Galatians 4:4-7 (NRSV)
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Verse 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, Verse 5in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. Verse 6And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Verse 7So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Devotion
With Christians of many denominations, around this bizarre and beautiful planet, we can celebrate today the life and witness of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus. The Eastern churches name her Theotokos, which means the one who bears God.
Questions of veneration, virginity, miracles and manifestations aside, Mary helps us understand this about Emmanuel: atonement and incarnation are a single thing. God’s movement, in love and fullness, into the frames of our fragile bodies and into the history of this hurting world is the way God is, even now, rescuing and redeeming all things.
Because Jesus swam and swirled in the darkness and deep of Mary’s womb, we are no longer slaves, but children of God, heirs and inheritors of all that Christ is.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, you have entered our beating, breathing hearts and will no longer be found apart from flesh. We give you thanks for your servant, Mary, by whose faith and obedience you breached the boundary between the human and the holy. May our souls and our selves magnify the joyous gospel of your grace, and may we be your people forever. Amen.