Luke 1:46-55 (NRSV)
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)
16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up,
and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.
He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Luke 4:16-21 (NIV)
16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up,
and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.
He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him.
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set free the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent is all about love.
What does it mean to say that God loves us? To say that God’s grace is poured out on and around us. And I do mean poured, God’s love is extravagant, abundant, it’s everywhere and for everyone.
And we just stand here, in the middle of creation, God’s love dripping off of us trying o discern and figure out how God’s love is played out in the world, in our world.
Let’s face it the world is a bit of a mess, we want God to swoop in and fix it all: COVID, climate change disasters, national and international economic and political relationships. It would be such a relief.
The more I read about history, the more I read the bible, the more I realize it’s all the same old stuff that people have been dealing with for generations upon generations. Technology has changed things certainly, made things easier, sped things up, and given us information overload. But the basics: territory and power struggles, plagues, drought, floods, refugees, taxation and all kinds of social, cultural and religious conflict – still going on.
And through that all, at least in the Bible, is this overwhelming message that God loves us. That God is like a shepherd caring for the flock, God is a light to guide us, God knows us personally and is involved in our lives and in the world.
Christmas is all about God being present in the world. This world: here and now, in your life. It is a story that reflects reality. A reality that includes God in the mix of things.
I love the scripture readings we heard this morning: they feel me with wonder. They are uplifting, but you know what I have lots of questions.
Because I know if I was Mary, first, the visit from an angel might have freaked me out a little, second, being told I would become pregnant might not have filled me with the wonder that Mary shows when she asks the angel “ How can this be”
Maybe let’s back up a little. The story in Luke goes like this: God sends the angel Gabriel to visit Mary in Nazareth.
The angel says: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” and later says in effect “ Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb ” the angel goes on to say that Mary should name the baby boy Jesus and that Jesus will be great and will be called Son of the Most high, and that the Lord God will give Jesus the throne of David, he will reign over Jacob’s descendants and his kingdom will never end. Then we get to Mary’s question “How will this be?” Gabriel mentions the Holy Spirit and that no word from God can fail – he even brings up Elizabeth’s pregnancy as proof that God’s promises are true, there is nothing that God cannot accomplish.
Mary’s response to the angel is what captivates me, she says “ I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:27-38)
Basically what she says is “I believe you and OK, I’m in for this adventure with you.” Then when she visits Elizabeth , her cousin, that’s when we hear the Magnificat”.
The Song of Mary proclaims the God protects believers, and those too independent and proud, those who have no need for God well: he brings down the kings and lifts the lowly, he provides for the hungry and sends the rich away empty handed. And God keeps his promises.
It’s a reversal of how we experience the world, it is as if Mary is seeing the world through a different lens, a different perspective.
These people we meet in the bible, they exist in the world differently: Mary, Jesus, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Abraham, Moses countless others, in and out of the pages of this book we call the Bible, they exist in the world differently.
And yet the same God calls us, the same God knows our name, the same God. So as I read these scriptures I am beginning to think it is less about what they are saying, although that is important and significant because it tells us where we find the elements that make up the Kingdom of God. But my focus shifts to what God is doing in these people’s lives.
These men, women, girls, babies are all teaching us something. I’m guessing it has less to do with the words that they say and that we claim as truths, as it has to do with the vessels God chooses to say those words. Time and again we see God working with imperfect vessels, imperfect people, sometimes people we just can’t understand why God would ever choose them. Okay I’m thinking of David, I can’t think of a less deserving person to be King. After all, David has a reputation for taking what he wants, he is willing to have his friend, Uriah killed just so he could marry his wife, Bathsheba. A very unlikely candidate for King in my book.
Yet this is who God chooses.
And what about Mary, she’s a young girl, we know nothing about her – is she exceptionally smart or devout? We don’t know! Was Gabriel on the look out for a particular kind of person? We don’t know! All we have are the angel’s words and Mary’s response “ I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”.
And then, there is Jesus, brave enough to stand up in the synagogue in Nazareth, read the scripture for the day and feel the hand of God on him, leading him to profess, confess, before his relatives and neighbours “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)
The Spirit of the Lord is truly at work in these people’s lives; why should we think that we are any different? We stand in the long line of people who see God’s handiwork in creation, who see God’s image in our brothers and sisters, who hear God’s voice in the silence between the words, who watch for angels to come and visit.
We think, what?; that we are too old – watch out because the Sarah and Abraham had a son, watch out because Elizabeth and Zechariah had John the Baptist. We think we’re not good enough not pious enough, not perfect enough – watch out because God sees you very differently from the way you see yourself and God’s gaze is full of grace for a reason – not because we are perfect but because we would never understand the Good news of Jesus’ message to us if we were perfect.
Grace is what holds us together when we fall apart, grace is what comforts us in our grief and sorrow, grace is what gives us the courage to face today and tomorrow and the day after that even when things are not going well and it’s a hard day, grace is what gives meaning to our lives because without grace we would fail to see the faces of the people we meet, we would fail to see the scars and the wounds of the whole of creation, without grace we would dismiss the God who works in us and through us.
Advent is almost over, Christmas is coming, we await with growing anticipation the birth of Jesus, Immanuel: God with us. May we see God’s hand at work in our lives as clearly as we see it at work in Jesus’ life.
May it be so. Amen
What does it mean to say that God loves us? To say that God’s grace is poured out on and around us. And I do mean poured, God’s love is extravagant, abundant, it’s everywhere and for everyone.
And we just stand here, in the middle of creation, God’s love dripping off of us trying o discern and figure out how God’s love is played out in the world, in our world.
Let’s face it the world is a bit of a mess, we want God to swoop in and fix it all: COVID, climate change disasters, national and international economic and political relationships. It would be such a relief.
The more I read about history, the more I read the bible, the more I realize it’s all the same old stuff that people have been dealing with for generations upon generations. Technology has changed things certainly, made things easier, sped things up, and given us information overload. But the basics: territory and power struggles, plagues, drought, floods, refugees, taxation and all kinds of social, cultural and religious conflict – still going on.
And through that all, at least in the Bible, is this overwhelming message that God loves us. That God is like a shepherd caring for the flock, God is a light to guide us, God knows us personally and is involved in our lives and in the world.
Christmas is all about God being present in the world. This world: here and now, in your life. It is a story that reflects reality. A reality that includes God in the mix of things.
I love the scripture readings we heard this morning: they feel me with wonder. They are uplifting, but you know what I have lots of questions.
Because I know if I was Mary, first, the visit from an angel might have freaked me out a little, second, being told I would become pregnant might not have filled me with the wonder that Mary shows when she asks the angel “ How can this be”
Maybe let’s back up a little. The story in Luke goes like this: God sends the angel Gabriel to visit Mary in Nazareth.
The angel says: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” and later says in effect “ Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb ” the angel goes on to say that Mary should name the baby boy Jesus and that Jesus will be great and will be called Son of the Most high, and that the Lord God will give Jesus the throne of David, he will reign over Jacob’s descendants and his kingdom will never end. Then we get to Mary’s question “How will this be?” Gabriel mentions the Holy Spirit and that no word from God can fail – he even brings up Elizabeth’s pregnancy as proof that God’s promises are true, there is nothing that God cannot accomplish.
Mary’s response to the angel is what captivates me, she says “ I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:27-38)
Basically what she says is “I believe you and OK, I’m in for this adventure with you.” Then when she visits Elizabeth , her cousin, that’s when we hear the Magnificat”.
The Song of Mary proclaims the God protects believers, and those too independent and proud, those who have no need for God well: he brings down the kings and lifts the lowly, he provides for the hungry and sends the rich away empty handed. And God keeps his promises.
It’s a reversal of how we experience the world, it is as if Mary is seeing the world through a different lens, a different perspective.
These people we meet in the bible, they exist in the world differently: Mary, Jesus, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Abraham, Moses countless others, in and out of the pages of this book we call the Bible, they exist in the world differently.
And yet the same God calls us, the same God knows our name, the same God. So as I read these scriptures I am beginning to think it is less about what they are saying, although that is important and significant because it tells us where we find the elements that make up the Kingdom of God. But my focus shifts to what God is doing in these people’s lives.
These men, women, girls, babies are all teaching us something. I’m guessing it has less to do with the words that they say and that we claim as truths, as it has to do with the vessels God chooses to say those words. Time and again we see God working with imperfect vessels, imperfect people, sometimes people we just can’t understand why God would ever choose them. Okay I’m thinking of David, I can’t think of a less deserving person to be King. After all, David has a reputation for taking what he wants, he is willing to have his friend, Uriah killed just so he could marry his wife, Bathsheba. A very unlikely candidate for King in my book.
Yet this is who God chooses.
And what about Mary, she’s a young girl, we know nothing about her – is she exceptionally smart or devout? We don’t know! Was Gabriel on the look out for a particular kind of person? We don’t know! All we have are the angel’s words and Mary’s response “ I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”.
And then, there is Jesus, brave enough to stand up in the synagogue in Nazareth, read the scripture for the day and feel the hand of God on him, leading him to profess, confess, before his relatives and neighbours “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)
The Spirit of the Lord is truly at work in these people’s lives; why should we think that we are any different? We stand in the long line of people who see God’s handiwork in creation, who see God’s image in our brothers and sisters, who hear God’s voice in the silence between the words, who watch for angels to come and visit.
We think, what?; that we are too old – watch out because the Sarah and Abraham had a son, watch out because Elizabeth and Zechariah had John the Baptist. We think we’re not good enough not pious enough, not perfect enough – watch out because God sees you very differently from the way you see yourself and God’s gaze is full of grace for a reason – not because we are perfect but because we would never understand the Good news of Jesus’ message to us if we were perfect.
Grace is what holds us together when we fall apart, grace is what comforts us in our grief and sorrow, grace is what gives us the courage to face today and tomorrow and the day after that even when things are not going well and it’s a hard day, grace is what gives meaning to our lives because without grace we would fail to see the faces of the people we meet, we would fail to see the scars and the wounds of the whole of creation, without grace we would dismiss the God who works in us and through us.
Advent is almost over, Christmas is coming, we await with growing anticipation the birth of Jesus, Immanuel: God with us. May we see God’s hand at work in our lives as clearly as we see it at work in Jesus’ life.
May it be so. Amen
