"Moving toward Christmas: Encouraged by the Promise" Sermon Advent 4

Moving toward Christmas: Encouraged by the Promise

Advent 4 (Narrative Lectionary 3)

December 23, 2012

Luke 1.26-49

If it is true that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans, then Mary must have had God in stitches rolling on the floor. No doubt she was planning to marry Joseph and have children. Nowhere in her universe, though, could she imagine a visit from an angel who would tell her that she was going to have a child through the action of the Holy Spirit, much less the Son of God, Savior,  and Messiah. Yet, here an angel of the Lord comes with an offer that she both can and cannot refuse, and all of creation holds its collective breath waiting for her answer: will she or won’t she say, “Yes?”

We’ve used the metaphor of a journey this Advent, as we are moving toward Christmas. On the First Sunday of Advent and the story of Daniel in the lions’ den, we’ve realized that we have come from places not of our own choosing, utterly dependent upon God’s grace. Through the prophet Joel on the Second Sunday of Advent, we also admitted our involvement in the brokenness of the world and our need for a savior. Then, last week, we heard from Isaiah how we’ve been sustained in our journey by the vision God gives us of life through his Son. Today, as we get near the end of our journey, we are encouraged in our own journeys of faith by the promises that God makes to us through the most unlikely of people, his servant Mary.

However, as we know all too well, the journeys we take don’t always go as we had planned. In today’s reading we find that “the way to the manger” is surprising and unexpected. The direction that God takes Mary is not one that she would choose for herself, and even when she said “Yes” to God’s invitation, though she doesn’t know how, life will never be the same for her again. What’s interesting in the story is that Mary does not have a problem to be solved like so many women in the Bible. She is not barren or without a husband. Presumably, life is good. Sometimes, though, God is not the answer to our problems; rather, God is the cause of our “problems.”

The challenge that Mary’s story poses for us today is, “Are we going to be open to what God is doing in our lives?” Admittedly, this is hard to do when life is coming at you fast and furious and even out of control. Like Mary, we may be tempted to say, “God, could you just favor someone else for a change?” Yet, just as God was present at creation, not only bringing order out chaos, but working in, with, and under the chaos, so we have to trust that God is working in, with, and through our chaos. We don’t do this because of who Mary is or what she does, but because of who God is and what God does through her.

We tend to think of obedience to God as doing what God tells us to do, to knuckle under to God. But I think that obedience is more about paying attention to what God is doing, to be ready to say yes, even if we don’t fully know what this means for us and our lives. Part of that openness means listening to how God is working through others as well. Mary’s story is tied to Elizabeth’s story, a kinswoman who confirms that God is doing something incredible in, with, and through her life. I’ve mentioned before how God worked in my life, through disorder and chaos, to bring me to seminary and the ordained ministry, over the course of eight years, in fact. But God worked through many people as well, helping me to hear God’s call on my life.

One thing I can attest to is that it is precisely those times in my life when things did not go as I had planned, when the journey changed, that God was the most present and the most real to me. As you make this final leg of the journey to Christmas and beyond, look in the chaotic and unexpected moments for where God is present, and listen for God’s voice in others. One small plug: some of you are being approached about serving on church council in the coming years. This is not about filling slots with warm bodies; this is about the leadership this congregation needs for this next year and beyond. For you and others, please give it prayerful consideration and say, as Mary did, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Amen.