It is one of those great moments that ends up being a song, or a painting. Over the years it becomes a symbol of peace and hope, and everything good. Mary is a young girl whose life has been turned upside down. It might have been for a very good cause, but it still meant that everything in her world had changed, and she was trying to figure out what it all meant.

We aren’t told why she made the trip, but at some point, Mary went to the town of Hebron to visit with her aunt Elizabeth, the wife of a priest named Zechariah. The priests of Aaron were one of two families who were descended from a long line of temple priests and took turns performing the routine jobs at the temple in Jerusalem. We believe Elizabeth lived in Hebron, which is south of Jerusalem, and a long way from Mary’s home in Nazareth, so we’re not sure why Mary made that long and dangerous trip.

But what made this visit so special is the experience described in today’s scripture, with words that have become known as the “Magnificat”, crafted into music by Vivaldi, Bach, Rachmaninoff, and many others. It is part of daily vespers in the Roman Catholic church, and sections of the passage are a part of most every Christian tradition. They form that image of God being present, of God acting in people’s lives, they are a symbol of God’s blessing. The week before the day we remember that baby being born seems to be an appropriate time to talk about God’s blessing of Mary, and what it means to receive God’s blessing. We think about it a lot.

Have you ever said to someone, “God bless you!” or “Have a blessed day!” or perhaps, something like, “Count your blessings,” “It’s just a blessing in disguise,” or maybe you even told someone, “You have been a blessing to me.”

Have you ever said one of those things? Well, if so, you might want to rethink doing that in the future.

We usually think of God’s blessing as something that we might want to sing about and wish for someone else. Maybe God’s blessing is something that brings peace, happiness, comfort, good health, a long life, or even success and riches. We sometimes begin to believe that when those good things happen in our lives, God is blessing us. And when the difficult and sometimes painful things happen, it means that God may be punishing us, or even worse, has abandoned us. But if we look at Mary’s blessed life, we find that those who promised us that following God would bring you blessings of comfort, riches, peace, happiness, and success, are promising something that God never promised.

Let’s take a moment and remember Mary.

We first hear of her when she was about twelve years old. Old enough to be betrothed, but young enough to still be going to the well for the family’s water. She was a young girl, living in a very small town of a few dozen families, who found out that she was going to have a child. Mary may have understood her child had come from God, but it was probably more difficult to convince her family, the rest of the little town of Nazareth, and her husband-to-be. In fact, it took another angel to help Joseph understand and accept what had happened.

At some point after that, perhaps because she just needed to get away from the small-town talk, she made the dangerous trip down to visit her aunt. She traveled the hundred-plus miles through the mountains and wilderness on foot. Are you counting her blessings yet?

At some time later, she went back home and we are told that when Herod announced the census a few months later, she and Joseph had to once again make the journey from Nazareth, stopping in Jerusalem. This time, close to the birth of her child, she walked the miles through roads now crowded with other travelers going home for the census — more blessings.

The relatives in Bethlehem had a full house and all of the guesthouses were full, so Mary was led to a cave behind the house where the animals were kept. She was given fresh straw to sit on. When her baby was born, one of the large, carved stone cattle feeders was moved over so she could put her newborn baby. She spent a good part of her time standing guard over that manger to keep the curious and hungry animals away from her infant son— blessings.

Then there were the shepherds and the men from somewhere in the east. As those groups spread the word, more people came, all wanting to see the baby and remind Mary of how God had blessed her. Oh, and you do remember that one of the gifts those men from the east had brought was the herb commonly used to anoint a body after someone had died? I wonder if that felt like a blessing as Mary held her little boy in her arms.

Then they learned that Herod was determined to kill her baby, and she and Joseph had to sneak out of town in the dark of night and travel hundreds of miles through the desert to find temporary safety in Egypt. Are you feeling blessed yet?

A few months or years later, sometime after Herod was dead, the small family returned through the desert and made their way back to small town Nazareth, where it had all begun. I wonder how that went? Small towns tend to have long memories about some things.

We don’t know much about Mary’s experience raising her boy, other than the time he ran off and they found him talking with people in the temple. When someone asked him about his father, the boy said that he was standing in his father’s house. I imagine that hit daddy Joseph pretty hard, and I’m guessing there may have been similar experiences for Mary. I’m thinking it wasn’t all that easy raising the Son of God.

I imagine you are understanding my point about the meaning of “blessing”, but we can’t stop yet. We need to remember the day Jesus left Mary and Joseph in Nazareth and moved to Galilee to begin his ministry. Mary knew that Nazareth was a safe place, but Galilee was not. She had to know in her heart what was coming. And we need to remember the day she went to visit him in Galilee and someone went into the house to tell Jesus that his mother was there. She heard him say, “Who is my mother?” I’m not sure she heard any of the rest of what he said. I don’t think I would have.

And we need to skip ahead and remember the evening standing outside the walls of Jerusalem. At the stone quarry, the one the Romans used to crucify criminals. Mary stood there watching.

Of course, we remember that a few days later she stood outside the empty tomb, with everyone telling her that her son had been raised from the dead. I am sure that was good news for Mary. But I still have to wonder.

In my mind, as she stood outside the empty tomb she thought back to that first morning at the well when the angel first told her. And she thought back to the trip to Bethlehem, and to Egypt, and back. And I think she thought about all of those other things and all of the ones we know nothing about. But in my mind, if it were me standing there, I think the biggest memory going through my mind would be that visit with Elizabeth and the time she told me how much God had blessed me and my baby boy.

If it were me standing there outside the tomb, even though I was told my son had been risen from the dead, I would probably still be having second thoughts about the whole idea of being blessed.

Please understand, I am not saying we should not pray for and offer God’s blessings. But I am saying that I believe it would be helpful for us to remember just what it does mean to be blessed by God.

The word we say as blessed does not mean “happy”, “lucky”, or “success” but it comes from a word meaning “holy.” Someone who is blessed is someone who is somehow made more God-like. But there is something even more telling. The original word for “blessed” is also used to describe that which used to be upright and straight, but by some event or events has become bent. To be blessed means to experience something that makes us more God-like, by bending us, by reshaping us into the person God intends us to be.

It is another of God’s great surprises.

We come to Christmas thinking that God blesses us by bringing us happiness, joy, health, and wealth. And then Christmas arrives and reminds us, with Mary’s help, that being blessed means to become someone different. Someone who understands that:

Being blessed does not mean we always have good things happen, but that God is using us to do good things for others.

Being blessed does not mean we will always be happy, but that God is using us to bring more happiness to others.

Being blessed does not mean we will receive things, but that God is using us to give to others.

Being blessed does not mean we will always be comfortable, but that God is using us to comfort others.

Being blessed does not mean we will live a long and peaceful life, but that God is using us to help others fully live their own lives.

Being blessed does not mean we will have a grand house to live in, but that God is using us to see that others have a home.

Being blessed does not mean that we will have all of the things that we believe happy and successful people will have, but that God is using us to remind those around us to pay no attention to what others have, or look like, or where they come from.

Being blessed this Christmas may not mean getting all of the gifts you would like to receive, or being perfectly healthy and happy, or even getting through the big family day without cousin Henry doing something to irritate aunt Ruth and once again starting the big argument everyone knows is coming. In fact, being blessed by God isn’t about us at all. Our being blessed is God’s way of making us more God-like; bending us so we can live our lives the way God hopes we will live them to help others.

As I said at the beginning, if I say, “God bless you!”, I may not be offering you something you really would care to have. But it is still something I hope for all of us, so I will go ahead and say it. “May God bless you. May God use you to do great things this week for those who are around you, and may you have a blessed Christmas!”Amen.