Sermon 12-06-09

Micah 5:1-5a                                                                            Luke 1:26-38

Mary said “Yes!” to God’s Advent(ure)

Do you know that being an Adventurer is one of the nine personalities described by the Enneagram? The Enneagram is a resource that helps us find and define our various personalities.

I am first of all a Perfectionist, I like to know when, where, and how things are going to be done, surprises are not my favorite thing, for that same reason. Adventure itself for me is not fun because is too unpredictable.

PRAYER

Mary definitely had a daring and adventurous spirit. She said ‘yes!’ to

the unknown and she was ready for the outcome. Or was she?

When the spirit of the Lord came to Mary, she was surprised by the angel

Gabriel, who greeted her as God’s favorite one! The Lord is with you, he

said, you have found favor with God: and she pondered in her heart, what

all this means?

Mary was 13 years old, when she received the message of the angel. By 13 she knew very well her Hebrew scripture, she knew that the time was near for the coming of the Messiah. What she did not know was that she was going to be the recipient of God’s grace for that purpose.

“Do not be afraid!  said the angel, God’s presence will be with you, you have been chosen for an adventure!, “not that she earned or deserved the honor of becoming the mother of Jesus any more than would any other woman, (but that she was the one). And Mary’s response to God’s grace is?” Yes!      (Texts for Preaching. Year B. Brueggemann, pg. 39-40)

Mary said ‘yes!’ to the impossibility that a virgin girl could have a baby.

Mary said ‘yes!’ to the unexpected things that God has done and was already doing. Her cousin, a barren woman was also expecting a child. She believed  ‘that nothing was impossible with God.’ (v. 37)

Mary said ‘yes!’ to being chosen, “… she recognized that she had been selected by God and that God’s choosing leaves no room for her own volition.” (idem)

Mary said ‘yes!’ “Here I am, the servant of the Lord.”  (v. 38a)

“Her service came about as a result of God’s plan and not her own… Mary signals her “yes” to God’s action, a consent that she cannot fully understand.” (idem)  According to her faith, she was ready to obey the message of God.

Have you ever been surprise by unexpected news?

“How can we measure the depth of Mary’s faith by the questions she asked, and the questions she did not ask? How can she manage a message of favoritism, selection, or special assignment when all this makes no reasonable sense? How could she have a child when she had no husband?

‘You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus.’ (v.31)

This assignment must have been staggering to a young, an unmarried woman, of her time. Can you imagine?”

She did not think about the consequences she was going to face, “they never crossed her mind.” What will Joseph think? What will people think of me, when they found out about my pregnancy? What about my disgrace? What will happen to me? Scripture does not tell us that Mary asked the angel for a week to think about it and get back to him. No time to think, no questions asked. (Calvin Miller)

Have you ever hungered to understand the mysteries of God? How can this be? What does all this mean for me?

“How often we want to explain what we cannot figure out. But nothing that brings ultimate meaning to our lives is explainable. Such things are always beyond the safe, settled reach of the predictable… Many people have experienced the mysteries of things too wonderful and too gloriously real, ever to be explained… and yet such mysteries envelop our redemption …

Mary at last came to understand that wonderful things happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and the power of the almighty overshadows us.

We must look to Mary’s example to know how to deal with the glorious impossibilities of God. Look how she turned the world upside down by making one simple statement: (yes!) ‘Consider me the Lord’s servant. May it be done according to your word.’” (Calvin Miller)

Can it be that one very young and insignificant woman changed the world just by agreeing to the mysteries of God’s adventures?

She had the choice to say: “Thank you, but no thank you! I am honored, but you can pick someone else! For her the assurance of the angel that God’s presence was going to be with her was enough, and she accepted the assignment, the invitation, the mystery, the blessing and the adventure.

Right in that moment she discovered that she was not alone, the angel told her that her cousin Elizabeth was also expecting and that she was in her sixth month. And Mary goes to Elizabeth’s house to share her adventurous, unreal still, secret.

From the moment Mary arrived, Elizabeth knew! “…and filled with the Holy Spirit, she exclaimed: ‘“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me?  For as soon as I heard your voice, the child in my womb leaped with joy, and you have been blessed to be the recipient of the fulfillment of the word of God, just revealed to me by the Lord.” Luke 1:42-45

 “And Mary praises God with the “Magnificat,” a magnificent poem found in following verses of the gospel of Luke. The poem gives further insights into Mary’s relationship with God. In it we see her joy at the opportunity she had been given to magnify God’s name, her recitation of praise to Him for His attributes and His actions on Israel’s behalf. Most significantly, we see her focus on the covenant God made with Abraham as the foundation of His faithfulness to his people. Mary’s faith was not based on emotion but on knowledge of God’s purposes and confidence in God’s faithfulness. Mary not only knew God, she trusted God… and exalted God.”

(“Every Woman in the Bible”, pg. 170)

What is advent, but a time of waiting!

Waiting as a woman who longs for the birth of her child.

A time of light, a time of promise, expectation, hope and peace.

The time of the mystery of God’s grace for us through the Christ Child.

In Mary saying yes! to God’s adventure, she found peace? and you?

BENEDICTION

How do we respond to God’s surprises?

What kind of spirit do we bring to God’s advent,

as we wait for the big surprise of God’s greatest gift, the Christ Child,

keep watching for God’s Advent (ure) Amen!