Edina Hall

Fellow Journeyers,

When I moved back to Arizona, my husband and I, along with friends and family, got season tickets to Arizona football. At the beginning of that first season we attended, I made it only to the first two games as I was very pregnant with our first child.

If you have ever been to a football game at Arizona stadium, you know well that the buildup to the team taking the field culminates with fireworks. Very loud fireworks. So loud, in fact, that the baby, nestled in my womb was startled by the noise and leapt.  

Not a bump. Not a stretch. 

I felt it. He leapt.  

As with most movements during pregnancy, the intimate connection between baby and mother is quite private—unless the mother-to-be decides to share what’s happening. I am sure that I told my husband what occurred, but he certainly couldn’t fully grasp the awe that I felt. It was so sudden and unexpected that it left me a bit breathless. 

In the readings for today, we join Elizabeth and Mary at The Annunciation of Jesus and the beginning of their prenatal visit with each other.

John, nestled in Elizabeth’s womb upon hearing Mary’s greeting, leaps for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice. Overcome by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth cannot keep her own joy contained and blesses Mary and Jesus. 

Not a bump. Not a stretch.  

Elizabeth felt it. He leapt.  

Certainly, we all have not, or cannot, know what it is like to have a baby leap in our womb. If we take a moment, however, perhaps we can remember a time when we heard the voice of God greeting us. Calling us into relationship. Calling us to action. Calling us to love. 

How did we feel it? Was it sudden and unexpected like fireworks? Did it leave us breathless and filled with awe? Did our hearts feel a bump? Did our minds become stretched? Did our souls leap for joy? 

How did we respond?

How will we respond?  

—Edina Hall