First Reading:
2But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the
little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to
rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
3Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she
who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall
return to the people of Israel.
4And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of
the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they
shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth;
5and he shall be the one of peace. If the Assyrians come
into our land and tread upon our soil, we will raise against them
seven shepherds and eight installed as rulers.
Second Reading:
39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in
the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and
greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child
leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42and exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among
women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has
this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to
me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting,
the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she
who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to
her by the Lord.
46And Mary said,
My soul magnifies the Lord,
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of
his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
Four years ago, Rebecca was just about 8 months pregnant at this time
of year. It was our first child… and I heard people say things like
when a child is coming, there's not really any way to be ready for
the change that's going to happen…
Now two kiddos later and one on
the way, I recognize that there's truth in that statement. There are
surprises that you can't be ready for, but still we do everything we
can to prepare. We've talked about what we're going to do for the
nursery: whether to paint and how to arrange the furniture… The girls
and I talk to the baby and for the last few weeks that I've been able
to feel his movements, I even roughhouse
with him… We know that
there will be surprises that we can't be ready for but still we do
everything we can to prepare… Four years ago, when our first child was
coming, in addition to reading all the parenting books we could fit
into our day and taking Lamaze classes, and all of the physical
preparations, I also wanted to interact with the child as we waited
for her to be born… so just about every night I read a book to the
little one in-utero.
The book followed the news of a new child who was coming. It
started out by saying Word of your coming passed from animal to
animal…
and it talked about how everything got ready for the new
child… The earth, the sun, the stars, the moon, the sea the forest
and even the air had a role getting ready… and finally the story
came around to the point where the baby was being born… and this is
what it says about that moment… With a push you slipped out of the
dark quiet where suddenly you could hear a circle of people singing
with voices familiar and clear. Welcome to the spinning world the
people sang as they washed your new tiny hands. Welcome to the
green earth the people sang as they wrapped your wet slippery body
and as they held you close they whispered into your open curving
ear, we are so glad you've come!
The news of the child's coming went all the way around the world so that everyone would be ready to welcome the baby when it came. And in the story I read to my daughter, that baby was much hoped for and well loved. And I can't help but think that in our scripture passage, for both Mary and Elizabeth it was a little more complicated than that. The Angel Gabriel announced the coming of both of the children who were in utero in our gospel text. Zechariah, who was Elizabeth's husband, gave Gabriel a hard time because he didn't think it was possible for the two old folks to conceive a child. He ended up dumbstruck. Literally unable to speak until the child was born. When Elizabeth eventually found out that she was pregnant, even she remained in seclusion for five months.
When Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a baby she was understandably confused… how could this be since she hadn't known a man yet. The angel said nothing is impossible with God, and as evidence he told Mary that Elizabeth, even in her old age, was already in the sixth month of her pregnancy…
Now for Elizabeth we get the picture that while the pregnancy was a surprise, it was also a blessing... In the culture of biblical times, they didn't understand reproductive biology like we do now. If there weren't children in a marriage, they thought it was the woman's fault and she bore some level of shame or disgrace or social stigma because she wasn't able to bear children.
For Mary, on the other hand, the pregnancy was also a surprise but it probably felt like much less of a blessing, at least at first. To be pregnant before she was married would likely have brought harsh judgment by her family and neighbors. When Gabriel announced that Jesus would be born, he told her that she was favored by God… and understandably it took her a little while to echo that sentiment. The scripture passages tell us that she knew this whole situation was from God and that she was willingly going to participate in it… but I think we do a disservice when we imagine that it was easy.
I don't think having a baby is ever easy… but it's especially hard when it comes in the midst of ethical and moral questioning from friends and family; and maybe even harder when faced with the insecurity of not knowing who is going to stick around to help out… About two years ago I ran into a close friend from high school. I hadn't seen her since we were seniors… and like many people who knew her at that time, I pretty much disappeared when word got out that she was pregnant… I stopped hanging out with her and her boyfriend… it wasn't that I planned to or even that I wanted to, it was just that they had other things going on and everything suddenly seemed different. I didn't know what to say, there were questions and issues that I didn't want to have to think about… fears and hopes and dreams that I didn't know how to deal with. When we ran into each other, we sat and talked for a few minutes, I asked about her baby and the guy who was her boyfriend back in high school. They're married now, the baby's in middle school and they have two more kids also. I apologized for how I acted back then. I said that now, I realized what she probably needed back then was for people to stick by her side… not necessarily for advice or anything terribly profound… just to be there with her as she struggled. She told me that that pregnancy was the loneliest time of her life and then she thanked me for realizing how hard it must have been for her, even more than a decade later.
The stigma Mary faced in a first century Jewish community would have been even more pronounced than what my friend faced in the early 90's. Who was going to stick around? Who would believe her story? Who was going to be her community? It's not difficult to imagine that all of a sudden her life felt pretty lonely. Our cultural norms may have shifted, but the questions and the feelings are still very real… and we all know that it's not just unexpected pregnancies that bring those kinds of feelings of loneliness to the surface… in life sometimes things happen, whether it's for wonderful reasons or for horrible reasons, things happen where we find ourselves in situations that seem too big for us… situations that we ourselves don't understand, situations where we end up feeling alone, or like we're the only ones who have ever had to deal with something like this. And Mary did what may be the best thing any of us can do when things get confusing like that… She decided not to go through it alone. She went to be with someone who knew her and someone who loved her.
So Luke tells this story that at least one writer has called a pre-Christmas gift because it's a story of connection between people who needed support from their community and they found it in each other. They both may have been wondering why in the world did this happen to me? And when they came together they got a bigger picture of what God was doing. They had someone who was on the journey with them. It's not that their issues went away: We know that John and Jesus stuck around for a little while and they both got themselves into a heap of trouble… but at least for their present struggles, Mary and Elizabeth had each other, they didn't have to go through it alone.
When John jumped in the womb it confirmed for Elizabeth that even
though she may not have understood everything that was going on, God
was there. And when Elizabeth spoke confirmation to Mary she gained
enough confidence to break into the most famous poem of advent… My
Soul Magnifies the Lord,
she said. And it was just a few lines into
the poem where she finally claimed her blessedness saying, God has
looked with favor on me and all generations will call me blessed.
In their confusion, in their hope, in their hurt, in their fear… in their life, the two women found blessing because they connected with one another in community and they looked for what God was doing. They accepted one another exactly as they were Old, young, pregnant, alone, rejoicing, scared out of her mind.
This interaction between Elizabeth and Mary became a model of Christian community as they mutually shared life in all of its wonder and all of its uncertainty. Both women openly gave of themselves and received what the other one had to offer. Mary needed support so she sought it out and Elizabeth welcomed her in when there were many who would have turned her away. Elizabeth needed support and Mary offered encouragement simply by showing up to celebrate the amazing thing God was doing. They shared joy and struggle as they prepared for the arrival of the future they were carrying around inside of them.
And while there are only a few of us in the sanctuary who literally
have children growing in us, in our own way, each of us carries the
future because each of us has within us the potential to make
community happen and to make goodwill come alive. Blaise Pascal, the
French Philosopher once said that One Christian is no Christian.
We
can't live our faith without others. We long for connection with
other people, we long for connection with the larger story of what God
is doing. We long to be known, understood, and appreciated. We long
to be connected in meaningful service and authentic friendships. The
development of that kind of community takes time… it takes effort… it
takes valuing others for who they are and it takes risking
vulnerability so that someone else will be able to walk alongside of
us in our present struggles too. But in creating that kind of
community together— by risking our own vulnerability to say that we
need help and by offering a welcoming presence or a helping hand when
someone else needs it— together we can help to bring about the best of
the possibilities for the future.
We can be community for one another, and for anyone who's looking for it, because building that kind of community is an expression of following Christ, who is after all the child who is about to be born… Mary may have been confused by the child coming into her life, but we rejoice that the child comes to ours. She may have been nervous for his arrival but we can't wait because we've seen the rest of the story. We know that he welcomed the outcast and the sinner… we've seen that he makes people whole. We know what his life looked like… And as we share lives with one another in community, we do it because God first shared life with us… Emanuel, God with us, we are so Glad you've come, and we pray that together, we can be your people. Amen
This sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on December 13, 2009.
© 2009 Daniel Holland
