"Let it be with me"-A Sermon for Advent 4, Luke 1:26-38
Mother Mary, meek and mild…is how one medieval English Christmas Carol begins…and I imagine Mary was both humble and gentle…even kind and loving…friendly and welcoming…at least I imagine. But her yes…that glorious yes to God…or in her own words from Luke, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word”…this lovely yes to God is far from simply meek and mild. Her yes to God’s great work of bringing Jesus into the world in and through her…as I would describe it…takes us well beyond meek and mild…I would dare to say that her response to God’s work in her life is first and foremost courageous and second requires great vulnerability…and vulnerability requires a bravery all of its own. For Mary is nothing less than the archetype for what it means, what it really means, to be a follower of God in Christ. She is Jesus’ first disciple and our great exemplar…the holy example…of who we are each to be as followers of Jesus in our own day…in the lives we really live. For Mary gives nothing less than her entire self over to God’s loving purposes both for her own life…and for the life of the world…even you…even me. She offers her body through which Jesus is to be born. She offers her heart and time, her patience and loving discipline, her wisdom and compassion, to raise her child to know and love God his own heavenly Father and Mother. Then many years later, for discipleship is surely a life-long pursuit, she gives her tears, a heart broken, as she, in a sense, gives her child over to the pain of the cross…that he might become the very Messiah he was incarnated to be…the very Savior of the world…the one who died and lived again…that sin and death might utterly and forever be defeated…such that love alone…will be the end of all that is and ever has been. Said simply, Mary gives it all for God alone…her own life…all of it…and all that then flows from it.
This evening, we begin our Christmas celebrations…our own offering of praise and thanksgiving, along with the angels, archangels and the whole company of heaven, our shared proclamation: Glory to God in the highest heaven for the immeasurably wonderful and world changing gift of Jesus…for his birth…God’s own incarnation into our world…Emmanuel…God with us. But this morning, we remember what came first…Mary’s yes. And we do so in gratitude for all her yes has provided each of us…most especially…Jesus…a name which means…God saves…for in Jesus God brings us salvation and the hope it engenders for our own lives and the entirety of the world. For this alone, the word gratitude or the words thank you, are entirely inadequate to fully express the thanks, for Mary, that our hearts must surely feel…that our hearts would even cry out…if we could only give them full expression and voice. But beyond gratitude, I believe we should also use this time, this story of Mary’s eternal yes, to be utterly inspired, completely convicted, entirely committed to say yes ourselves, in our own unique ways, to the light-filled, life-giving work that God wants to do through our own lives. The good and Godly things that God wants to birth and incarnate in and through us…to profoundly and substantively continue his work of salvation in our own day…in the paths we walk…in the relationships we form…in the ways we give and serve, indeed, bringing nothing less than God’s salvation…God’s shalom, peace, healing, wholeness…to all those, near and far, who have been entrusted to our care.
Though we might not be set apart to play the exact same role as Mary in the divine drama that is the story of God’s work of creating and redeeming all that is and will be, as God lovers and Jesus followers, living in this time and age, we too are invited, not coerced or forced, but invited, by Mary’s own example, to say yes…to say yes, like Mary, in giving first our own bodies over to God’s work. This begins with giving our time…setting it intentionally aside…giving something of our calendars over to God…to be physically present with those who are suffering or sad or alone…or who just need a friend…simple non-judgmental companionship…a hand to hold.
And, like Mary, this includes, the raising of children to know and love God…to have faith, yes, in God, but also in other people…to move past the misguided notion that we can be individually secure and self-sufficient…to, instead, share…be open to the other…that we might both be blessed and be a blessing. And this includes even those without small children in the home…for I have many mentors in this community, some older and some younger than me, whose patience and wisdom and compassion and accountability continue to shape me more and more into the very person God has created me to uniquely be. To this end, I think we can think about parenting in the vein of mentoring and spiritual companionship. And must also remember that in Baptism, as we will do in just a moment, we all make a vow to help raise the children, the many children and youth and adults, who have and will be baptized into this family faith called St. Julian’s…to help raise them to know and love God…to become more and more the unique, fully alive, love-spreading, faithful human beings that God is calling them to be.
And, also, like Mary, we are invited to share our tears with the world, and the people in it, when it hurts…sacrificially giving over, in both our living and our dying, the things that make up our lives, that they might contribute to God’s healing and saving work in and for our world. From the smallest gestures to the greatest…from a few dollars to provide a sandwich for a hungry friend and neighbor living outside…to the brief moment it takes to hear a child tell her story…to much greater self-giving offerings like fostering a child or identifying a ministry or non-profit that is addressing a great need that we are passionate about and then diving head first into it with our time and money.
Like Mary, and following her example, we are invited to share, to give, to say yes to giving our whole selves over…heart, body, mind and spirit, to the wondrous work of salvation that God is, make no mistake, bringing to completion in the very world in which we live and move and have our being. And, also, make no mistake, this sort of yes to God…requires great courage and profound vulnerability, which, again, requires a bravery all of its own.
So…as I think of Mary, as parent, as mentor, as exemplar, as self-sacrificial giver and the “yes” she offers to God’s invitation for her own life…I think today of my own mother…and to this end I want to share a poem I wrote for her, Ellen is her name, on the occasion of Mother’s Day, this past May. And though I know you have your own people, who you are remembering this season, people who demonstrate for you what it really looks like to say yes to God. For me, she is indeed one of the most courageous and vulnerable Jesus following people I know. The poem is called “Mother Jesus…and Mom”:
It was Julian who spoke,
Of her Mother Jesus,
Though not first.
For it was on Jerusalem’s own border,
That Jesus spoke of himself first as mother.
A hen keeping watch over her flock,
Both by day and by night.
Whole, healthy, warm,
Right beneath her own feathers,
Safe from all the world’s darkness,
Violence,
Hate,
And all sorts of disorder.
So, as I take flight,
In Julian’s wisdom.
I think first of my own.
My mother,
Who, at the beginning,
Modeled Jesus for me.
Traditional in a sense,
A nurturer,
A life-bringer,
Patient,
Long-suffering,
And, of course, a home-maker.
Fierce in her love,
For those whom God has given.
Emptying herself,
Her own cross bourn,
For so many others.
But beyond the mother milieu,
What we all might expect,
There is a mother who fathers,
Just as adept.
A bread-provider,
A leader,
Strong,
Wise,
A care-taker.
In more ways than one,
And often without words,
Mother is an incarnate-r,
Of Jesus’ first love,
That was at the beginning,
And is now,
Eden’s own maker.
Thus, it is my own mother’s love,
That gives flight to Julian’s wisdom.
Providing meaning and truth,
In a life that indeed soars,
And has been,
So graciously given.
Mary said yes, and, in doing so, courageously and vulnerably gave her whole self over to God. And, my own mom and many others, some in this very church, in their own yes to God, have given their whole selves over to me…and to so many…birthing the light of God’s love into the lives of so many people. This morning, we remember, Mary’s yes, that makes Christmas and, thus, Jesus and the salvation he brings to us all possible. Perhaps this morning, we hear the invitation God makes even to us…to say yes to God’s unique work in and through our own lives. And perhaps this morning for the first time or the thousandth, with great courage and immense vulnerability, we too will say…yes. Amen.