Aprofessor once shared with me a story of a Lutheran pastor baptizing an infant of his congregation. The pastor himself was a very large and burly man, intimidating if not wearing his white cassock. The parents handed him the tiny child. He took the baptismal shell, and filled it from the font three times as he baptized the infant in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then, lifting the child above his head and high into the air, he intoned over the congregation in a booming, bass voice, “Yes!”
All life comes from God; and, I believe, all of life’s happenings, its joys, its vicissitudes, its ups, its downs, its beginnings and its ends are clothed in the will of God. Saying “Yes” to Life, is to say “Yes” to God.
Why save the beautiful, inspiring scripture regarding the Annunciation for Advent and Christmas? Here is a very young woman named Mary. She is a virgin. She is engaged to a wonderful man by the name of Joseph. The archangel Gabriel appears to her with life-changing news: she is miraculously going to give birth to a son—the Son of God. Had she planned to have children? Did she not anticipate the reaction of her friends and community? What would Joseph say? And “Son of God”—what mortal would presume to be prepared to be so responsible?
But this is her response to God through the angel Gabriel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary was saying “Yes” to God. Saying “Yes” is an affirmation of God’s will for our lives.
In his second letter to Corinth (1:20), Paul says, “In Christ, every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes’.” This is to say that regardless of any life circumstance, God is always for us. To say “Yes” to Life, “Yes” to God, is to say “Yes” to all that Life puts before us, in the sure faith that what is happening to us is what is supposed to be happening, and if it is supposed to be happening, then, despite all appearances and presuppositions, it is good.
Let’s be clear that saying “Yes,” that agreeing, is not the same as compliance. Saying “Yes” is not intended to make us someone we are not or intended to compromise morals and ideals. But affirming “Yes” can and does affect us and the world in a positive manner.
I can just imagine the disciple Andrew on the mountain that day, looking down at a little boy unpacking a small lunch amidst 5,000 hungry people and asking, “Did you bring enough for everyone?” And the boy answering with a smile on his face, “Yes!”
Yes can be a gift to another. Yes can be generosity toward another’s desire or need. Practice saying “Yes” when your first instinct may be to say “No.”
“Will you listen to this song I wrote?” “Yes.”
“Would you please do the dishes tonight?” “Yes.”
“Pawpaw, will you play a game with us?” “Yes.”
“Would you like to go to the store with me and help carry the groceries?” “Yes.”
“May I borrow that?” “Yes.”
“Can you help out at the food pantry tomorrow?” “Yes.”
“Do you want to attend church on Sunday?” “Yes.”
“Should we invite our neighbor to go with us?” “Oh Yes.”
Because of Mary’s “Yes,” God came into Mary’s life. Because of Mary’s “Yes,” Christ came into all the world. And God can come into your life, too, in countless, splendid ways when you say “Yes!”
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