As we continue our post-modern spin-offs with the minor characters in the nativity, we come today to Elizabeth, Mary’s older cousin.

We know from Luke’s account that Elizabeth was “well along in years” and had never had a child.

Much like Mary, an angel announces that Elizabeth will become pregnant, with the child we now know as John the Baptist. The announcement comes to the father in this case, who doesn’t believe it is possible. This causes him to not be able to speak until the child is born.

However, you can understand his doubt, to an extent.

When Mary receives her message from an angel, there is an addendum about her cousin:

Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.

A child in her old age, for nothing is impossible with God.

We can imagine that Elizabeth is overjoyed, even though the first mention of this news, doesn’t appear to have her doing cartwheels (probably because she didn’t want to put her hip out):

After this his [Zechariah’s] wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

I’ve called this title The Overjoyed, but you might be questioning that. Obviously, I’m not. Elizabeth is subdued, but that doesn’t mean she’s not overwhelmed with joy. We don’t all display excitement in the same noisy way.

Possibly because like Elizabeth, for some of us, jumping and shouting is a threat to our health.

And also possibly because Elizabeth’s had years of being stigmatised and rejected by her society. She’s been hurt for so long she doesn’t want to bring out the bells and whistles in public just yet. She probably didn’t have the emotional energy to do so.

However, we know that she was overjoyed. We see it in the community around her:

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

We don’t all express joy in the same way. Some of us are loud like a choir of angels. Others bring gifts like the Magi. Still others, like Elizabeth and Mary, ponder these things in their hearts.

Have others around you caught onto the joy of Christmas? Have you shared it with them? Maybe you think they aren’t interested. But maybe they are, they just don’t show it in the same way that you do. There’s nothing wrong with that.

God lets us be our own unique personality because he made us that way.

Let’s be joyful about Christmas in our own way, today.

Yours joyfully,

Alison