Oh, how we need to hear words of comfort right now.
The world at the moment seems full of COVID and climate problems,
violence and strife, and endless human suffering.
And here we are again, another Advent, another liturgical year begun,
and you and I are still here together
praying mightily for applicants for your next priest
in the midst of a troubled world as full of troubles
as the world was 2,000 year ago
when our Lord came to be born among us.
This Advent we are doing something different.
For the Gospel lessons for each Sunday in Advent
we are reading our way through the first chapter of Luke.
This shifts the emphasis in our Advent liturgies
from a heavier, penitential message from the Prophets of old
and a fiery John the Baptist
to a building week by week of realistic hope
weaving through Luke, chapter 1, to Luke, chapter 2,
on Christmas Day
making this truly a Feast of the Holy Nativity, our namesake Day,
as the Church of the Holy Nativity.
Despite all the concerns around us – in the face of all that
we know that nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus,
and we are going to celebrate that.
Now today in the Gospel story,
after hearing last week about Zechariah’s encounter with the angel Gabriel,
and a message stretching belief, countering reality,
and how Zechariah responded,
we now see how Mary, a mere girl as many think,
responded to an even more challenging angelic message.
Now what I want to share with you this morning
will use a lot of feminine imagery,
and I’m thinking of the guys here now,
who may think this doesn’t really speak to them.
Through the ages the soul, our innermost being, our place of primary identity,
has been considered feminine.
This has deep Old Testament roots.
The Prophet used this imagery when they spoke about the relationship
between God and the children of Israel.
They used the metaphor of marriage between God and the people,
so that when they talked about idolatry,
the people abandoning God for worshipping idols,
they called it adultery,
the violation of that intimate marital relationship
between God and the people.
They remembered the Creation story
and how “what God has joined together, let no one put asunder,”
as we declare in every marriage ceremony in church.
And in the New Testament the Church is the Bride of Christ.
We even have one book in the Bible which is totally a love song,
the Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs.
The entire book is a deeply intimate and even erotic expression of love
which, because it made it into the Bible,
describes God’s love for us and our response of love to God.
So as we hear the story of Mary and the angel’s message to her,
each one of us can take that personally
as to how we would respond to the same message.
And I will tell you right now that what I say next
is borrowed directly from what I preached to you last year,
but I believe whole heartedly that it bears repeating.
The focus of today’s Gospel is on Mary,
who opens the door to the Angel Gabriel.
The angel messenger was not sent to just any woman of child-bearing years.
There was an openness in Mary to God,
to receive what God was saying to her.
She was fertile ground
where the seed of God’s Word could sprout and flourish
and produce 30-, 60-, 100-fold,
or just one, but the One who would give life to all.
Where there is openness to God,
then transformation and healing comes.
This is a spiritual principle I see at work all the time.
But what is it that brings the openness to God?
because as logical and as practical as that may seem,
I encounter great reluctance for opening the door to God.
For good reason, I think.
If you open the door to God, then watch out.
Things are going to change!
And probably not in the way you want or expect.
If things are going okay in our lives
I may not want that disruptive change
But it’s when things aren’t so fine
then one is more likely to open the door for divine intervention.
So consider the spiritual opportunity we have here now amidst difficulties.
Now, you need to realize
that Mary was not just some sweet, innocent, pious girl
disconnected from the realities of the world around her.
She lived during a time of despair for her people,
stuggling under foreign rule,
oppressed and without the freedom of self governance.
So where could Mary go for any sense of hope?
Perhaps the only appeal she could make was to God.
After all the message of the prophets emphasized
God’s preferential favor for the disadvantaged,
the widow, the orphan, the poor, the alien living among us.
And so her heart was open.
So when the angel came to Mary,
the greeting it gave changed everything in her life
- and not just everything in her life,
but everything was changed for the whole world.
Mary, and what she would do, was key to all that would follow.
She would give her body, her whole being to be at God’s disposal,
and within her the very Word of God,
the One who was in the beginning with God and who was God,
through whom all things were created,
including Mary herself,
this very Word of God would become himself subject to creation.
And so the Spirit of God, who brooded over the waters of the deep at creation
now came to Mary and enveloped her in the same creative brooding.
And the waters of Mary’s womb welcomed their own Creator.
Mary looked at what the angel was offering her,
and we do not know how long she pondered the situation
before she said, "Here am I, the servant, the slave of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word."
She looked at the risks and the danger, the potential and promise,
and she said yes - with an obedience to match Abraham
poised with his knife raised at Mount Moriah;
Mary's agreement to being a partner with God
is our perfect example of obedience in faith,
and, of course, this kind of faith is what God is asking of each of us.
For Mary from that moment of conception
the Holy Spirit was hovering over her, and her life was graced.
And so it is with us.
Mary opened the door and her body became a mansion,
and what emerged from that open door in Mary
was the Light of the world.
The Holy Spirit, the Resurrection Presence of Jesus, the Holy Divine
whispers to us, “Open the door.”
And we too become a dwelling place for the Divine
and our humble bodies too can grow into mansions.
And from our open doors Light pours in
AND Light can stream forth.
I will end with the new diocesan prayer
that Andrea Farley, our Canon for Discipleship and Formation, has written.
I think it will be a good one for us to pray through the coming year.
God of the way, in whom all journeys begin and end, spark longing and adventure in our heart for where you are leading. Open our eyes to the joys and sorrows along the path, to recognize them as sacred, and grant us courage to persevere in our walk together. Orient our steps in love, so that in experiencing and extending your love we are drawn deeper into your transforming life. We pray this through the one who calls us to follow, Jesus the Christ, together with the Holy Spirit who guides as we continue on this sacred journey. Amen.
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