From the editor

We know God is all-powerful and omniscient. But God is also impotent and continually asks us for our help.—Bishop Desmond Tutu, Leading Age Convention, Oct. 21

Bishop Tutu was making a provocative point in his keynoter speech: God needs our help. Wait. What? God needs our help?

Among the biblical examples Bishop Tutu cited was Mary, the mother of Jesus. Luke describes the angel Gabriel coming to Mary and telling her how the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and “the power of the Most High will overshadow” her, and she will bear a son. Gabriel said that the child born to Mary will be called “Son of God.”

Mary accepted this role. In response to Gabriel’s explanation, she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word.” In doing so, she helped God have his only begotten son.

Through a bit of role playing, Bishop Tutu pretended to be Mary in this scene: “You want me to do what! No way. Try next door.”

A second biblical character Bishop Tutu cited was the boy with the loaves and the fishes that Jesus used to feed the 5,000 in Matthew 14. Noting that God fed the children of Israel with daily manna for 40 years, Bishop Tutu described Jesus’ request as needing help to feed the crowd.

How does this notion that God needs human help square with our “missional church” language: God is at work in the world, and we are called to join in with the work God is already doing to spread the kingdom?

If it is true that God is at work in the world and needs our help, this means others around us are responding to God’s call. That makes sense: There are millions of Christians praying for wisdom and then responding to the urgings of God’s Spirit.

Many of us are included, and some stories we tell in this magazine are testimonials to this faithfulness. We share stories of people in our church who are Marys.

For others of us, however, the challenge is to develop or increase the ability to hear and see the ways God may be speaking to us. One reason for our difficulties is the way we sometimes pray: “Please, God, be with Susan who is hurting. Please, God, be with the poor Jones family that has no gifts to give their children this Christmas.”

As others have said, we are God’s hands and feet in the world. We are the listening ears, the shoulders to cry on. If our prayers begin with such an understanding, then our petitions will be quite different: “God, please help me know what to say and not say when I talk with Susan. Please help me know the right way to help the Jones family that needs help so it’s clear the credit and any glory goes to you.”

The word for this is “magnify.” It means we are instruments through which God’s presence, truth and grace is made large. This is why Mary sang her song in Luke 1:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness
of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will
call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things
for me,
and holy is his name.

This Advent and Christmas season, Mary is the model for us as we respond to the ways God asks us for help.