FAVORED, PERPLEXED, THOUGHTFUL AND AFRAID

Luke 1:47-55

Advent IV

Union Avenue

History has proclaimed and memorialized the words you just heard read and sung as mine …and called them The Magnificat.  History has also set me aside as unique – the church proclaimed me as the first saint.  All of this is honorable and humbling.

Today, I (Mary) would like you to hear more about me and why I believe we are not so much different from each other – even with our uniqueness.  My gift to you today – on this Sunday of love – is to explore the richness, the hardships, the complexities, the beauty, the satisfaction and the agonies of love …and how love shaped my life and hopefully shapes yours.

A portion of the church that some of you know (and others don’t) start my story with my mother – and rightfully so.  They claim that even during the time she was carrying me – in utero – she somehow protected me from the sin of the world and so I was destined to be set aside for a very special service to God.

My mother, Anne, was a wonderful woman – and I believe she did protect me from many of the ills of the world.  Mothers do that – or at least most mothers try to do that.  As soon as we know and feel new life within us, we realize there is nothing that compares to that reality.  So much of life is about nurturing and helping growth…from plants and crops, to animals on our farms, to students in classrooms, to visions in communities and businesses, to the children in our care.  But to know that – as women – we have been equipped with the miraculous ability to nurture a life within us is beyond comparison.  My mother took that gift and responsibility very seriously – and she taught me throughout her life about its importance.

The men of my time were not nearly as fortunate as the men of your time.  Responsibilities were much more compartmentalized.  Religious laws and cultural understandings prevented men (fathers) from having the degree of involvement with their young children or especially the anticipation and excitement before or during the birthing of babies.  It is my understanding that now – in your day – parents (mothers and fathers whether they are biological, adoptive, married, in relationship, heterosexual or homosexual) all take the opportunity and responsibility to nurture, care for, love and prepare for unborn children to give them the very best start in life – just as my mother did for me.

She also taught me the songs of strong women of our faith.  Thus, even though the words of the Magnificat are attributed to me, they came from my heart of hearts because I knew the song of Hannah, of Miriam and of Debra – all of whom carried out significant roles in our history …and whose songs are a part of our Word.

Each of those women knew that God’s message is often about turning things upside down …that people of power and wealth often lose their sense and appreciation of God’s desire and hope for the world.  Each of our songs sing about the disconnect between the proud who try to lord over others and the love God intends for us all to share with each other.

Some storytellers like to remember me as a poor peasant girl.  If you check my lineage you will discover this is not true. I am more like most of you.  My ‘lowly estate’ – rather than any kind of economic impoverishment – describes the willingness God discovered within me…the willingness to listen to and follow God’s desires.

Listening to and hearing God is difficult – no question.  It is a life struggle.  To believe that we are so loved and gifted …that we are unique and valuable …all of these are tenets of our faith – understandings of the creative power of God.  It is so easy, therefore, for us to fall over into a sense of self-importance.  That very, very fine line separating the understanding of our gifted uniqueness and prideful arrogance provides a constant challenge for most of us.

The only way I was able to serve as the mother of Jesus was reminding myself of that fine line and prayerfully trusting that God was helping me do the best I was able.  Sure, there were times I crossed over – as we all do.  One of those episodes is remembered in your scripture – when I took some of my other children and tried to convince Jesus to cease his ministry.  Although Jesus’ words stung me in the moment, I knew he was right …and I remembered what I had been privileged to teach him about God’s centrality to all life.

Privileged is undoubtedly a better word to describe me than favored.  Privileged – not in the sense of having all the money one would ever need or want, or living in the finest of homes …but privileged that I was asked to give my life in such a way that the world would be changed…. privileged that I got to be partnered with God for purposes way beyond the scope of any dream I had.

Every one of us has that privilege.  I did not know that when I was young and made the promise to carry out what God asked of me.  As I have watched through the ages, however, I believe that God asks each of us IF we are willing to care for others and thereby care for a portion of God’s creation.  Listening for that request is the first – and often the most difficult – requirement.  We are all fraught with listening to our own desires, looking for our friends or families’ admiration.  We are also afraid – afraid of life, of change, of stepping out into something strange.  Can you imagine how frightened I was …how terrified Joseph was?

Fortunately, my mother told me about Elizabeth.  Venturing to see her (oh dear women listeners if you can imagine walking for miles and miles on dusty, hilly roads, dealing with morning sickness and the weariness that is present in early pregnancy) …but going to see my dear, older cousin was so worth the agony of the trek.  She, too, was frightened, perplexed, astonished by what she had been asked to do…but she, too, knew it as a sincere privilege.  Her assurance to me was pure gift.

We all can do that for each other – whether or not it is a child we have been given to raise…or another responsibility God has opened for us.  Sharing with each other what we have heard from God helps us bear the loneliness, and gives us the strength to serve.  Elizabeth had heard …and even though she was still afraid, she had accepted.  She gave me the strength to go back home, to speak with Joseph, to help him through his own fears …and ultimately to give everything I had to bear and raise Jesus.

There is so much more to tell you – about the wearisome travel we had to make to Bethlehem …the fear on so many innkeepers faces.  They sensed I was about to give birth and knew religious law would then prevent them from renting their rooms for weeks if the birth happened in their place.

There is also so much I would want to share with you about raising Jesus – the little gifts of teaching I offered, but how he was able to magnify the little I knew into who he became.

Of course I could spend much time telling of the deep, deep agony of watching his horrific death.  The grace in God’s love never allows us to see ahead – otherwise most of us would quit listening for God and certainly not abide by God’s desire and hope in us.

For now, however, my gift of love to you is for you to know that God is speaking to every one of us.  God is asking each of us to serve in a very special way – that will be difficult and rewarding, challenging and wondrous, frightening and redemptive.  But God is asking us in love and will never let us go through our lives alone. First we must listen for that gift that God wants to give us …then stay assured that we will not be alone in carrying out the assignment.

May this day of love give you hope, peace and joy …and most importantly the assurance of God’s presence every moment of your life.

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