“You shall conceive and bear a son…”
So said the angel Gabriel to Mary. We are at the start of what I like to call “Christmas Week”; why wait till starting with Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and do the 12-Day routine? (I’ll do that too, but that’s another column).
Getting back to the angel and Mary. 
Artists have done their best to capture the event as seen in this rendering here. As an essential part of the Christmas story, we are invited into our own imaginative attempts to wonder what it would have been like. My own take is that when a genuine encounter with the Holy takes place, the first response is usually one of fear. Abraham and Sarah come to mind; Moses and his encounter(s) with Yahweh have that aspect; Elijah and his hiding in a cave certainly had that as a component, too. Fear (and disbelief) is there with Mary’s “kinswoman” Elizabeth (miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist) and her husband Zechariah. That the angel says for Mary not to fear confirms the very human aspect of this event.
I have never knowingly met an angel. Although the New Testament letter to The Hebrews says that we ought to be kind to strangers, for we may be “entertaining angels unawares.” Frankly, I would be scared spitless in the presence of such a creature, known or unknown; I think any of us would pick upon some sort of “vibe” if one popped by, don’t you think? 
The movie/TV angels are great for what they are, with Cary Grant, or Nicholas Cage, John Tavolta, or Della Reese acting those parts. Yet they are still limited. Especially compared to one that had a message like Gabriel had to deliver to Mary.
Nonetheless, Mary gets over whatever fear she may have had: she listens, agrees, waits, and conceives. The whole “virgin birth” squabbles for centuries are beside the point for me; I’m content to hold it as a true matter of faith, yet ultimately unanswerable for many good reasons. What matters, anyway, is the main function of the idea that Mary was ready, and willing, to be the “God-bearer” (“Theotokos” in Greek). And further that we, too, can bear/bring God’s grace to others if we listen to what God wants done with us. We are all called to be “pregnant” (!), if you will, with such grace-full news: “God saves!” that is what Jesus’ “Emanuel/God-with-us” name means. Wonder about that with me during this “Christmas Week.” Where can it also lead us, very similar to (and different from) the way it changed with Mary’s life forever?