God's persistence
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The annunciation is analogous in my mind to the story of God's invitation to Abram to leave Ur and head to Canaan. Both stories have a bare, binary feel to them. These are hinge moments in the unfolding of God and God's mission with and for the world. Abram, yes or no? Mary, yes or no?
In the mainstream Western tradition the sentiment seems to lean toward the idea that the responses of Abram and Mary are somehow inevitable. Most preaching I hear about Abram hints that God chooses to make the invitation to him because God is fairly certain he'll say yes. This is even more the case with Mary--especially under the influence of the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which teaches that nine months before she's even born, Mary is prepared for God's call by being protected from sin.
