Adult Bible Study Online

An Unexpected Sign

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"Saying Yes to God's Call"
Lesson text: Luke 1:30-38
By: Ken Seitz
Email: kenseitz@hotmail.com

On Friday afternoon last week, I had occasion to go by our meetinghouse. Walking down the hall, I glanced through the open door into one of the all-purpose rooms across from the church office. There I spied someone busily at work with stacks of papers on the table in front of her. It was Elizabeth Hostetter, engaged in her usual Friday afternoon task, stuffing and folding hundreds of worship bulletins for Sunday. "Oh, yes," she responded cheerily when I greeted her. "Once a week you’ll find me here assisting the church secretary."

Onward I went toward the church mailboxes to see what might have accumulated in ours. I found Ruth Burkholder busily stuffing mailboxes—a flyer for each of several hundred of them. Could get boring after awhile, going up one column and down the next until all boxes had been served. But here again we exchanged cheerful greetings.

Later I found some biographical information on both Elizabeth and Ruth. Elizabeth has served as an overseas missions nurse in a variety of settings through the years. Ruth has spent decades living in New York City supporting church outreach and development there. Now living in retirement, both are engaged in volunteer service for their congregation.

In today’s text Mary says, "I am the Lord’s servant." We are always awed when at Advent we come across the angel’s announcement to Mary. In fact, we tend to put Mary in a category by herself for her supreme role in God’s plan of salvation history.

But note this from the Adult Bible Study, p. 12: "Simply put, this is the story of an ordinary young woman who hears the call of God and says yes to that call. . . . we each know Mary’s story in our own call to faith." So while Mary played a paramount role, we might want to ask ourselves whether our own yeses to God’s call are really that much different from Mary’s "May it be to me according to your word."

This message relates to the Adult Bible Study. For additional information on Adult Bible Study or Adult Bible Study Teacher, send email to info@mpn.net. To order either publication call Mennonite Publishing Network at 1 800 245-7894.