresh perspective to write as a traveler about another traveler, as Mary made her way from Nazareth to Ain Karim. Curious vendors today at Pike Place, expecting the usual crowds of travelers, made conversation by asking, “Where are you from?” And what a rich array of answers they must have received, because I saw people whose origins would have been the Pacific islands, the Indian subcontinent, East Africa, every corner of Asia and all points in between. This world is a breathtaking tapestry of diversity.

Who could have imagined, had they casually observed Mary and Elizabeth greeting one another on a day long ago in Ain Karim, that their sons would so profoundly continue to impact history, culture and religion?   And which of today’s babies will do the same? This world is a busy grid of opportunity and impact.

So, dear reader, where are you from, and where are you going? A wide and wondrous world awaits your arrival with hope and expectation.

What better or holier icon of hope and opportunity could there be than a pregnant young woman, setting forth on foot to a distant village?

Mark Boorsma is a pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.