You: God's Instrument

Maybe you had the experience of being there at just the right time to be of major help. It is amazing to have just the right stuff and to be positioned perfectly to make something great happen or to prevent disaster. Perhaps it is not a single instance or moment. Perhaps it is a longstanding role, and you fit within it for many good things to come about. Of course, it is possible you feel uncomfortable making such a claim. Modesty can be in the way. Let me just ask, have you ever felt called by God, and used by God? I hope that does not feel too presumptuous a notion to grasp.

It is not unusual for people to feel as though it is reserved for saints and angels: this business of being called by God or used by God. On the other hand, who are the saints, really? Is it not you who trust in God; is it not all who believe? Is it possible, moreover, that angels exist, and their ministrations extend to the matters of ordinary people like us?

When we pray the prayer attributed to St. Francis, we say, “Lord, make us instruments of your peace” we go on to ask that we be instrumental for love, pardon, union, faith, hope, light, and joy. We add requests to be channels of consolation, understanding, and again, love. This prayer presumes we can be used by God. We should ask ourselves whether we can take upon our own lips the attitude of the prophet, Isaiah, during his vision, when he said, “Here am I, Lord” send me. (Isaiah 6:8) Can we authentically sing as prayer these hymns:

Breathe on my, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love what thou dost love,
and do what thou wouldst do (Hymn 508, Hymnal 1982)

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee;
take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love
Take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne. (Hymn 707, Hymnal 1982)

If these prayers feel natural for you, not foreign, I am glad. If you feel they fit for someone else, not you, I respect that, but please hang in here with me for a little more. Think about when God adopted the right moment, “the fullness of time” to enter into our sphere of life. The immortal, invisible God, only wise picked not a golden double door of the grandest palace of the most powerful royal house. God picked Mary’s door. The home of a young Jewish peasant was the setting for reverent, holy inquiry, the meeting, discourse heavenly and earthly.

The angel entered her room and said, “Greetings to you, Mary, O favored one! —the Lord be with you!” Mary was deeply perturbed at these words and wondered what such a greeting could possibly mean. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid Mary; God loves you dearly, you are going to be the mother of a son, and you will call him Jesus, he will be great and will be known as the Son of the most high.” “I belong to the Lord, body and soul,” replied Mary. “let it happen as you say.” And the angel left her. — Luke 1:28-32, 38 (J. B. Phillips Translation)

These key exchanges in what we have named “The Annunciation” draw us in. The Archangel, Gabriel announces to young Mary God’s purpose for her as the bearer of the Son, the Savior; she will bear the Word into the world.

I propose that God has purposes designed for you as well. In his great book, The Go-Between God, John V. Taylor accentuates profoundly the connection experienced between the Spirit and the soul. As he develops it, these are not experiences reserved exclusively for monks, experts, theologians, or nuns. The prerequisite is that one be human. I suppose the other requirement is a capacity for a sense of awe and wonder. Sometimes people speak of “Epiphanies” when naming moments of special spiritual attention or revelation. Taylor likes to call them “Annunciations.”

Taylor speaks profoundly about this archetypal “meeting” between Gabriel and Mary and I shall have to say more about it tomorrow and share two pieces from poets that illuminate the engaging nature of The Annunciation. For now, just this portion of the poem by John Donne, “The Extasie” which Taylor suggests as descriptive of that Mary/Gabriel connection, and the annunciations others might have with the most high, the extraordinary within the ordinary:

Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread
our eyes, upon one double string;
So to’ intergraft our hands, as yet
Was all the means to make us one.

The Prayer of Owen Meany by John Irving and the story it somewhat mirrors, Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum are my favorite novels. They both have characters that think of themselves as having a calling. Owen Meany, an odd, small child, from early on, thinks of himself as God’s instrument. As the plot turns and twists toward its conclusion it is clear to the other characters and clear to the reader, that indeed he is. What I hope is you begin to see that you are as well.

Allow annunciations in your life. Listen to God’s request of you. Take in a scene, perhaps in nature, and realize it is a special moment. John V. Taylor describes it like this: “It is a feeling of being in communion, communication—with a scene, with beauty, as though there is a kind of current between yourself and what you are looking at.” Have a moment of awe like that, and realized the Spirit of God connects with you. Mary in her astounding way, and indeed, you in your way are bearers of the Word into the world. You to carry the Savior into the world. You too can say in your heart to God “Let it be to me, according to your word.”