2017 Advent Sermon 4: Ordinary People
6 For a child has
been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
1:47 "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
1:48 for he has looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me
blessed;
1:49 for the Mighty One has done great things
for me, and holy is his name.
1:50 His mercy is for those who fear him from
generation to generation.
1:51 He has shown strength with his arm; he
has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
1:52 He has brought down the powerful from their
thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
1:53 he has filled the hungry with good
things, and sent the rich away empty.
1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, in
remembrance of his mercy,
1:55 according to the promise he made to our
ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was
sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
1:27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name
was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
1:28 And he came to her and said,
"Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
1:29 But she was much perplexed by his words
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
1:30 The angel said to her, "Do not be
afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
1:31 And now, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.
1:32 He will be great, and will be called the
Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his
ancestor David.
1:33 He will reign over the house of Jacob
forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
1:34 Mary said to the angel, "How can
this be, since I am a virgin?"
1:35 The angel said to her, "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.
1:36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her
old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was
said to be barren.
1:37 For nothing will be impossible with God."
1:38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the
angel departed from her.
All passages quoted from the New Revised Standard Version
Ordinary People/Courageous Joy
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Introduction:
Ordinary people, and ordinary happenings are transformed into the Sacred
If scripture does not speak
to ordinary people, then the gospel message is not of much use. If God’s salvation is not for me and my loved
ones, ordinary people that we are, then it isn’t much good news to me; but
God’s salvation is good news to all of us, because it is for ordinary people.
This passage not only tells
us that God’s salvation is always coming to ordinary people, and through
ordinary people. Oh yes, this passage
speaks of the coming of the Savior in the birth of Jesus Christ, I know
that. But you have to admit that Jesus
needed to come as a part of a whole history of faithfulness. Today’s scripture shows that so
powerfully. Mary, Elizabeth and Isaiah are
essential for the birth of Jesus to happen.
God brings salvation in Jesus Christ, but God works out that salvation
in history, and calls us, ordinary people that we are, to live faithfully,
because our faithful living makes a difference.
Indeed, God has won our
salvation in Jesus Christ. Even so, God is
continually working out that salvation for each person in each day of their
lives—and God works through ordinary people.
Catch what I said, God is continually—every day and in every way—working
out the story line (I guess) of God’s salvation in each person’s real lives,
and throughout real human history. Hear
what this means: God is always working out that salvation through you and
through me. Indeed, if there is one
thing that I get from today’s Bible readings, it is that God works the most
momentous, extraordinary events in history through ordinary people doing
ordinary things—when they have the courage to say “yes” to God.
So what happened in today’s
scriptures, angel visitations? Well,
let’s look at it once from the perspective of the friends and family—you know,
the people who did not see any angels.
What happened?
·
A
couple of women got pregnant. That’s
pretty ordinary; it happens a million times a day. Yeah, I know, every family feels like their
pregnancy, and their children are miracles; ME TOO! But there are over 7 billion people in this
world. I tell you, pregnancy is pretty
darned ordinary.
·
And
who were these women? Were they from
powerful families, maybe politically powerful, or economically powerful? No, these were really ordinary people. One was the wife of a priest. The other was a peasant girl. Pretty common people…really.
One of the main themes here,
though is that anything is possible with God. Did you see that in today’s reading? When Mary asks, “How can this be,” the
response includes this sentence: “For
anything is possible with God.”
I want to challenge you to
hear that for yourself. The ordinary
stuff that you and I can do…the ordinary stuff that merely ordinary people can
do…can be empowered by God to become transformative for you and for all you
touch in this world. But it does mean
that you have to be willing to let the ordinary possibilities within your grasp
to stand out.
Elizabeth is too old to have
a baby. She is going to get noticed.
Mary is not too young—but she
is not fully married, yet, and she is living in a day where out-of-wedlock
pregnancies can truly ruin a woman’s life—even to the point of getting her
killed. She is already promised to
Joseph, but he is going to know that he is not the father. This birth is going to make her family
relationships really messy—not to mention her social life in the community. If someone asks you, “should you say yes to God if God asks you to do
something,” it sounds almost like a dumb question. Of course, you should say yes, right? God won’t ask you to do what you cannot
do. But participating in God’s work of
salvation takes thoughtfulness, discipline, and courage.
Luckily, God gives both
Elizabeth and Mary a few things to hold onto in order to bolster their courage.
Elizabeth gets three signs
a.
She receives a visitation from an
angel;
b.
She becomes pregnant when too
old—this is an old theme from Israel’s past and a sure sign that God is at work
c.
Zechariah, her husband suddenly
becomes mute when he goes to speak to God.
Now from Elizabeth’s perspective, that must be a sign of
something…right? (For Zechariah’s
perspective go back and check out this whole passage of scripture).
Mary gets two signs
a.
Mary also gets a visitation from an
angel…but how can she talk about an angel visit without people thinking she’s
crazy? This has to leave her pretty
isolated with as momentous of a faith move as a person is called on to make.
b.
So, she is told to go to her relative,
Elizabeth who, at her age, simply cannot be pregnant except through a miracle
of god. The angel does not leave Mary
isolated. Indeed, the angel doesn’t
leave either of these women isolated.
But Mary is the one, who really gets the full
weight of it. The arrival of this child—who
is the Messiah, after all—will be momentous.
God really does bless ordinary people with real
ministry that matters. Mary realizes she
is not a priest; she is not a professional religious person. Even so, her life is to be a ministry,
because her life is to make a difference in the world for God. By the way, your life and my life are to be
that way, too, aren’t they? You have
people you talk to; you have a unique personality and unique gifts to
share. You and I, my friends, we
absolutely must take time to reflect and think about how we are using our lives
to serve the Lord.
Mary also recognizes that God’s mercy is from
generation to generation
Indeed, the faithful living of the Hebrew people for hundreds of years pays off. Remember our reading from Isaiah? Isaiah was reminding people that God had promised to give them a king from the line of King David, who would rule forever. For centuries They never gave up on God’s promise to bring a Savior. Mary is rejoicing! Faithfulness for generations pays off!
Indeed, the faithful living of the Hebrew people for hundreds of years pays off. Remember our reading from Isaiah? Isaiah was reminding people that God had promised to give them a king from the line of King David, who would rule forever. For centuries They never gave up on God’s promise to bring a Savior. Mary is rejoicing! Faithfulness for generations pays off!
But the arrival of Jesus now, and the work of God
in you and me throughout in each generation and in our generation, works to
turn the world upside down. What does
Mary say?
The arrival of Jesus will scatter the proud, his
might will bring down those on thrones—what will the Romans make of that? In our generation, I wonder how that message
will be heard by our political leaders.
Jesus’ arrival will turn the economy upside down,
in order to fulfill God’s will. The rich
will be sent away. The hungry will be
filled with good things
Jesus arrival begins by choosing common, ordinary
people. Mary says, God has lifted up the
lowly. I wonder who the lowly are that
God would have us lift up today.
In every generation, and in our generation, God calls us to take the ordinary things that you and I can do, and use them to further the kingdom of God.
In every generation, and in our generation, God calls us to take the ordinary things that you and I can do, and use them to further the kingdom of God.
Actually, we pray for that to happen every
Sunday. We pray it in the Lord’s prayer:
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We can’t pray that prayer with integrity
if we do not also live in a way that allows us to be part of God’s answer to
that prayer. God’s power transforms
ordinary things into the extraordinary power of transforming love, and we, like
Elizabeth and Mary, are called to be part of it.
And we are more like Elizabeth and Mary than we
might think. What, you might ask? I don’t hear God choosing me to give birth to
Jesus! YET, I tell you that God also uses
us to help people receive Jesus. Let me
share a story from Christian writer, Conrad Hoover.
Illustration: A friend of mine went to the bedside of a stranger with AIDS. This stranger was the sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous of the pastor’s friend. The friend was now in another hospital and could not visit, so the pastor went in her place.
At first he was hostile and apprehensive. No one else had come to visit him, and he questioned my friend's presence. The nurse asked the pastor to light a cigarette for the patient. Well, she had to ask how, since she herself did not smoke. When she later questioned what she could do for him, someone suggested that perhaps might just go and light his cigarettes. She did so, faithfully.
One day she took him a flower from her garden. He also loved flowers, and from then on each time she went she shared her flowers as well as her presence. Gradually a bond of trust and love grew which transformed both his heart and hers. They had become companions in love through life and death. Hope was born anew, for with God nothing is impossible.
Pretty ordinary stuff, I
suppose. People get sick every day. Visiting the hospital when asked is hard—strangers
don’t always respond well to that, but it doesn’t sound so extraordinary. Lighting someone’s cigarettes seems too
simple to be important. Yet, how
monumentally important. No one else had
visited. No one else took the time to
show the care that lighting the cigarettes indicated. No one else shared themselves personally,
even sharing the flowers. No one else
embodied the loving presence of God.
Conclusion
Tonight is Christmas Eve, and
I hope you will be coming to the Candlelight worship service here at the
church. Tonight, we will be celebrating
the arrival of God’s Savior, and the transformation that is possible for the
world, and for each one of us, because of the Savior. The Advent scriptures always point to
Christmas. This is the last Sunday
morning in Advent, so today’s scriptures also point to Christmas.
·
They
tell that the Messiah is coming, indeed.
·
They
tell us that God is at work in history, even if we are unsure whether we can God
at work in it or not.
·
They
tell us that choosing not to give-in to fear gives us the kind of peace that we
need for these times. God is at work in
the world and we, who are part of this world, should not be afraid, for God is
at work in us and through us.
·
They
therefore tell us that being faithful in the ordinary things we can do…things
like raising families really matter.
·
Quite
honestly, I think there are things that should be quite ordinary that people
forget, like standing up for God’s justice and calling our society to become
more just—these really matter, too.
·
They
tell us that when we say yes to God,
the most common things in our lives will be used by God to share good news with
the world.
How might your life…the very
ordinary things in your life…how might they matter?
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