The Generations Together Worship You, O Lord!

Luke 1:35-45

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.  And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.”  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.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit  and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?  For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Lord,
may we be like Elizabeth & Mary
this Christmas.
These women from two different generations:
one "getting on in years";
one a young woman.
one married for decades;
one just engaged.
one with dreams unfulfilled;
one with visions of angels.

In a time of great change
in their pregnancies,
they run to each other -
one old and one young.
They rejoice together, O God.
They share their experiences of Your blessings.
Very different stories
and yet so very similar.

Elizabeth & Mary
resist the temptation
to turn only to their peers.
Instead they find support,
strength, and encouragement
in each other.
Two women from different generations
Worshiping you, O God, together.

You are a God of all generations,
and we generations need each other.

This Christmas 

Lord, may we be like Elizabeth and Mary

turning to each other to find 

support, strength, and encouragement!

The generations together worshiping you, O Lord.

Amen.



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The above prayer inspired by the thoughts of my friend Nate Phillips in his blog post:Talkin-bout-my-generation