| "Mary Said 'Yes' " |
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“Mary Said ‘Yes’” Advent 4B – December 18, 2011 The Rev. Carole Wageman Trinity Episcopal Church, Shelburne, VT 2 Samuel 7:1-11,16; Canticle 15; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38
Mary simply said “Yes” “Yes – let it be so”.
She just said “Yes.”
How disturbingly simple. The angel’s declaration that Mary was blessed among women would soon not seem like a blessing at all, but more of a scandal since she was betrothed but not married and now would be pregnant. Many years later she might well question her blessedness yet again as a figurative sword pierces her heart when her beloved child is mercilessly crucified because he sought the kind of justice and righteousness that she herself sings about now. But that is a part of the story that Mary doesn’t know yet. In this part of the story, the naiveté and innocence of youth provide the essential backdrop for a powerful Creator to gently ease into the world. She just said “Yes” and entrusted her undiscovered future – and that of her child – to an unknown and incomplete hope. While the visible characters in this Gospel story are Gabriel and Mary, the real central figure is a limitless God. He chooses to come into this world the same way all of us come...through the process of being birthed...of having life passed on to us through the life of another...of beginning as the tiniest cluster of cells each differentiating in its own way and its own time until it is ready to be transformed to the next stage of life. It takes time – it takes patience – it takes trust. Darker and darker grow the nights in Advent except for one small spark of life growing deep within the unknown – giving birth to something new and something unexpected and something unexplored. The time of waiting will not be rushed into being – to do so would bring forth something incomplete and not able to survive on its own. For any life to grow, it needs to be slowly born and that is true from the moment of conception until the moment of death. From the sparkling of our arrival to the flickering of our leaving, some small divine brightness in each of us is always seeking to take shape and become that which it was meant to become. God is born in each of us – but each of us don’t always say “Yes”. Even Jesus as an adult had to choose to say “Yes” to God’s being born in him and like his mother, Mary, he entrusted his entire being to that mission. God did the rest. The 14th century theologian and mystic, Meister Eckhart says: “We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture? Then, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of God is begotten in us.” What is being birthed in you as you try to squeeze in one more shopping errand in an already overburdened life? What is being birthed in our world as security shifts and those economic, political, social and environmental gears we have relied upon evaporate and new ways of being a global community literally takes shape right before our very eyes such as in the Arab Spring? What is being birthed in this congregation as we try to come to grips with an unknown future that has “change” written all over it? God seems to be very busy these days. In reflecting on philosopher Alfred North Whitehead’s analysis of human history, Sister Joan Chittister says: “...On the whole, the greatest ages have been the unstable ages...those in which the old routines and ideas...broke down and the barely imaginable of the last generation became the commonplace of the new...It is precisely those unstable eras of our own lives that make or break us too. They bring great changes to bear on us. They draw greatness out of us...”[1] We are in one of those great unstable ages. We are in a unique position to make a difference for future generations. Something elusive but essential is prodding to be born. “Do not be afraid” said the angel. “Nothing is impossible with God. Trust that.” This faithfulness was what God summoned from Mary...and Mary said “Yes.” Over the past few months, it has struck me several times how odd it sounds for us to say: “What is God calling us to be in the future?” “Where is God leading us?” “What is God calling us to be or do?” and I have said these things as well. But those questions seem to make the assumption that the answer is somewhere out there and “out there” has a certain time of arrival when we will come upon a neatly packaged answer that is all figured out for us and all we have to do is merely pick it up, accept it gratefully, open it up, follow the instructions and voila! We’re there! No effort – no struggle – no wandering around in the dark. It will be convenient – fitting into the time we have allowed for it. I don’t think it works like that. Living in the grip of the incarnational God is a lot more messy than that. It is in the pangs of our labor, the darkness of the unknown and the unpredictability of the future where something is born. Our Story with the God of all surprises is smack dab right here in the Present. Because it is only in the present where we create the future. Sometimes you have to go into the darkness in order to find the light. I have struggled to find the language for this, but over the past few months it has felt as though God is very present right now in our midst --- in our pain and loss --- calling forth from each of us things we might not have realized we still needed to become – calling forth from this community of faith – with all its strengths and gifts and resources that which seeks to be born here. Others of you have felt it too because I hear it in your conversations with me...in your struggles...in your observations and wonderings and efforts to wrap your heads and hearts around something that disturbs the status quo – ripples the calm waters that we might prefer. Something is announcing itself as present...something wanting to say “Yes” to God but hesitating on the edge of encounter. The process of giving birth is hard work but the only choice is to keep moving forward in the birth process until that which is struggling to find new life arrives. We will only really know what “it” is in hindsight. Like Katie and Frank, whose marriage we will bless in a few minutes, it is saying “Yes” to new ways of trusting each other. It is saying “Yes” to vulnerability and having the confidence and steadfastness to keep watch and be open to how God shows up. Not IF God shows up – HOW God shows up. God always hears our prayers. God always responds...but not always in the ways we expect. It is my prayer for you that you discover that which is seeking to be born here...that which calls out for a “Yes” from each of you as individuals and from you as a community of deep faithfulness. And I would ask for your prayers as well that I pay attention to that which is seeking to be born in me – that calls out for my own “Yes. Let it be.” Together, God’s reach and purpose will be served and isn’t that what this should be all about? “How can this be?” says Mary. “Do not be afraid.” Says the Angel. “Here I am.” Says Mary. “Yes”, says God --- “So let it be.” Let us pray: Gracious God --- You reside within us. Help us to make a place where you might dwell in us so that your love and your truth penetrate our hearts, minds and actions. Cast out the fear of darkness. Find within us a welcoming place to be born that your light might find room to burn brightly in our lives, our church and our world. In the name of Jesus who came into the world as your Son to show us a new way to know you, to love you and to seek justice and dignity for all your many children around the globe. Amen. [1] Chittister, Joan, Williams, Rowan Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia For All That Is (Liturgical Press, Minnesota 2010) pg 178 |