Being Present with Love

Luke 1:26-38 When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, 27 to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” 29 She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. 31 Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. 33 He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I haven’t had sexual relations with a man?” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the one who is to be born will be holy. He will be called God’s Son. 36 Look, even in her old age, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son. This woman who was labeled ‘unable to conceive’ is now six months pregnant. 37 Nothing is impossible for God.” 38 Then Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

INTRO

Three weeks ago, we began this Advent journey through our sermon series, The Gift of Being Present. On the first Sunday of Avent, we explored how we are called to be present with hope. We examined our call to awaken our hearts to the grace of God and be that grace to others. As we actively wait for Christ’s return, we are empowered to do something about the injustice and oppression in the world. In this, we are truly present in the world with the hope of Christ.

Two weeks ago, we explored what it means to be truly present with peace in the world. Peace is not the absence of conflict or wars; instead, Peace is when we are able to learn and articulate the movements of our inner lives, give name to our different experiences, and enable God’s grace to work more fully in our lives. As we allow the Spirit to work within us, we become more at peace with ourselves, enabling us to work for peace, wait for peace, and make straight paths for peace as we, like Christ, lead not from our pain but through love.

Last week, we explored what it means to be truly present with joy in the world. Joy is difficult to define. We begin to unlock true joy when we realize that, despite whatever we face in our lives, the God who has been faithful will continue to be faithful to us. We are truly present with joy when we allow God’s joy to spread through our lives and our actions, even in difficult times.

After weeks of waiting for the Holy Family to enter the scene, we are finally greeted with the first glimpse of the beginnings of the holy family. In a truly advent fashion, the gospel lesson reminds us that Jesus has not yet come into the narrative. We still have not heard about the manger. We have not heard about the journey of the holy family to Bethlehem. We stand here this Sunday eagerly awaiting a Savior, and we are once again disappointed as a Savior is not what greets us in our text this morning. Instead, we are greeted by Mary, and, for some of us, it seems quite surprising that we hear from her again this Advent season.

Yet, perhaps, in some ways it isn’t surprising at all. In the midst of the chaos that is in the world around us, we have been eager to get to the hope that comes in the manger, yet even now on the threshold of Christmas, on this last Sunday of Advent with the Christmas Eve service tonight, we are called to wait. So we wait this morning by hearing from this woman who won’t be the center of the narative past this morning. She’ll make brief appearances at the Wedding in Cana and at the foot of the cross. If we are honest, we would rather gloss over Mary’s experience of what is to come and skip to the manger.

As we wait this morning, wishing we could blow past this sermon and move straight to the arrival of Christ, our Gospel lesson reminds us of all the preparation and all the faithful people who prepared the way for Jesus’ birth. The road to Christmas has been a roadmap of faithful persons who responded to the calling of discipleship and who believed that God would be doing something new in the world, something which found and continues to find its consummation in Christ. As we have explored what it means to be truly present, we have looked to these faithful people and their work to prepare the way for God to be present-in-the-flesh.

If you have ever gathered a group of Christians from a variety of different denominations into one room, you would find a rich theological discussion on the importance of Mary. The anti-feminists in the room would lift Mary up as an obedient woman who took her proper place in the biblical narrative. Feminists lift up Mary as a strong independent woman who did not need a man in her life. Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians adore her as the theotokos or God bearer.

Those who call themselves secularists lift up Mary as what is irrational about Christian thinking. Catholics praise Mary as Queen of heaven. Hallmark romanticizes Mary on their Christmas Cards, and the USPS puts her on postage stamps. Many protestants argue whether or not Mary is a heavenly intercessor and whether or not Mary remained a virgin her whole life. Protestants have even argued whether she was immaculately conceived and, therefore, born without sin.

We are so concerned with how she could give birth to our savior that we tend to minimize the person Mary.  We tend to make Mary nothing more than an additional character in our Christmas play or just another figurine in our Manger scene. When we pull Mary out each Christmas, we certainly interact with her, but at the end of the day, her role seems minimal, or she seems unapproachable.

Yet, I would argue that Luke’s gospel tries to make Mary very approachable. We expect God to show up and talk to the priest or the pastor. We expect remarkable things from people who have money, fame, or power...yet Mary has none of these things. She is not found in the temple when the angel comes but in an ordinary, unremarkable town. So often, when we are asked to do something, we find excuses as to why we can’t do it. “I can’t today, I’m busy.” “If you had asked me any other time, I’d do it, but I just can’t today.” “I have an appointment to get to.” And yet, when we respond in these ways, we are not being truly present with love in the world.

A deeper reading of the scriptures, where we consider more seriously the personhood of Mary, convicts us in how we respond to God with our excuses. One commenter rightly notes: “When we intentionally consider the biblical Mary, our excuses will not work. If God used Mary, then we are not too young; if God used Elizabeth, then we are not too old. Being from a cultural capital or academic center is not a prerequisite in God’s calculus either. If God brought something good out of Nazareth, the God’s word can be born anew in the least likely places...God has always chosen the most humble of vessels from the most humble of places to give birth to his word.”

What does this humility look like? Last week, we looked at Mary’s Magnificat. Earlier in the text, before Mary’s song, Zechariah is told that his wife will give birth to a son. Now, Zechariah was a priest in the temple, and he is one who we would expect to be obedient in his calling to follow after God. Yet, Zechariah is frightened when Gabriel shows up and reveals God’s plans to him. Zechariah responds not with humility but with an excuse…“But, I am old.” Meanwhile, when Gabriel shows up and encourages Mary not to fear him, she doesn’t seem to be afraid. Furthermore, she does have questions of this angelic being but speaks not with an excuse but a question which any of us would have asked. To which the angel responds: God is honoring you, or favored one.

Mary’s response to God shows us an embodiment of true love in the world. When we think about someone we love, we would do anything for them. If your spouse or significant other, if your child, or if your best friend asks you to do something for them, what are you going to do? You are going to find a way to do it. When God shows up, Mary asks how it could be possible, then responds with love for God’s plan in the world. We know this, as we explored the Magnificat last week.

So often, we have a perverted view of the church. We tend to believe that God’s favor rests on those who tithe, give of their time, and hold positions of power. We tend to believe that God’s favor comes to those who give something to God. To those who have the power to “bless God back.” God doesn’t love and therefore give blessings because someone has given God the most money.

In fact, God’s gift of salvation is the truest gift of love…it’s priceless. You can’t buy your way into heaven. Yet, in our text today, God chooses Mary because she identifies herself as lowly. Mary, in her humility, comes as she is and offers all that she has to God. Her voice rings out like those faithful who have gone before her: “Here I am, Lord,” and in doing so, is the favored one.

This favor that Mary has received has nothing to do with being privileged by power or money. It has nothing to do with one’s lifestyle, purity, worthiness, or talent. Rather, to be favored by God means that we are affirmed for who we are. We receive God’s grace not because we have many earthly resources to offer God but because we are willing to give our all to God.

This is the true love that we are called to embody in the world. When we receive God’s grace and offer ourselves to God, we embody love to the world. When we take time out of our lives to serve others, we embody love to the world. But our service shouldn’t just be one-sided. You see, it is when we form relationships with others that we are truly present with love in the world. Our God is a God of relationship. God sent God’s son into the world so that we might be in a fleshy, earthly, incarnation relationship with God.

On this fourth Sunday in Advent, Mary models for us, being present with love. In Mary’s saying yes, she chose to allow God to dwell within and work through her. You see, Emmanuel, God with us does not just stop at the manger. God with us means allowing God to work in us as we are transformed by God’s grace. In fact, God’s Spirit should be so intertwined with our spirit that our actions are marks of our joyful obedience to God’s will. That is what Mary’s “yes” was all about. Yes, she will participate in the divine and the holy. Yes, she will allow the divine and the holy to participate in her. She still has questions, but she allows the Holy to work within and through her despite her own questions.

And the truth of the matter is that this is our call this morning as well. Our call is to look beyond our excuses. Our call is to be incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation. After we are given new birth by water and the Spirit, we are invited to give birth much like Mary did many years ago. You heard that right, we are invited to give birth. We are all meant to be mothers of God.

As Meister Eckhart puts it, “What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within me? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace?” You see, our Gospel truth this morning is that we are the tabernacles or dwelling places of God. God wants us to become pregnant with divine possibilities and to give birth to what is holy and precious in our time. In other words, we must allow God to dwell inside of us and allow the holy and good works of God to be the natural products of our lives.

Now some of us this morning will ask, How can this be? That’s okay! It is okay to have questions of God. But we must not let that stop us in our work. We must continue to reflect on our lives as individuals and as a community of faith. How is God calling us to give birth to the holy? Will we say yes to God’s intrusive invasions? Will we say yes to new horizons, new possibilities, and new lives, even if it is uncomfortable and different? If we do say yes, are we willing to offer ourselves just as we are and meet others where they are? Are we willing to birth possibilities into the world? In doing so, we must go and share this love with others as we grow deeper in our relationships with one another. For this is the true love we are called to be present with.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.