The Post-Silent Era

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What is it about Christmas that draws you in?

Every December, I find myself drawn to the quieter corners of the Christmas story. The scenes behind the highlight reels. The moments between the headlines. Partly because the story breaks a silent era. 400 years of silence, to be exact. Partly also because Christmas unfolds in the dormant season of winter, when the days are shortest and darkest and the world feels still. It’s in that darkness that we celebrate Light breaking through.

Before shepherds saw angels and wise men followed stars, two women met in a small Judean town. Their conversation didn’t make the nativity plays, but it changed everything. Tucked inside Luke’s Gospel is this quieter miracle. Not one that happens in the heavens, but in a home. The story of Mary and Elizabeth shows us that sometimes the greatest moves of God begin in simple, trusted friendship, where his promises quietly take root.

When Hearing from God Feels Confusing

Have you ever felt like you’ve heard from God — a whisper, a conviction, a word deep in your spirit — and yet doubted it? Well, you’re in good company. Mary is celebrated for her pious obedience, but the Bible describes her as greatly troubled when the angel appeared to her.

“Favoured one… The Lord is with you,” the angel said. These are words of comfort and joy. But her first reaction wasn’t worship — it was confusion.

“How can this be?” she asked.

Ok to be fair, who wouldn’t have a few logistical questions? She’s a virgin teenager told she’s about to become a mother.

God’s message to Mary delivered by the angel was reassuring and full of promise, and yet she still wrestled with uncertainty. Many of us stay stuck right there — hearing from God but hesitating to believe it’s really for us. Hearing from God but shouting our inadequacies over his word to us.

A Poignant Visit

That’s when the scene cuts to Mary next move: she goes to visit Elizabeth. Elizabeth was the elderly wife of the high priest, Zechariah. Zechariah also had an angel visit him with a prophetic word and his doubts left him dumbfounded—mute for the duration of his wife’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. Thankfully Mary’s hesitations didn’t resulted in that!

Luke’s Gospel describes the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth. That upon hearing Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and the child in her womb leapt within her. 

I don’t want us to miss how significant this is: Elizabeth is the first person in the New Testament described as being filled with the Holy Spirit. After four hundred years of prophetic silence, God chooses an older woman — “past her prime” by the world’s standards — to speak his word. Let this be a message for you that in the kingdom of God, no one is ever past their prime.

Without a phone call or visible signs of pregnancy, Elizabeth instantly recognizes the divine life within Mary. The Spirit reveals it to her, and in obedience, she speaks a prophetic blessing:

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.”

In that moment, Elizabeth names what Mary deeply struggled believe. She calls out the promise of God in her friend — and everything changes.

Mary’s fear turns into faith. Her confusion becomes confidence. Her silence erupts into song:

“My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

The angel’s words didn’t spark Mary’s song. Elizabeth’s did.

It was only when another woman, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke life into her that Mary stepped into her calling—which is to glorify God.

Even hearing directly from heaven wasn’t enough.

Created for Community

What does this tell us? We need each other!

From the very beginning, God declared, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

The first problem God solved in the Garden wasn’t sin, it was isolation.

The enemy still uses the same old lies:

“You’re the only one struggling.”

“You’re not needed.”

“Someone else could do it better.”

But the truth is, God never meant for us to do faith alone. Even the self-sufficient, all-powerful God chooses to exist in the divine community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity itself models perfect relationship — love, humility, and unity in diversity.

If even God chooses community, how much more do we need it?

This Has to Be Stronger Than That

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor and theologian in Germany during World War II and he once wrote,

“Christian community is not an ideal we must realize, but a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”

During the war, Bonhoeffer led an underground seminary in Nazi Germany. From a nearby hill, they could see the Hitler Youth camp — young men being shaped by a very different kind of formation. While observing the Hitlerjugen in training far in the distance, someone asked Bonhoeffer why his program was so intense. Bonhoeffer replied,

“This, what we are doing here, has to be stronger than that.”

We, too, are being formed. By default we are being formed by our culture, by social media, by our work places, by our insecurities, or by isolation. But if we are to be shaped into the people of God, our community must be stronger than that. The things we allow to influence us, to speak truth over us, and to inspire to be all God created us to be must be stronger than the cultural currents that pull us without permission.

Be Someone’s Elizabeth

What would have become of Mary if Elizabeth hadn’t spoken into her life? There is so much God wants to unlock in us, and he often uses each other to do it. That’s not a flaw in His design — it’s the beauty of it. That he would put us in community to rub shoulders with one another and call forth the good gifts that God put into each one of us.

It’s humbling to think that the Creator of the universe invites us, with all our insecurities and imperfections, to play a part in his redemption story. Even when we feel broken, weary, or past our prime — he wants to use us anyway.

So this Christmas, as we remember Mary’s song and the miracle of Christ’s birth, may we also remember this: Faith flourishes in community.We need each other to believe again. So that when my faith feels shaky, or when my conviction isn’t strong, or when I doubt the word of God to me, I can lean on another—filled with the Spirit of God like Elizabeth who declared over Mary. “Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill his promise to her!” (Luke 1:45) 

That we might echo Mary’s words this Christmas and always: 

“The Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” (Luke 1:49)

What’s in the Ears

This is where I share a song or podcast I am currently into. This song is by Jess Ray, an artist I’ve shared here before, and her Christmas song titled, Gloria Gloria. My favourite line goes like this:Gloria, gloria God has come to understand us.

May you be blessed to know that the most beautiful thing about the Christmas story is that God came to be with us. In the pain, the darkness, the silence. Emmanuel: God with us. 

If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

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