Let us pray: May God who is Majesty, Mercy, and Mystery speak words of life, and love through these words. Amen.
Today, is the second Sunday of Advent. Advent is the beginning of our church year and our annual journey through the church calendar. It is a journey we take every year, that seeks to shape our lives around the life of Christ.
Nadia Bolz Weber says, “to experience the liturgical year is to sing the story, live the story, be re-oriented by the story and to do it all with others…all who did this before, all who do it now and all who will do it after we have gone. It is to have duel citizenship in the now and the not-yet. To celebrate the church year is to be sewn into the story of Jesus in a way that allows the fabric of our lives and our world to take on a holy texture.”
As discussed last week this year, our theme for Advent is “Words for the Beginning.” In these somewhat uncertain times for our world, this church and for myself I was drawn to this theme as I am looking for familiar words and familiar stories of hope to help me begin again, to step out into this new year in trust.
Our reading for this second Sunday is indeed one such story. It follows directly on from last week’s reading. Mary, has heard from an angel that she will bear a son that she is to name Jesus. He will be the Son of God, who will reign over the house of Jacob and his Kingdom will have no end. This child will not be conceived the usual way, but by the Holy Spirit.
Mary’s response to this wild announcement is to set out with haste to the hill country, to the house of her relative Elizabeth. We do not know exactly how they are related, but tradition holds they are cousins.
We also do not know exactly why Mary heads to the home of Elizabeth but we can imagine. The angel had told Mary that Elizabeth, who had been barren, was also pregnant. And so it seems likely Mary is seeking out a fellow traveller. I imagine she is still somewhat perplexed about how and why this is happening and hoping perhaps the reason the angel referred to Elizabeth is because she might help her understand.
It also seems likely Mary is incredibly scared. Having a baby is a bit scary in the best of circumstances but in Mary’s context, more so. At best, it places her at risk of ostracism, at worst, stoning. And her crazy sounding explanation was perhaps even more of a scandal. And if she manages to survive the pregnancy, she must be wondering what next. How she will survive childbirth and how will she raise the Son of God on her own.
I imagine she is hoping this older woman, the wife of a priest, may just be able to offer her some help and protection.
But there is also the risk that she (and her husband) might just throw Mary out. They might not want to taint their miracle with her scandal. She must have wondered at least once if she should have said no, rather than yes, to this.
And so it must have been incredibly affirming when Mary arrives on Elizabeth’s doorstop and hears the words “blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of you womb.”
But Mary’s blessedness has nothing to do with wealth, health, comfort, or ease. Nadia Bolz Weber describes being blessed as “seeing God in the world and trusting that God is at work even in things we can’t see, or understand, or imagine.”
Debie Thomas (who we haven’t heard from in awhile) says, “her blessing lies solely in her willingness to trust God and to surrender to God’s will. To lean hard into God’s promises and believe that they will sustain her, no matter what. Mary’s vocation as the mother of Jesus is not easy. It leads her straight from scandal to danger to trauma to devastation. How blessed can she feel when she delivers her firstborn in a smelly stable? When she becomes a refugee, fleeing to Egypt to prevent her son’s murder? What does blessing feel like for her years later, when her miraculously conceived child is arrested? Beaten? Mocked? Killed? God’s call on Mary’s life requires her to be profoundly courageous and countercultural, to trust an inner vision few others understand or value.
And Elizabeth goes on, “and why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” What a beautiful way to welcome someone who was feeling so vulnerable. I wonder what it would be like to recover Elizabeth’s vocation of welcome and blessing? To see in each other glimpses of God and to name and bless that.
In Mary’s case it causes joy and praise and song to flow out. Against all odds, Mary dares to believe that what is happening to her is not a shameful scandal Instead, she insists that her very body is infused with the presence and power of a God who acts decisively and generously in history. In her history. In her life.
This song is soaked in Jewish women’s history, echoing the songs of Miriam, Hannah and Deborah.
It is perhaps the most beloved, yet at the same time most misused song in Christian history.
There are those who wish to portray Mary as a docile portrait of purity and virginity, who would know nothing about unjust socio-economic and political systems. They read this song in an overly spiritual or sentimental way, mostly ignoring what it actually says.
There are other, more progressive types, who wish to portray Mary, as a first century female version of Che Guevarra, who was seeking to bring in a communist regime. I think this is also a misreading of the song. It is not simply about overthrowing one flawed and broken economic and political system and replacing it with another. It is not about one people group overthrowing their oppressors and becoming oppressors themselves. It is about the Kingdom of God in which the powerful have been brought down and the lowly have been lifted up so that all are equal.
The tenses of this song are worth noting. This song speaks about what God has done, what God is doing and what God will do. Mary knows the character of God, because of what God has done she is confident in what God will do.
Like Advent, this song points to those thin times in which what was, what is and what will be cannot be separated. In Advent,
We are waiting and preparing for Jesus who has come.
We are waiting and preparing for Jesus who is here
We are waiting and preparing for Jesus who will come again
As I am sure we all know by now Sondra and her family are leaving us in the coming weeks. Now of course I am not Mary and Sondra is not Elizabeth or vice versa (although she has a lot of the Elizabeth qualities that I have spoken about). But as I have reflected this week on Elizabeth and Mary and the gift of their relationship, I have also being reflecting on my relationship with Sondra and giving thanks for this gift it has been. I suppose it is first and foremost a working relationship and Sondra has astounded us all with the efficiency, generosity and grace in which she does her work. Sondra seems to have almost bottomless energy and patience. Despite a never ending to do list she makes time for everyone. She sees the best in people and brings it out in them. She is innovative, constantly coming up with ideas about how to make things better, and then actually does it. She always follows through what she says she is going to do. I feel like everything around here looks and feels better and is running more smoothly than when she started and I am just so unbelievably grateful to her and to God for all that she has done. The fact that she was available at the time she was to step into this role still feels like something only God could have made happen.
But the church is not an ordinary workplace – we are a ministry, a faith community. And just has Mary and Elizabeth’s relationship had an impact beyond just the two of them the relationship that Sondra and I have had has contributed to the life of this church. As on Sunday morning during the week this place is a hive of activity living out our mission to be a welcoming sanctuary for travellers, a reconciling community, a church caring in its community in the name of Christ.
We are very different people and I believe that Sondra’s perspective and experiences have made me a much more thoughtful minister. There are times I could have rushed into something with a particular agenda but she has reminded me to pause and think again. And I hope it has gone both ways. Over the past three years I have seen Sondra‘s confidence, faith and leadership capacity grow.
I have been dreading this time so much and I am still not entirely sure how things are going to go without Sondra but we trust in God, that He is still with this community and that this is the right thing for her and her family and for our church. And we hope and pray that her time here will go with her.
And so Sondra I want to invite you up so we can surround you in prayer,
Lord Jesus, who was and is and is to come, we thank you so much for Sondra, we thank you for all the ways that she has served you and this church over this past three years. What an enormous gift it has been.
We pray for her and for Carlos as they leave here. We know that you go before them, behind them, beside them and within them. Keep their marriage strong in this transition. May it all go as smoothly as it can. Show them what it is you are calling them to there.
We also thank you for Hugh, what a gift it has been to see him grow from a tiny baby into the delightful young boy that he is. We pray that is transition into a new school goes well, that he will take up the challenge with confidence knowing that you go with him.
Lord Jesus, bless them and keep them safe. Turn your face towards them and bring them peace.
