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Advent 4 Lesson: Micah 5:2-5a
December 20, 2009 Canticle 15
The Rev. Karen Evans Epistle: Hebrews 10:5-10
St. James’ Church, Marietta Holy Gospel: Luke 1:39-55
I speak to you in the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
As most of you know, Bill and I have two daughters and they are both pregnant. I am both excited and a little apprehensive as we await the arrival of these two new souls into the world. I say apprehensive because both of our daughters, who are in their 30’s, are considered to be elderly by the obstetricians. But mostly I am excited and looking forward to being with all three of my grandchildren when the appropriate time comes.
With that in mind, I had a very personal reaction to the Gospel lesson for today. What we have in the lesson is the meeting together of two pregnant women and the reactions of the women to each other and each other’s child.
Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin. Her child was a miracle because she was truly elderly. When he is born, the child will be named John, and he will be the last of the prophets and will announce the coming of the Messiah, and he will baptize Jesus. But even in utero, he leapt for joy at the coming of the Son of God.
Mary was the mother of Jesus, the mother of God, as she is called in some denominations. In fact, Elizabeth used the word Lord to refer to Jesus and Mary used the same word to refer to God.
So we have two pregnant women who are visiting together and staying with each other as they await the birth of their children. Each of them has something to say in this lesson that has something to say to us.
Our two daughters are very different from each other. Sarah, the older, is very social. We used to joke that she could enter a room full of strangers and within ten minutes she would know everyone there, and within a half hour she would have their life stories. She is in contact with friends all over the country. She and her college roommate text each other at least once a day. You get the idea.
Sarah reminds me of one way of looking at this passage. We do not know why Mary went to visit Elizabeth. Was it to help out? Was it because it would have been a scandal for an unmarried girl to be pregnant? Whatever the reason, they seem to have gotten together to support each other. Even though Mary was open to God and responsive to the message of the angel Gabriel, it was not until Elizabeth spoke to her that Mary began to figure out what was really happening to her. (Timothy Mulder says, “After all, how clearheaded would you be listening to an angel?”)
The interaction between Mary and Elizabeth is about being there for each other in times of trouble and in times of great joy. It is the essence of Christian community, and ultimately what is meant by Emmanuel, God with us.
Our other daughter, Kathryn, is of a different temperament. She too has lots of friends – friends who come from all over the world. But she is a more intense person. Kathryn is passionate about inclusivity. She cares deeply about the poor, the stranger, and anyone in need. She wrote her college admissions essay comparing the strategies and effectiveness of the homeless shelters in St. Louis, Missouri and Alexandria, Virginia. You get the idea.
Kathryn reminds me of another way to look at the passage. Mary responded to Elizabeth’s comments with a song that is a statement of where she was at the moment and a reflection on what “God with us” really means. In the beginning, Mary’s song is a song of praise to God. It is also a song of thanksgiving. God has done wondrous things for her, even though she is not an important person, but rather young and insignificant according to the society of her day.
But then the song changes. Reflecting on God’s interaction with her and others like her, she talks about a series of reversals of the way things are ordinarily. The proud and powerful will be brought down and the lowly will be lifted up. The hungry will be fed. The rich, who are presumably also the well fed, will be sent away without the resources they have come to depend on.
All of this has to do with God fulfilling the promises made to Israel in the past. It also has to do with help and mercy for all Israel. The rich and powerful learn to trust God. The poor and hungry have their situation made better so that they too can praise and worship God. Theresa of Avila said,
“Christ has no body on earth but yours,
No hands but yours, No feet but yours.
Yours are the feet with which
He goes about doing good,
And yours are the hands with which
He is to bless us now.”
When we do this work as Christ’s body in the world, whether we call it outreach or social action, we show God with us in a different way.
It is going on twelve years now that I came to St. James’. I chose to come to St. James’ because of some things I saw in this congregation that were not present in the same way in others I had seen. St. James’ puts a high value on community. Pastoral care is one way we put it. Christian Education is another way we do the same thing. Fellowship is yet a third. (Timothy Mulder says, “…the only justification I can find for so many church suppers is that the bonding that takes place there is what makes it possible for us to go to one another in times of grief or severe pain or turmoil.”)
At the same time, here at St. James’ we have a long tradition of outreach and social action. We care about people. We seek to be inclusive in our welcome. We share our resources with those in need around the world and around the corner.
I believe that all these things are part of what it means to be a Christian community. I thank you for allowing me to be part of this one, and for the many ways you have blessed me during these 11 ½ years. And I pray that you will continue to be faithful to God’s call to this community, that you will always be aware of God with you, and that God will bless you in the years to come. Amen.
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