I was working this morning in my office, staring at the computer, waiting for the inspiration for Sunday’s sermon to come. I was so close – I knew broadly what I wanted to talk about, but I couldn’t find the way in. My muse was not arriving at the time I wanted her to.

So I got up and wandered over to the conference room, where our Thursday morning coffee hour group was meeting. This is a group of women who meet weekly for fellowship, prayer, and study. I found that this week they were looking at an image of a particular art print, Annunciation by John Swanson. It told the story of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary, the mother of Jesus, to tell her she would bear the Son of God. As soon as I saw the image, I was sucked in immediately.

The piece was beautiful, absolutely stunning. Please, please click here to see the full image. It’s a lot bigger than the thumbnail I used for this post.

The rich colors. The rainbow sidewalk where the angel stands. The mystical blue of Mary’s garments. The Van Gogh sky. And so many vibrant people going about their faithful Jewish lives.

This was more than a beautiful picture to me. It wasn’t just a meditation on the Annunciation – it was the event itself, caught on canvas, or in the case of how I was viewing it, caught in pixels. This was the coming of the angel of God to announce the coming of God in the flesh. This was the teaser, the trailer, for God’s imminent arrival. This was the prelude, the foretaste, the vanguard, the … well, the Annunciation. And I saw the hope of God in it.

That’s where I saw the light of God today, the first Thursday of Advent.