The Reverend Deborah Fae Swift
Selections from Luke 1:26-46 (MSG)
December 4, 2022
Fellowship of Faith @ St. John’s Meadows
God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.
She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest.’ God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever— no end, ever, to his kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.” The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you …, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. … Your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is. … And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I am God’s, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her.
Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,
You’re so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, is also blessed! … The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, The babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. And Mary said, I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
Behold! the Spirit’s Word for the church today. Thanks be to God.
+ + + + + + +
Back in December of 2008, Diana Butler Bass published an article in the Christian magazine, Sojourner. It struck me when I saw it reproduced last year because it really focuses on MARY.
Now, as Presbyterians, we don’t focus a lot on Mary – and I think we are the poorer for it.
Just think about her for a minute … oh, I don’t mean the fact that she was probably only 14 or 15 when Jesus was born – for SURE putting her among the ranks of teen pregnancies in her day – but that she was able, in the midst of her young life – to say YES to God!
Bass writes the following:
Over the years, Mary has not ceased being a compelling biblical hero to me— and I have learned how this woman reflects the hopes and longings of Christians through many ages. To me, and her countless admirers, she has been — among other images — the pious mother, the face of the divine feminine, a faithful disciple, and the even the queen of heaven.
Her glory, however, is almost always connected to her maternity. Mary became famous because of Jesus. But before she was Jesus’ mother, Mary was a prophet. In some ways, her story is like that of Isaiah, a person of humble circumstance who lived at a time of political turmoil and military oppression.
An angel appears to the future prophet, who feels inadequate to bear God’s word to the people. Yet, eventually, both Isaiah and Mary relent and submit to the Spirit’s call on their lives.
And, long before the cry of the infant in the manger, Mary proclaims the in-breaking of God’s reign, the political justice that will be born into the world [when she says]:
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Quite a statement, isn’t it?
Whatever is happening to us … we are to declare that our soul is designed to magnify GOD … and that our spirit REJOICES in God who looks with favor upon us – even we who are otherwise insignificant!
I mean … it’s the same kind of thing that ISAIAH said to HIS people almost 800 years before Mary. And it’s something that WE are invited to do even today – to recognize that God is SOVEREIGN over us … and that we are here to say YES to God … no matter how unlikely the outcome or how ABSURD the request might seem to us!
And then Diana Butler Bass says the most profound thing, I think. She says:
Mary is MARY because of Jesus, she says. But Jesus was born JESUS … because of Mary, who responded to the call of God, as did Isaiah of old by saying: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” Without her, the light would not have shined forth amid the oppression and injustice of his day.
And without US … his Light will not shine forth amid the oppression and injustice of OUR day.
It doesn’t just take TRUST to say YES and be willing to be used by the Spirit to bring light into the world …
It doesn’t just take FAITH …
It takes LOVE … the love that fills us so completely that there is no room for doubt … there is no area of SHADOW … it’s pure light … pure love … that causes a prophet to speak … that brought Mary to be Jesus’ mother … and that brings US to say YES as children of that light today.
In MANY ways, the world is the same today as it was in Mary’s day.
The issues are the same … the abuses of power are the same … the mistreatment of people is the same … and WE are the ones who are called upon to say YES to God’s plan, even when we can’t see how it could POSSIBLY come true.
The KOG? The Kingdom or Kin-dom of God where EVERYONE matters … where EVERYONE is welcome … where PEACE reigns???? How can that possibly come to pass given how the world is today.
And yet –
(softer) And yet –
And yet … there’s Mary.
A scared 15-year-old unwed mother … saying yes to God’s plan.
And here we are today.
We have no IDEA what God’s plan is for our future or the future of the world … but we know that WE are the way that the Light of Christ will be born into the world.
WE are the Mary’s – regardless of our gender – because of our FAITH and because of God’s LOVE for us.
Change Shadow into Light, Fear into Hope,
Sadness into Joy Emptiness into Love
That’s what we are put here to do …
And that’s why we come to the Table of God’s Grace – to be reminded about HOW to do it …
To receive the nurturing food that EMPOWERS us to do it …
And to say YES we will take God inside of us, just as Mary did … when we eat this bread and drink this cup.
Let us come this day and be fed through the example of Mary, the Prophet.
Because THEN we will be dancing the song of our savior God.
Amen.
12-Benediction
The humming of the angel’s wings … Birthing the Light and Love … Being the Prophets …
Dancing the Song of our Savior God
To love and serve God
To love and serve each other
Go with God
Walk with Jesus
Dance with the Spirit
… and let the people of God shout: AMEN!
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