Can you transfer the Annunciation?

Christmas = December 25
9 months earlier…
Annunciation = March 25

Regardless of when you set the date of Jesus’ birth (we collectively have landed on Dec. 25th, or at least that’s what my parish and children celebrated a few months ago), generally, babies are conceived about nine months before they are born. So, when an important celebration like the Annunciation falls in Holy Week (or as in the famous John Donne poem, on Good Friday), can we transfer it to a more palatable date? Liturgically, sure. 

However, I encourage you not to transfer the Annunciation. 

The Annunciation is when we celebrate the angel coming to Mary, and Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus. This seems like something we could and should celebrate anytime. So why keep the feast as it falls this year during Holy Week? Because we believe in the incarnation: God came as a human being. And humans are beautiful, messy, complicated, and more often than not, show up at inconvenient times. We humans contain multitudes, as Walt Whitman said. 

Think about our beloved mother of God, Mary. On the day of the Annunciation, was it really a convenient time for the Holy Spirit to come visit? Probably not. A good ten years later might have been better for her, her beloved, and her family. Ten years later could save everyone a good deal of hand wringing and potential shame. What if she could have gotten pregnant by the Holy Spirit after she was already married? Then there would have been speculation about exactly whose baby this could be. How could Jesus really be born of God if Mary and Joseph were married? The story actually makes sense the way it is: messy, poor timing, and all.

Oh, Mary. I imagine the angel appearing before her and saying “Greetings Favored one, the Lord is with you.”  Scripture says she looked “perplexed” and that exact little word only appears in this one place in holy scripture, so we can attribute all sorts of things to that word: troubled, confused, confounded (think of all the multitudes we could put into that little Greek word). Maybe that day Mary would have rather transferred the angel’s visit to a time when she was with her mom or her friend, so she could have someone to share a side-eye glance: is this angel for real? But no, Mary was on her own, and used her own wits and will to figure things out.

The story continues: the angel gives news, Mary accepts. Each time, we can find a reason why it would be easier to transfer things and each time, it is better to keep things just as they are—beautifully bizarre, a holy mess. 

I think we should not transfer the Annunciation, because life is full of moments that cannot be transferred. Some people find out they are pregnant in situations that are not the kind of stories you tell in polite company (I’m chuckling remembering not one, but a few stories I’ve heard). However, each of these stories is unique, and they are their stories, which makes them beautiful in their own way.  Our lives are full of life and death intertwining, good news mixed with terrible news. We humans contain multitudes (thanks Walt Whitman!), and we can both contain and celebrate the Annunciation and Holy Week at the same time. 

Can you think of a time when it would be easier to have transferred things, but better because you didn’t?