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SERMON for DECEMBER 20, 2020
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RECEIVING LOVE
Text: Romans 16: 25-27; Luke 1: 26-38
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Mary, a teenage girl born into a family of modest means in the unremarkable village of Nazareth, a young woman of faith who is fortunate to be engaged to a man named Joseph. She is blessed to have found favor in the eyes of Joseph, the carpenter. He has chosen Mary to be his wife, and he will be a good provider for her and their future children.
God also chose this young woman named Mary to bear the Savior of the world, a choice unbeknownst to Mary prior to Gabriel’s visitation and life-changing announcement. Truly, she could not have imagined her favored state before the Lord of the universe.
Why Mary? many wonder as they ponder the mystery of the incarnation. Clearly, it was not a random choice. Was it her purity, innocence, and servant heart? Her capacity for faith, hope, and love is there – and God knows her potential – a potential we begin to see revealed in today’s Gospel lesson.
For starters, Mary is not paralyzed with fear when the Angel Gabriel appears before her. Perplexed – yes – who would not be? Many would run away or freeze, yet Mary is able to stay calm, centered, and collected before this heavenly messenger whose divine countenance would have overwhelmed most. Mary has the presence of mind and the courage to respond to Gabriel’s news about her imminent pregnancy.
“How can this be, since I am a virgin?” she asks from a place of pure innocence. Mary genuinely wants to understand how this prophetic news of life-changing consequence can happen. God knows that she has the maturity, wisdom, and courage that it will take to be the mother of the Son of the Most High. Nevertheless, Mary genuinely wonders how this can be – even as her heart and soul, mind and spirit open wide to the prophecy unfolding.
Mary is the favored one - the human vessel into which God’s infinite love is poured – a divine love that will transcend the ordinary limits of her life and our lives. Mary will learn an important truth that eludes skeptics and cynics: with God all things are possible – as the Angel Gabriel reassured her. Thus, even though the prophecy does not make sense, and though she cannot fathom how the future will be exactly – no details are provided - Mary humbly surrenders to God’s will: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your Word.”
Mary did something that is very hard for most people to do – she gave up control – and she willingly chose to be a servant of the Lord. She trusted that God would work out divine purposes in her and through her even when she could not possibly comprehend how it would all happen. Saying “yes” to God was a leap of faith that Mary was willing to make. Perhaps, let me suggest, perhaps for as long as she could remember, it was in Mary’s nature to be open to God’s love. Receiving God’s love may have been as natural for Mary as breathing, an on-going process of communing with God throughout ordinary times as well as special occasions. Perhaps Mary was intentional about creating time and space in her life to be present with God – knowing God’s love for her even as she sought to know God’s ways and will for her life. However Mary came to be nurtured in faith, hope, and love – from the beginning of creation itself – God included Mary in God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Just as there is one Lord and Savior, there is only one mother of the Lord Jesus.
God’s plan is still being worked out in the world – even in and through people like you and me. Heavenly messengers may or may not show up with divine announcements, and if they did, we might not be so willing to trust the news and surrender to God’s plan for us. As people of faith, we believe that God knows us each one of us by name and that God embraces and blesses us just as we are, yet if an angelic messenger came to us with a similar call to serve the Lord, we would probably resist and protest: “why me? You’ve got the wrong person.”
Our challenge is to make room in our busy lives, in our hearts and minds, for God to commune with us, to abide with us, to take up holy residence in our lives, and to receive God’s love poured out in abundance upon us and through us.
Let us prepare Him room – because the Lord is still being born – again and anew – in the hearts and minds of all who offer a heartfelt “YES” to the Lord – who say, like Mary: “here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.”
Here we are – servants of the Lord. Let it be with us – according to God’s Word. All things are possible with God – let us rejoice in that good news! Amen.
Text: Romans 16: 25-27; Luke 1: 26-38
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Mary, a teenage girl born into a family of modest means in the unremarkable village of Nazareth, a young woman of faith who is fortunate to be engaged to a man named Joseph. She is blessed to have found favor in the eyes of Joseph, the carpenter. He has chosen Mary to be his wife, and he will be a good provider for her and their future children.
God also chose this young woman named Mary to bear the Savior of the world, a choice unbeknownst to Mary prior to Gabriel’s visitation and life-changing announcement. Truly, she could not have imagined her favored state before the Lord of the universe.
Why Mary? many wonder as they ponder the mystery of the incarnation. Clearly, it was not a random choice. Was it her purity, innocence, and servant heart? Her capacity for faith, hope, and love is there – and God knows her potential – a potential we begin to see revealed in today’s Gospel lesson.
For starters, Mary is not paralyzed with fear when the Angel Gabriel appears before her. Perplexed – yes – who would not be? Many would run away or freeze, yet Mary is able to stay calm, centered, and collected before this heavenly messenger whose divine countenance would have overwhelmed most. Mary has the presence of mind and the courage to respond to Gabriel’s news about her imminent pregnancy.
“How can this be, since I am a virgin?” she asks from a place of pure innocence. Mary genuinely wants to understand how this prophetic news of life-changing consequence can happen. God knows that she has the maturity, wisdom, and courage that it will take to be the mother of the Son of the Most High. Nevertheless, Mary genuinely wonders how this can be – even as her heart and soul, mind and spirit open wide to the prophecy unfolding.
Mary is the favored one - the human vessel into which God’s infinite love is poured – a divine love that will transcend the ordinary limits of her life and our lives. Mary will learn an important truth that eludes skeptics and cynics: with God all things are possible – as the Angel Gabriel reassured her. Thus, even though the prophecy does not make sense, and though she cannot fathom how the future will be exactly – no details are provided - Mary humbly surrenders to God’s will: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your Word.”
Mary did something that is very hard for most people to do – she gave up control – and she willingly chose to be a servant of the Lord. She trusted that God would work out divine purposes in her and through her even when she could not possibly comprehend how it would all happen. Saying “yes” to God was a leap of faith that Mary was willing to make. Perhaps, let me suggest, perhaps for as long as she could remember, it was in Mary’s nature to be open to God’s love. Receiving God’s love may have been as natural for Mary as breathing, an on-going process of communing with God throughout ordinary times as well as special occasions. Perhaps Mary was intentional about creating time and space in her life to be present with God – knowing God’s love for her even as she sought to know God’s ways and will for her life. However Mary came to be nurtured in faith, hope, and love – from the beginning of creation itself – God included Mary in God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Just as there is one Lord and Savior, there is only one mother of the Lord Jesus.
God’s plan is still being worked out in the world – even in and through people like you and me. Heavenly messengers may or may not show up with divine announcements, and if they did, we might not be so willing to trust the news and surrender to God’s plan for us. As people of faith, we believe that God knows us each one of us by name and that God embraces and blesses us just as we are, yet if an angelic messenger came to us with a similar call to serve the Lord, we would probably resist and protest: “why me? You’ve got the wrong person.”
Our challenge is to make room in our busy lives, in our hearts and minds, for God to commune with us, to abide with us, to take up holy residence in our lives, and to receive God’s love poured out in abundance upon us and through us.
Let us prepare Him room – because the Lord is still being born – again and anew – in the hearts and minds of all who offer a heartfelt “YES” to the Lord – who say, like Mary: “here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.”
Here we are – servants of the Lord. Let it be with us – according to God’s Word. All things are possible with God – let us rejoice in that good news! Amen.