Sermon: Luke 1:26-38 (Advent 4B)

Christ Church Riverdale, 18 December 2005 (8:30am only)

The Rev. Robert C. Lamborn, Rector

 ^NRSV Luke 1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." ²⁹ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³ He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" ³⁵ The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶ And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God." ³⁸ Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

It’s only a week to Christmas, so everything needs to be ready to go.  We know who’s coming to dinner, and over the next few days we have to make sure that those last few gifts are bought and wrapped, the turkey is in the fridge, the pies are all baked.  If we’ve planned right, if we’re ready, and as long as there’s no transit strike, then everything will come off without any surprises.  Like the motel chain used to advertise, “The best surprise is no surprise.” 

But if this is so, then we may not really be ready for Christmas, because Christmas is God’s ultimate surprise!  Listen to the story not as someone who knows it all well enough to recite along by memory (especially in the King James Version), as someone who knows how it’s all going to turn out, but instead, hear it from Mary’s point of view.  It’s a day like any other--you’re up early, doing your chores, when suddenly this stranger comes up and starts telling you about a son you’re going to have--and you’re not even married yet!  Now according to our standards, nobody could be less ready than Mary that morning.  Her support system--as we would call it--her support system isn’t fully in place, because her marriage to Joseph isn’t complete yet--in fact, he might call it off when he finds out! 

Nobody could be less ready for God’s surprising word than Mary, but somewhere inside--somewhere she finds the right combination of courage and foolishness to take the risk and say, “Let it be to me according to your word.”  Without coercion, without being made to, Mary decides to accept God’s surprise of a call, to let go of whatever plans she had made, and with both feet jump right into the middle of God’s work.

But what about our plans?  The turkey has to go in the oven at 7 am to be ready on time; the Christmas morning service here is at ten--and the presents– the kids will probably be up in time to unwrap them before church, so we can finish Christmas dinner after church and before everybody starts arriving.  If we’ve planned everything right, it should all just fit.  So what if God chooses to surprise us this Christmas?  What if, as we go about our chores, the word of God comes to us in a new and unexpected way?  What if we discover a new challenge to respond to?

What if God calls us to deeper obedience and growth?  What if God entrusts us with something priceless that turns our lives upside down?

 Mary said, “Let it be to me according to your word.”