December 16th 2007. “A Sermon and a Cheer for Mary!”
[Background reading Luke 1:26-38 (see also Micah 5:2-4)]
When I was growing up in Church there was a Christmas Carol which us naughty little boys called the “Walls Ice-Cream Carol” (We were so naughty!). It’s the one that went:
“The Angel Gabriel from heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
‘All hail’, said he, ‘thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly FLAVOURED lady.’
Gloria!”
Now, why should a good Protestant Minister like me decide to preach his main Advent Sermon for 2008 on the theme of Mary-that most highly favoured lady? Well, because in her encounter with the Angel Gabriel we find the very heart of the Christian Faith. And what is at the very heart of the Christian faith? It is just that-“faith!” And what’s more we also find the three greatest truths of such faith: Its substance, its promise and its price.
Substance:
The Angel brings to Mary a prophetic word about the Son she is about to conceive, based around words from the Old Testament prophet Micah. This little baby Jesus-“all meek and mild”, as we like to picture him, is actually going to be “great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and his kingdom will have no end!” Powerful words, and this powerful “Christ” is the very substance of our Christian faith-that’s way it’s called ‘Christian’ faith.
My wife is a master craftswoman when it comes to wrapping Christmas Presents. Each item is beautifully and personally presented. It’s a labour of love. Yet, it is just the wrapping-important, but just the wrapping.
I wonder how often we have confused the wrappings with ‘the substance of the gift’ in Church at Christmas? Yes, all our worship, our liturgies, our prayers, our meetings, our love and care for one another, our service to the community, our youth work etc. etc. are important-indeed they can truly be labours of love-but they are only the wrappings (or the swaddling bands perhaps). The true substance of Christian faith is the Lord Jesus Christ himself-born in Bethlehem-God’s loving gift to save a fallen world-who is great, who is the Son of the Most High God, who rules over the Covenant Promises made to the households of David and Jacob, AND whose Kingdom is eternal! (A little ‘Amen-Hallelujah’ might be appropriate in your heart, if not spoken aloud, at this point)
John’s Gospel sums up the substance of our faith so simply, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” (Jn. 3:16). This is the substance of God’s Christmas Gift for you, for me, for the entire world. May heaven help us from loosing it our wrappings?
A poem: The baby had a birthday-
we made the brandy sauce,
we drank his health
and spent our wealth
upon ourselves, of course.
We had a lovely party
and brightened up the place:
profusely strung
the tinsel hung-
you couldn’t see his face.
Then when the feast was over
and we’d run out of cheer;
we packed him in
the trimmings tin
till Christmas time next year. (Cecily Taylor)
Promise:
We have been completely addicted to the BBCs. Strictly Come Dancing. The real dark horse in this year’s competition was Blue Peter’s Gethin Jones. There was one particular dance, I think it was his American Smooth, where a real transformation took place. The judges’ main observation was this, “You led Camilla (his professional partner) through the whole of the dance.”
Likewise, the promise at the heart of the Christian faith is simply this: Faith starts with God and God takes the lead! And when God takes the lead, as the Angel proclaims to Mary, “there is nothing that God cannot do.” As we read the Christmas story it is God, and no-one else, who quite clearly leads the whole of the dance.
This is a very different thing from magic, wishful thinking, fate, or even ‘name-it-claim-it’ theologies, which all start with us. This is the promise at the heart of Christian faith- when God leads, God’s purposes are fulfilled, and God’s will is done. Let me ask you another question: Are you willing to let God take the lead your life-as God led Mary in hers? It’s a tough question because there is a price to pay.
Price:
Perhaps the price to pay can be best summed up in the phrase, “Holy Inconvenience.” Mary had it all going for her. As a young woman she had an arrangement to marry the local village “carpenter/odd job man”. They were betrothed but not yet engaged-perhaps she wasn’t quite old enough. But never mind, her future was both sorted and secure.
Then one day she is visited by an Angel who literally turns her whole world upside down. She will conceive before marriage, she will bear the associated shame, she will give birth far from home in a stable, and when her baby is just a few weeks or months old she will go on the run with her husband and become a refugee in Egypt: That is Holy Inconvenience.
So, let me ask another question: How convenient has your faith become?
Mary only had one desire in her heart. She replied to the Angel, “Behold, I am the Lord’s servant; let it be to me according to your word.” So this was obviously something she modelled for her first born son. For about 30 years later, late one night, on Passover Eve, He prayed in a Garden-“not my will, but yours, be done.”
So here we have the Faith at the heart of Christianity-its substance, its promise, and its price-the Christ, the God who takes the lead, and Mary, the Lord’s humble servant, a most highly favoured lady. And here we have three questions to ponder in our hearts for Christmas 2007: How often do we confuse the wrappings with the substance? Are we willing to let God take the lead? And how convenient has our faith become?
Nowadays it is possible to produce a whole Christmas Dinner from the microwave in a matter of minutes. But it will never be as satisfying as the Christmas Feast which has taken hours (if not days) (if not years) to prepare-which is a true labour of love.
I am the Lord’s Servant-let it be to me according to your word!
Amen.
Why not comment on this sermon here? Life Universe and Everything
Why not comment on this sermon here? Life Universe and Everything