Reading the story of Mary and Elizabeth through a new scriptural lens, Laura Witkowski encourages us to reflect on how we prepare the way for Jesus and fulfill our promises faithfully.

LAURA WITKOWSKI
Lead Associate Director of Connectional Ministries, Michigan Conference

Keeping a promise can often feel like a challenging task. It could be as simple as saying, “I promise I’ll call you later,” or as profound as declaring, “I promise to love you forever” — all of it is hard. Promises carry weight and come with expectations. As a parent, I’ve always been conscious not to overpromise — also hard. Situations change, people change, life changes, and sometimes “promises made are promises broken.” We are only human, after all.

The theme of promise is woven deeply into scripture, with God making numerous promises to humanity. One we celebrate this time of year is the birth of Jesus, a fulfillment of God’s promise to the world.

This past summer, delegates were gifted a copy of First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference. I read Luke 1:39-55 in a new light in this translation as it revealed the focus on “promise” that I hadn’t fully appreciated before. Here is a portion of the text (click here to read the full text):

Bitter Tears (Mary) quickly put together a traveling bundle and went to visit her cousin Creator Is My Promise (Elizabeth), who lived in a nearby village in the hill country of the Land of Promise (Judea). When she entered the home of her relatives, she greeted her cousin.

When Creator Is My Promise (Elizabeth) heard Bitter Tear’s (Mary’s) greeting, she felt her child jump inside her. She was filled with Holy Spirit, and with a loud cry she lifted her voice and spoke these blessing words to Bitter Tears (Mary).

“The Most Holy One has honored you more than any other woman,” she laughed. “The child you carry inside you will bring great blessings to all people. Why is Creator being so kind to me sending the mother of the Great Chief to visit my home? As soon as I heard your greeting, my baby jumped for joy inside me! You have been chosen by the Maker of Life for a great honor, because you believed his words to you.”

Scripture quotation is reproduced from First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, copyright © 2021 by Rain Ministries, Inc. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved worldwide. www.ivpress.com.

I always keyed in on the celebration of it all and Mary’s courage in accepting God’s plan. By accepting the role of the mother of the Savior, Mary asserted a vision of God’s justice that could upend the oppressive structures of her time. That alone was a lot! What I saw differently was Elizabeth’s closer connection to promise. Her name, equivalent to Creator Is My Promise, and her home, the Land of Promise, were now more significant to me.

This refreshed look made me reflect on God’s promise and our promise to God as United Methodists. We embrace the idea of “the ministry of all believers,” that laypersons are the church. Through our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, we share the love of Jesus, emphasizing grace and putting faith and love into action. We believe that each person is created in God’s image and deeply loved by God. A core part of our identity, which I think about often, is our promise to live in connection with one another. My hope is that the laity in our congregations know and experience the power of being in ministry together, locally and worldwide. I cannot emphasize this enough. As a worldwide church, we can accomplish far more in ministry together than we could ever do as individual people and congregations.

While keeping promises can be difficult, especially in a world where circumstances and people change, God’s promises remain steadfast. In rethinking Elizabeth’s connection to promise, we have been challenged to see that our promises are foundational to our relationship with God and one another. As United Methodists, we affirm that our call is to live out our promises through acts of service, grace, and love, even as the landscape of the church evolves.

This Advent, as we celebrate God’s unwavering promises through the birth of Jesus, let us reflect on how we, as laypersons in The United Methodist Church, are preparing the way for Jesus in our lives, communities, and world. May we be inspired to fulfill our promises faithfully, living out God’s love in our communities and around the world.

Last Updated on December 18, 2024