The Annunciation
Over the next week the lectionary shifts its focus from John the Baptist to Mary, the young, unmarried, mother of Jesus... I'm conducting a few services in the next week that focus on her and the "Annunciation" of her impending pregnancy... And in them I'll be using probably the first monologue I ever wrote... written way back in 1995 for my friend Diane Petherick (as she was then) to deliver at a Christmas show we had "conceived" called "Christmas Craic!" It was subsequently filmed for UTV, but I didn't get to direct it and (in my not so humble opinion) it was rubbish.
I thought I had posted it here previously... but for some reason I haven't...
I now correct that omission...
What a dream! No... No... It wasn't a dream... I wasn't even asleep... Or if it was a dream then it was more real than anything else I've ever known! I could smell the light and feel every sound. And no, I wasn't drunk!
It was the morning time. I was at home... My mother's house... and I was staring out the window, aware of the bright summer sun streaming in, warming my face. Then I became aware of the sunlight getting brighter and it seemed as if the very light itself grew arms and legs and sprouted wings. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks with me. But then the light stepped through the window and filled the room. It was blindingly bright. Yet I could do nothing but look at it. I didn't have to squint, or shield my eyes, but it was brighter than the sun itself. I thought I could make out the face of a man. By now I was terrified; I wanted to look away, to run away, but I couldn't. For that moment in time the only things in existence were me and that light in human form.
The face was looking at me, and speaking, as if with a thousand voices at once:
"Don't be afraid Mary" He said, it said,
"Don't be afraid!" I ask you!? What was I supposed to be!? I closed my eyes but I could still see it. It spoke again. I pressed my hands to my ears, but still I heard it.
"Mary you have been singled out by God. You are going to have a child!"
"A What!?" I shouted as I opened my eyes and took away my hands from my ears.
"A son," he continued. "You will call him Jesus and he will be known as the son of the Most High. He shall sit on David's throne and will reign over the house of Jacob for ever."
"But that's not possible, I'm an virgin!" I thought, or said, I'm not sure which. What and whichever, the light smiled, and it's beauty was overwhelming. I was won over and heard myself saying:
"I am the servant of God. Whatever he wants me to do I'll do!"
And again the light smiled. A great big broad cheesy grin, so broad that the light stretched out to either side, and kept on stretching out and out until it disappeared.
That can't have happened I thought, but I knew it had. Then I thought of Joseph. How can I tell him? I thought:
"Joe. I'm going to have the Son of God Almighty!!"
The shock will probably kill him. Or he'll kill me! But I needn't have worried. I should have known better. He's a good man Joseph. He was going to hush it up; divorce me quietly and then one afternoon he rushed in...
"Mary... Mary... You'll never guess what I just saw in a dream."
Oh yes I could...
I thought I had posted it here previously... but for some reason I haven't...
I now correct that omission...
What a dream! No... No... It wasn't a dream... I wasn't even asleep... Or if it was a dream then it was more real than anything else I've ever known! I could smell the light and feel every sound. And no, I wasn't drunk!
It was the morning time. I was at home... My mother's house... and I was staring out the window, aware of the bright summer sun streaming in, warming my face. Then I became aware of the sunlight getting brighter and it seemed as if the very light itself grew arms and legs and sprouted wings. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks with me. But then the light stepped through the window and filled the room. It was blindingly bright. Yet I could do nothing but look at it. I didn't have to squint, or shield my eyes, but it was brighter than the sun itself. I thought I could make out the face of a man. By now I was terrified; I wanted to look away, to run away, but I couldn't. For that moment in time the only things in existence were me and that light in human form.
The face was looking at me, and speaking, as if with a thousand voices at once:
"Don't be afraid Mary" He said, it said,
"Don't be afraid!" I ask you!? What was I supposed to be!? I closed my eyes but I could still see it. It spoke again. I pressed my hands to my ears, but still I heard it.
"Mary you have been singled out by God. You are going to have a child!"
"A What!?" I shouted as I opened my eyes and took away my hands from my ears.
"A son," he continued. "You will call him Jesus and he will be known as the son of the Most High. He shall sit on David's throne and will reign over the house of Jacob for ever."
"But that's not possible, I'm an virgin!" I thought, or said, I'm not sure which. What and whichever, the light smiled, and it's beauty was overwhelming. I was won over and heard myself saying:
"I am the servant of God. Whatever he wants me to do I'll do!"
And again the light smiled. A great big broad cheesy grin, so broad that the light stretched out to either side, and kept on stretching out and out until it disappeared.
That can't have happened I thought, but I knew it had. Then I thought of Joseph. How can I tell him? I thought:
"Joe. I'm going to have the Son of God Almighty!!"
The shock will probably kill him. Or he'll kill me! But I needn't have worried. I should have known better. He's a good man Joseph. He was going to hush it up; divorce me quietly and then one afternoon he rushed in...
"Mary... Mary... You'll never guess what I just saw in a dream."
Oh yes I could...
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