Today's Gospel reading speaks of a seemingly private conversation between Mary and the voice of a messenger. That's what angel means, a messenger. I say that the conversation was seemingl y private, because we have been invited to listen in on it, much like an auditor in a classroom.

We listen in - not for curiosity's sake, and not for any historical interest. We listen because in our listening to a voice speaking to Mary, we can hear the voice speaking also to us. For Jesus was announced and born into this world not just for Mary's sake but for our sake and the world's sake.

Even beyond that, the annunciation story was written down in Scripture not for Mary's sake. She had long since died when it was written. It was written for us to see ourselves in it., that we might draw hope and inspiration from it.

So when you hear this story read, put yourself in Mary's shoes. Garb yourself in Mary's dress. Listen with her ears. And hear the voice speaking to you, and Mary speaking as you.

These are the high points of this unanticipated conversation between Mary and a voice from God:

Greetings, Mary! The Lord, of the universe, is with you!

Thunderstruck, perplexed, fearful, Mary is reduced to silence.

“Mary, "Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God.” You will carry the Christ child within you womb and give birth to him.

No, says Mary. No way! No how! I have had no man.

Says the voice, “Nothing is impossible with God."

And Mary responds, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be as you say."

I believe that in that one short story the story of all Christians is being told.

In affirming that, we must run counter to most artistic representations of the Annunciation. For who of us has ever seen and been addressed by a floating angelic being with fluttering wings? Who of us has ever found a halo around our ethereal head?

But not all paintings of the Annunciation are like that. Look sometime at the Annunciation painted by the African American Henry Tanner a century ago, in which Mary is portrayed as human as human can be, sitting on her rumpled bed before a strange, bright light, perplexed, yet inquisitive, standoffish, yet attentive. That's a portrait you can find yourself in.

So, put yourself now into this story and listen as Mary to a voice addressing you..

Addressing you, Rita, John, Bob, Sue, Harry, Lisa, whoever you are, and saying: The Lord of all time and space, who is holy and we are not, who abides inapproachably, never seen, shrouded in mystery, and at the end of days coming in judgment - this Lord is with you.”

What do you imagine hearing that, and what do you say to that? Do you say: Who am I that God should come near to me, and just step into my life like that? I am nothing and God is everything. This is too much for me! Where will it lead to? Where will it take me? I don't think I'm ready for that. I have my own plans for my life. Does not Scripture say, “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God”?

The voice persists and says to you, Do not be afraid! God is not against you. God is with you to favor you. God has planted God's word within you, beginning in baptism - the message of Christ, the seed of new life. Christ is being formed within you and growing in you, and is revealed to the world through you.

And what do you say to that? You answer like Mary answered with disbelief: How can this be? I'm no sain!? I am not material for God. God needs someone other than me, better than me, wiser than me, holier than me! No, it's impossible that the Son of this most mysterious God should be living and growing and waiting to be revealed through me!

But the voice says to you: No! No! Nothing is impossible with God.

You marvel in hearing that. The thought of it swirls within your mind. It amazes you. It is beyond all belief at first - that in this vast universe in which we are but a dot that Christ should be reborn within me, grow within me, and be manifested through me!

But over time, nurtured by the word, the promise of God, you embrace the wonder of it all, and with Mary you say in faith: Here am I, Lord. Let your will be done in me and through me as you say.

Now, isn't that, as I described it, what our Christian experience has been and is about? Hearing God address us. Hearing God's promise to be with us. Moving from fear to faith, from thinking we mean nothing to God to knowing we mean everything to God.