Luke 1:26-38

1. We are all favoured ones and God is with us. Sometimes we are more aware of this than others. How have you experienced being a favoured person, one blessed by God? How have you experienced God's presence? Who has been Gabriel to you - a messenger of good news?

2. ‘Do not be afraid.' Mary was perplexed by the words of the angel. Perhaps you too have sometimes been perplexed by life's path and wondered what it all meant. Perhaps at times you have doubted if God was really with you. In your troubled moments who has been an ‘angel' helping to lower your anxiety?

3. Mary was taken by surprise by the invitation, but she did not tell the angel she was not ready, nor ask him to return later. She was prepared to go with the invitation even though it was not the ‘right moment'. ‘Here I am Lord.' What invitations have come to you at the ‘wrong time' and how have you responded?

4. Mary's response serves as a model for us - she is one who says ‘yes' to what life offers. What is it like for you to say ‘yes' to life? Perhaps at this moment in your life you are being invited to say ‘Here I am, Lord'?