God's bad manners

Although my reference here is a little late for lectionary preaching, Conrad Gempf's meditation on the Mary's troubles with the Annunciation is always timely:

At least John the Baptist's mother wanted to get pregnant. Poor Mary. From the very beginning, the salvation of the world meant nothing but trouble and heartaches for her personally. Couldn't God have waited a year until they were married; or couldn't he have caused Joseph to pop the question a few months earlier? So much for the idea that God is going to work in culturally appropriate ways, eh? An unmarried woman -- pregnant -- in that culture? Forget about it.

Yet she's gonna start singing about it, praising God, within the space of a chapter. Why?

The trick is not letting culture determine what is good about your relationship with God. The trick is letting your relationship with God determine what is good.

Amen. That's something we can always benefit from remembering, isn't it?