Perplexed but Pregnant with Light
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
December 7, 2025
Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections. The scripture I have chosen for this week is from Luke 1:26-33 from the New Revised Standard Version.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
After last week’s Blue Christmas remembrance, it seems only appropriate to look at peace within the Christmas story this week. To do that, I would like to begin this message by asking us all a query to ponder…ask yourself…
What are the things in my life (the noise, the trouble, the hard things) that are causing me to not have peace, currently?
[Pause to reflect]
I can relate to Friend and author Catherine Whitmire when she says,
“Peace is not a steady state, I find it, lose it, and then have to search for it again.”
Personally, when I seem to find or sense some “peace” in my life – it’s about then when I find myself caught in a traffic jam, having car problems, a sick family member, bad news in our world, that bill arrives in the mail, or I have an unexpected emergency.
The reality is that life doesn’t stop and the things that take away our peace keep coming. And I find myself being sent back to searching for some peace among the storms of life.
Finding peace in our world or in our lives takes practice. Some would even say it is a discipline. And when we practice peace, it often causes us to have to wrestle with our patience, empathy, acceptance, trust, discernment, obedience, and self-awareness.
Let’s be honest, those are not easy things to practice or work on. No wonder peace is so hard to find in our world, because it actually takes some effort from you and me.
It also means that we will need to admit that “Peace is not simply the absence of conflict” as many in our world believe and pursue – often to their detriment.
In reality, conflict often helps us grow and teaches and helps us with our patience, empathy, trust, discernment, obedience, and self-awareness.
To reconcile with a person, we are in conflict with often starts with us looking inward at our own struggles with these very things.
If you notice, God’s peace (especially what is described in scripture, and even more what is spoken of in the Christmas story) comes at often turbulent times.
Take for example, the Christmas Story for today about the Angel appearing to Mary.
Author and theologian, Walter Wangrin Jr. imagines in The Book of God that just prior to the Angel’s announcement we find Mary seeking peace amidst the chaos of her life. The noise of her betrothal had intensified, she was in tears, and the last bit of so-called peace was going to be shattered by this announcement of divine proportions we heard in our scripture for today.
As a pastor, I have officiated my share of weddings and prepared many couples for that special day. I just had the honor of officiating Andy and Stephen’s almost fairytale wedding right here in this building a week ago. And I have been preparing another couple in our meeting through pre-engagement counseling that helped them clarify their desire to get married.
In our day and age, betrothal is still often very stressful – with all the planning, organizing, preparing…
There are in-law issues, family issues, relational issues.
There are new questions, new ideals, new family members to deal with.
Often the beauty of marriage is overshadowed by a lack of peace.
Just like in Mary’s story. Mary needed some space – she needed some peace.
For those married here this morning – I have a feeling you can relate? Just take a moment to remember.
· What was your engagement time like? Was all the stress worth it?
· Maybe you are not married – and you can relate more to Mary’s aloneness.
· Maybe the stress of life or the constant barrage of people leaves you feeling alone – needing space.
Where do you go in these times? Where do you search for the peace you have lost?
In our scripture for this morning, the words that strikes me the most are “but she was MUCH PERPLEXED” – meaning completely baffled and very puzzled. Her head was probably swirling with all she had running through her mind and the roller-coaster of emotions that she was experiencing.
I don’t know about you, but I can relate to this roller-coaster of emotions. Life often leaves us feeling this way. And many times, all we can do is, like Mary, bow our heads or maybe more appropriately “bury” our heads in our arms, and weep.
We finally surrender to the stress – the lack of peace – the lack of balance – and we hit bottom. And our lives begin to cry out for God to intervene.
“Take this away.” “Fix my life and situation.” “Help me!” “Don’t give me anymore!”
In these moments we often have high expectations of God. Maybe we see what God has done in someone else’s life or situation and expect it to be the same for us.
Though, God very seldom – if ever – creates a formula, a wrote method. Scripture testifies to this fact.
Instead, God uniquely answers the cry of our individual hearts.
I am sure Mary was not expecting a messenger of God showing up and then announcing something that would send her stress level and lack of peace through the roof!
Throughout the Christmas story it alludes to Mary being terrified or scared. She was in shock and even doubted this message was for her. Her perplexity was evolving.
I often hear this happening in other people’s lives. Actually, I have also personally experienced it. When we think we are at our lowest, when we are at the bottom and scared, that is often when God is actually calling us. When God is going to use us in powerful ways. We feel unworthy, but like Mary, God finds favor with us.
On our hands and knees, in our doubt, in our questioning, with all our mistakes and bad choices, in our defeatedness, in our sadness, when we are perplexed and scared to death to find out what is around the next corner…that is when God says, “I want to birth something new inside you!”
Like Mary – each of us are called to bear the Light of the world in our lives. As Quakers we know this and affirm it. But Mary’s story reminds us again that we (ordinary people) can be pregnant with the Light of Christ!
Folks, this is a great privilege. To realize that we are pregnant with the Light of Christ is humbling. To realize there is that of God inside each of us waiting to give birth to peace, hope, love, joy to help the noisy, troubled and hard world around us and in us, is simply beautiful.
May we find time during this crazy, busy, Holiday Season, to take a moment to pause.
Remember to center down and acknowledge the Light being birthed within you.
It may be a light of reconciliation or a light of peace among your family, or it might simply calm your heart long enough to help you find some peace to get through your day.
Now, as we enter our time of waiting worship this morning, may it offer you a time of pause and peace, today. Acknowledge the Light being birthed within you and see how you will share it with your world. To help us prepare and work through our own perplexing and terrifying thoughts and emotions, I have included several queries for you to ponder this morning.
· What are the things in my life (the noise, the trouble, the hard things) that are causing me to not have peace?
· What may I need to reconcile to see peace in my life?
· What is God birthing inside of me this Holiday Season that will help bring peace to my world?