Advent 4, Year B, December 24, 2023

Quotes That Make Me Think

"It is no small thing to be regarded, to be favored, especially when you are exceedingly aware that you should not be."

Commentary, Luke 1:26-38, Karoline Lewis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"It's an incredible thing to be noticed, to be called favored, to be invited into meaning work. This is the gift we can give our people this week, Working Preacher."

"Favored Ones," David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2011.

We may call the Annunciation a “joyful” mystery, but surely the experience was a mixed one for Mary herself. I believe that saying “yes” to God did indeed bring joy to Mary, but that “yes” was also the beginning of terrible responsibility and heartache for her, heartache that would extend all the way to Calvary. In the meantime, she had all of the usual anxieties of the unexpectedly pregnant (and then some). Through all the uncertainty, in the face of every overwhelming obstacle, she was able to trust that God loved and guided her, whether she sensed God’s presence or not.

Certainly this isn’t the only or the best way to interpret the Annunciation. Nevertheless, it was the version I needed that day.

Waiting For God by Elizabeth Desimone

General Resources for Sunday's Lessons from Textweek.com

Prayer

Great and merciful God, from among this world's lowly and humble you choose your servants and call them to work with you to fulfill your loving plan of salvation.  By the power of your Spirit, make your church fertile and fruitful, that, imitating the obedient faith of Mary, the church may welcome your word of life and so become the joyful mother of countless offspring, a great and holy posterity of children destined for undying life.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year B, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.

Some Thoughts on Luke 1:26-38

Oremus Online NRSV Gospel Text

Resources for Sunday's Gospel

Are we confused? So what is the meaning of Advent and Christmas? As we wait, we might ponder and think about the meaning of our life and the life of those closest to us. If we stop for a moment we might look and around and ask what are we doing and for what are we making this great effort? If the bumper sticker wisdom is true and Jesus is the reason for the season, we might pause on this Sunday and ask ourselves do our actions tell that story or a different story?

I am not talking about doing right, I am talking about serving the good and the God who is good.

Life moves along through this season. We are getting by. We are making our way towards another Christmas. The anxieties about family and being together are growing. Perhaps financial stress and strain are pulling on our souls. It is complicated by the reality of continued family separation. We are ramping up, and we are wondering if this or that is really important? What will we do? What new traditions will be created? What old traditions will pause or not continue?

We are going to Christmas parties and making the rounds, and something in the midst of those conversations and relationships may actually seem more real, more worthwhile, than the rest of the business of the season. 

We are confused. It is, in fact, a confusing time of year with competing messages. It is a confusing time economically. It is a confusing time as people look to the past and then forward into the future. We are a bit confused, and we are hoping someone might offer some good news.

I think that is what we are waiting for...a little bit of good news. We are waiting for a little direction. On this Sunday, as the fervour is building, I believe people are hoping our preachers will somehow give us some wisdom, some direction, and perhaps interpret what we are experiencing and what it all means. What does it mean to serve God in this time - our time.

Mary was confused, to be sure. Luke Timothy Johnson translates Mary's response to the angel's words as "utterly confused." (Luke, p 38) At the same time, it is likely that all those who heard this story were not confused but rather expected it to be so; this is the way great births happen. This is true in other parts of scripture, and it was true in the writings and storytelling of Jesus' own day. We might look at the birth of Samson in Judges 13:2-7 as an example of such writings. (38)

Mary is a woman with no special position within the body of faithful people like most of us. Mary is not a particularly righteous person (according to Luke); she is not known as a pious woman but rather an ordinary citizen like most of us. "She is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy. Furthermore, she has neither husband nor child to validate her existence." (Luke Timothy Johnson; Luke, 39) She actually is of very little value at all. I think that is actually how most people feel about themselves.

In a society that has more, spends more, consumes more, and prides itself on liberty, freedom, and happiness, we are today a body of individuals who feel pretty miserable, imprisoned by our stuff, and of very little value.

Some leaders are even suggesting caution be thrown to the wind in order to shop.

I think that is why there is so much unrest in our culture. We are confused about our place in the world, and our place in relation to one another. In this world, there are those who are poor in spirit and poor in individual wealth. While most Americans may not be the latter, we are more often than not poor in spirit. And, in that recognition, we discover how much we need one another and how much we are bonded to those who, in this holiday season, will go without.

Even the Starbucks drive-thru suggests - "Cheer this way." As happy as my local barista makes me feel on a workday morning with a smile, where do we look?

It is to Mary, and to humanity that God comes and gives grace. God gives grace and favour to all people in this moment of annunciation. God conceives in the world grace and love incarnate.

Unlike Zechariah who demands proof of this coming Christ, Mary simply wants to be less confused. She just wants to know, in a simple way, how can this be? How is it that such a simple person with no seeming value can be a bearer of God's grace and favour in the world?

After all, that may be the question to which we are all seeking the answer.

Such a simple question, and we seem so adrift. I think this is a great travesty in our church, that we may have forgotten the answer to this question. We in our church have forgotten that everyone, ALL people, those like us, those unlike us, those we agree with, those we don't agree with, those who worship like us, those who do not worship like us, those with money and those without money...ALL people are created in such a way that through God's power (and God's power alone), we are vessels of grace in the world.

In a world where reputations, wealth, and personal identity are more often than not built upon tearing others down, we desperately need to be reminded of this simple truth - god chooses Mary particularly and in so doing, God chooses all of us.

We in the mainline denominations in this world have spent a lot of time making clear who the righteous and who the righteous are not. We have chosen to use our pulpits publicly to require proof of people's righteousness. And, we have chastised used our power to make others feel bad about themselves. I believe that preachers (both liberal and conservative) do this. And, in so doing, what has happened is that the rest of the plebes sancti dei (the sacred people of God) have born witnesses and are left wondering if they, too may not be good enough. Who is? We have echoed consumerism's maxim that we are not worthy enough alone; we must need something else to make us special. We have translated right-belief (whatever you define that as) to be the status criteria for all believers, and in the end, we have preached the leaving out of one another from God's embrace.

When we make Mary out to be anything other than the poor, culturally worthless, outsider she is - we distil a message that is not good news at all.

This Sunday, across the globe, Episcopalian and Anglican preachers will stand in pulpits and in front of their congregations and look into the eyes of virtually every kind of person that God has created. And, we have a moment. Sure, some will preach for 8 minutes, others longer, but in that sermon, there will be but one moment in which we have an opportunity to offer God's people an answer to the questions and concerns they bring with them and set before God and God's church. They are asking, they are wondering, is it possible...is it just possible... that God's grace and favour, if meant for the likes of Mary, is meant for me? Overwhelmingly the answer must be a loud cry of "YES."

May we have the courage to look our people in the eye and see their hearts and speak to them and say: "Yes, you are chosen like Mary, and God's Holy Spirit is upon you, and you are of value to God, for in you and through you God has chosen to make his Grace, favour, and love known in this world. Yes, you are the one. You have been chosen."


Some Thoughts on Romans 16:25-27

Oremus Online NRSV Epistle Text 

Resources for Sunday's Epistle


"The image of God has been restored and believers now live in that image, witnessing and inviting all into this covenantal relationship."

Commentary, Romans 16:25-27, Dirk G. Lange, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"This passage places the incarnation, which we will shortly celebrate, in the broad arena of God's never ending, always existent desire for humanity to live in peace. The reconciliation that is offered in the gospel is the reconciliation to what humanity was created to be."

Commentary, Romans 16:25-27, L. Ann Jervis, Preaching This Week,WorkingPreacher.org, 2008.

"... 'obedience of faith' ... suggests rather an ongoing relationship which includes involvement in God's life and compassion reaching out into the world."

"First Thoughts on Passages on Year B Epistle Passages in the Lectionary: Advent 4," William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

The passage for today is the doxology for the letter to the Romans and is a routine way Paul brings his correspondence to an end - in accordance with the custom of the day.

It is a blessing and a kind of proclamation from which we have insight into Paul's understanding of his work - and perhaps our own. Paul believes that God is the one strengthening him to proclaim Jesus. Paul himself is dependent upon the Gospel itself. The living word empowers him as it has empowered the work of God on earth since the very beginning.  He is making it clear that the letter is not simply Paul writing - but God speaking through Paul to the church. God is in Paul's own ministry and writing, expanding the kingdom of God on God's behalf and through the power of God.

Paul is clear that his mission is God's mission. God's mission is the inclusion of the gentile into the kingdom and it is this inclusion and expansion which is obedience.

Moreover, the God who is involved in this expansive vision of the kingdom of God is the God of the Hebrew bible - the creator God who is wise and has set all things into motion.

As we think and ponder, it is wise to remind ourselves that for the Christian, the incarnation is not some add-on to an ancient tradition. The incarnation is itself the reconciliation moment of God's historical movement to embrace and fulfil his covenant with creation.

2 Samuel 7:1-6


"It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of this passage for both Jews and Christians."
Commentary, 2 Samuel 7:1-14a (Pentecost +8), Ralph W. Klein, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2015.

"Israel's hope does not rest in a dynasty but there is hope that from the house of David will come forth trustworthy leadership, attentive to the voices of those in need, and in faithful service to God's goals for Israel and the world."
Commentary, 2 Samuel 7:1-11 (Advent 4), Elna K. Solvang, Preaching This Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2011.

"...the Lord maintains divine freedom to the point which allows him to lead his people and all creation to new life. This is what we anticipate in the annunciation of the birth of Jesus."
The Old Testament Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16. Weekly Comments on the Revised Common Lectionary, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.


Oremus NRSV Text

2 Samuel 7 is an important chapter for Christological reasons. God is soon to make a covenant with David. Chapter 7 will connect all that has come before with all that is about to come after. God's next covenant is with David, and commits to bringing about a kingdom and offspring. shortsightedness allows us to see this is about David and Solomon before the fall of the kingdom. But as Paul will make clear, the great Dravidic rule will be unravelled and given away to Jews and gentile alike through the grace and power of God in Christ Jesus. Romans 1.3ff:

the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...

This is not an otherworldly expectation. Read through the lens of the gospel authors we see clearly that the first Christians believed that this was their inheritance. They were the ones to receive the Davidic promise. "The Son of David" or the lineage found in the gospels was not some mere happenstance but a revelation of the fulfilment of this very promise from 2 Samuel.

God in Christ Jesus was before time and with the Israelites. It was his Word that the patriarchs and matriarchs heard speak from burning bushes and in the whisper of a Temple's night. God was with the ancient faith ancestors of David, with David, and now is with all people through the unique birth of the incarnation into the world. The hidden power of God was to be found in the man from Galilee; we see that he has come to free them from the evil powers of religious and political oppression. The first followers are the offspring of David, God in Christ will unleash God's love and not take it from them. It is Christ's Davidic thrown poured out that, in the end, will reign.

Excerpt from my book Citizen on Mary:

Reversing the origin story whereby God creates humanity from man, the New Testament takes up the narrative with God recreating humanity from a woman: Mary. God spoke to Mary (Luke 1:26) and rehearsed the words used with Abraham. The messenger used words of peace (shalom) and said that she was to be a blessing. Sometimes we translate the words as “grace.”  Mary accepted her role as a citizen prophet in this new kingdom-making. She agreed to serve God’s mission. She would be responsible, accepting both the privilege of service and the accountability that goes with it. Not unlike the people at the foot of Mount Sinai, she accepted the invitation to be part of God’s story and sealed the covenant with the words, “Let it be done.” In that moment she began her journey as an engaged citizen in both God’s reign and in the reign of the religious and political powers of her day.

Mary’s “yes” begins a slow-motion unravelling of the cult of imperial authority. Roman emperors were worshipped as gods. Their legitimacy to rule was grounded in the mythical stories of gods copulating with mortal women and birthing demigods. In these mythical narratives, one of the gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon forces himself upon a mortal woman. Modern retellings of these tales often omit or obscure the implications of rape, but such was not the case in the first century when Luke wrote his Gospel. René Girard calls these Greco-Roman narratives “monstrous births of mythology.”  The mating of the gods with mortals was a violent oppression by a dominating power, undertaken by the gods and then repeated throughout the social orders of Hellenistic humanity. The story of Mary’s invitation and acceptance to serve God’s mission parallels these stories but also turns them on their heads. Mary’s call narrative rejects violence by gods in favour of the peace of God. Girard writes: 

No relationship of violence exists between those who take part in the virgin birth: the Angel, the Virgin and the Almighty. . . . In fact, all the themes and terms associated with the virgin birth convey to us a perfect submission to the non-violent will of the God of the gospels, who in this way prefigures Christ himself.” 

There was no violence done to Mary by God. She was the lost and least and was raised up. Mary did not resist her calling. There was no rape or sexual domination.  More recently, artists have portrayed the overshadowing of Mary as a kind of sexual ecstasy, but these interpretations say more about us than they do about Luke or Mary. The other modern trend, which is to “demythologize” Mary’s experience by arguing that Luke has derived her calling narrative from those other more monstrous mythologies, misses the point. When we remove the mystery of God’s invitation and Mary’s acceptance and flatten Luke’s narrative into an unremarkable recapitulation of Greek myth, we miss the message of shalom that is woven into the story of the Incarnation from the outset. When we deconstruct Luke’s story in order to privilege our modern sensibilities about science, we rob Luke’s Gospel of any chance of transforming us. Nonetheless, this was a predominant trend among many Biblical exegetes writing when the gravitational pull of modern rationalism was at its peak. Episcopal Bishop John Spong rejected Mary’s call narrative as worthless mythology. Theologian Paul Tillich had no interest in the mythic birth of Jesus. 

The story of God’s invitation and Mary’s willingness to serve is significant, not in the ways it mirrors the monstrous births of Hellenistic mythology, but in the ways it differs from those competing pagan narratives in order to undermine both the domination culture of antiquity and the domination culture of modernity. The total rejection of violence that was characteristic of New Testament Christianity is one of the reasons the early Church struggled to achieve legitimacy within Greco-Roman society. God and the conception narrative of Jesus do not adhere to any of the mythic tropes known to paganism and undermine all such tropes with a story of shalom. Our own sexually oriented culture, also consumed by violence, rejects the story, too. God soundly refuses to appease the violent expectations of either epoch.

If we had any remaining doubt about the radical message of peace that Mary entered into, her visit with Elizabeth dispels it. In the home of Elizabeth, who was to give birth to John the Baptist, we hear Mary speak about her ministry as God-bearer: Theotokos. Following in the footsteps of Moses and Esther, both of whom brought about dramatic social change; Abraham, who was the first to be a blessing; and Isaiah and Jonah, who offered transformation to estranged people, Mary takes part in God’s work of shalom by inaugurating cosmic change. 

Mary told Elizabeth that she was humbled and that God had invited her into the work of being blessed and being a blessing to the world. Perhaps reflecting upon the words of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1–11, Mary said that God’s mighty acts throughout salvation history had benefited her personally, and now she was part of the narrative. Remembering the words of Jonah, we hear her repeat that God was a God of mercy and quick to forgive. Mary said that God raised up the least, the lost, and the lowly. God laid low the powers and authorities of this world. God fed people good things. Those who wish for the ways of the world, the human ways of rivalry and greed, to prevail, would find the gospel of grace difficult and would be sent away empty. This was the reign of Shalom. This was a new chapter in the promise God invited Abraham and Sarah into. From Luke’s Gospel (1:46):

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.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name. 

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation. 

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly; 

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty. 

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy, 

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.

Many call Mary’s song the most concise statement of the gospel. It is a statement of God’s vision for a community of the least, the lost, and the lonely. It envisions a reign of peace and rejects any kingdom, nation, or state made from violence. It is such a radical statement of God’s in-breaking peace that it has been feared by the powers and authorities of this world. Mary’s song tells of a God who will overthrow the various states that humanity so violently brings into being. Mary’s song has often been outlawed because it delegitimizes the violent structures of human power. Anglicans join the Roman Church in appreciation for Mary’s song, called the Magnificat in Latin. The states supported by Anglican Churches have not always been so appreciative, however. When India was ruled by the British, the recitation of the Magnificat in worship was outlawed. The same was true in Guatemala during the 1980s. Believing that the song of Mary was a rallying cry for the revolutionary and the poor, the government banned it. Guatemala was one of the first countries to practice forced disappearances—between forty and fifty thousand people were summarily murdered in this way. In South America, after the “disappearing” of many family members and children during the war in Argentina, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (a square in the Montserrat barrio of central Buenos Aires) placed the words of the Magnificat on posters in the city. The military junta of Argentina responded by banning all public displays of the song for five years.  Protestant theologian and activist during Hitler’s Germany, Dietrich Bonheoffer, wrote from prison in 1933:

The Song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, and one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings. . . . This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols. It is instead a hard, strong, inexorable song about the power of God and the powerlessness of humankind. 

Mary is an icon of faithful political engagement. She bears Christ into the world in a way that rejects the powers and principalities’ mythic and real practices of violence. This story invites us to be God-bearers who witness to a different narrative than the one that legitimises the ruling religious and imperial powers. Here we have a renewed origin story for the Christian citizen. 

Mary’s acceptance of the covenant with God was a declaration of responsibility for God’s garden imagination and a pledge to consider her role in relationship to others. Her “yes” undoes the warped desire, mundane violence, and constant scapegoating that arise out of sibling rivalry. Hers was categorically not an individual pietistic event or an internal private faith response to God. To view Mary that way is to read Enlightenment ideas back into Luke’s text. Making the conception of Christ into a private event of Marian piety is to capitulate to the worldview that Christian and religious philosopher Charles Taylor calls the “immanent frame”, where transcendence is discarded as useless and reality is explained self-referentially. 

Sermons Preached on these Passages

A Love That Puts Hate To Death

Jan 14, 2016

Sermon preached at St. Mary's in Cypress Texas for 4th Advent Year B

Waiting for Christmas is like Waiting for a bus in Milan

Dec 25, 2012

Sermon preached at Trinity and St. Mark's Houston, fourth sunday of advent 2012