Sermon
4 Advent B
Given at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church
12/22/96
By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart
Luke 1:26-38
What
is it about Mary that so grabs our imaginations? There is an article about her in this week’s TIME magazine
that traces her ups and downs in popularity during the 2000 years since that
fateful day when she said “yes” to God. What is there about this young woman,
why is her story so powerful, so moving?
I
think people are touched because her story is the story of self-surrender,
which is the highest form of discipleship. She personifies the ones who have
offered themselves, their egos, their separateness, to God. She embodies what
Jesus referred to as the “least of the kingdom,” the ones who humbly offer
themselves to God.
She
was nobody special, trying to live a good normal life, and an angel appears
announcing a miracle - she will give birth, even though she is a virgin. Now
looking back on this we can call her blessed, but for her, what a difficult
thing was being asked. She was betrothed to marry, if she got pregnant what would
happen to that. Even worse, when the town’s people discovered that she
conceived before marrying Joseph, she could be stoned. Surely she could expect
to be excluded, looked down upon, whispered about. Who would want to go through
that kind of experience? I certainly wouldn’t, would you? Yet, when she hears
what the angel has to say, she consents. She says “Here am I, the servant of
the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” In today’s English, she
might have said, “Ok, whatever you want.”
To
be able to say, “OK God, whatever you want with my life,” is not an easy thing
to do. How difficult it is for each of us. We all have plans, expectations, and
images of ourselves. We don’t like it when God’s plans contradict our own. When
we find we have lost a job for no fault of our own, do we get angry, get
depressed, or can we say, “OK God, whatever you want.” Perhaps there is
something else here for me to learn or do. Are we able to trust that the God
who sends us difficult tasks, will also be the God that sees to it that our
real needs are taken care of?
Buckminster
Fuller, the genius best known for his geodesic dome buildings, struggled with
the meaning of life when he was in his twenties. Faced with unremitting failure
and the need to support a wife and newborn child, he walked to the shores of
Lake Michigan, determined to either find the meaning and purpose of his life,
or, failing that, to drown himself that very day.
After
some hours of intense meditation, the realization came to him that the universe
is the product of a higher mind that is striving to create order out of
disorder. If there were ever to be such a things as a “meaningful life” surely
it would be found in trying to serve this higher mind in any available
capacity. And this is what he resolved to do. In other words he surrendered his
life to God.
His
second realization was just as critical as the first; he realized that as long
as he was doing his best to serve this calling, then the higher power would
naturally reciprocate by supporting him in his earthly existence in whatever
way it deemed necessary. His livelihood, in other words, was no longer his
problem. By becoming wholly dependent upon God, he had become God’s charge.
Buckminster Fuller never again undertook a project with the aim of earning
money. And although he went through many periods where money was in short
supply, the basic needs of himself and his family were always taken care of.
“Ok,
God, whatever you want.” To trust that if we surrender to God’s loving will for
us, God will also take care of our needs. To really surrender - to really trust
God. That is what Mary did. That is why she is so special to us, because we all
in some way want to be able to surrender, want to be able to trust God, but we
all find that difficult. To have a symbol of such surrender, in Mary, is one of
the gifts she has given to all of us. To read Mary’s story reminds us of the
power of surrender.
When
we let go of our fear (remember the angel says to Mary “Do not be afraid.”),
when we let go of our need to feel that we are in control of our lives, our
destinies, when we let go of anger when things don’t go the way we think they
should, when we let go of our need to plan our futures, when we empty ourselves
of our ego needs, then we become fertile ground in which God can implant the
light of Christ, so that we may become pregnant with God’s love and birth
Christ’s love into the world.
Surrender,
letting go, and trusting God. That’s what discipleship is all about. Surrender,
letting go, and trusting God, that is what giving birth is all about.
Surrender, letting go, and trusting God IS how we prepare for the birth of
Christ, in our hearts, in our lives and in the world.
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