Isaiah 11:1-6
A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
Luke 1:26-38
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[d] 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.
I don't quite know what happened, but there has already been a Christmas miracle. I'm not kidding! Somehow, miraculously, the hideous paraments that we had last week have disappeared and there are new paraments, both here and on the lectern. It is a Christmas miracle! I didn't request them. I didn't even pray for them. They just appeared. And on top of that, they actually match the banners! A Christmas miracle even before the 24th! So, Judy Caggiano, thank you! Let's give her a hand. Those are beautiful!
The previous banners were in the time of Methuselah, so we're glad to have these and hope they will be with us for the next 20. I don’t know how this happened, but Christmas is three weeks from today. Three weeks. Yikes! And as you see from the inserts in the bulletin, we are organized and well prepared for the coming of Christ. A lot of thought and effort and planning has gone into all that's planned and slated and I know that these events will bring joy and peace and hope to us all.
Today seems kind of like the calm before the flurry of activities and events that will help us fully grow into following the star to Bethlehem, which of course is also the theme of our Christmas dinner. A lot of us are already in the swing of shopping and wrapping gifts for our friends on the Angel Tree. Some of us are already setting aside time to bake cookies for the Loaves and Fishes clients--the basket is in the office. And if you have a chance to bake even a dozen, please put them in a baggie and bring them to the basket in the office. Some of us are making donations for the gingerbread kits and for poinsettias. Some of us are planning to help hang the greens this coming Saturday. Some of us are helping make cookies for the cookie swap and the chili dinner that's at the Croziers’ next Saturday night. Some of us are looking forward to having lunch--the ladies luncheon at Marilyn Ward's house next week. Some of us have already been practicing for weeks and months for the handbells next week and the Cantata. And some of us have already been making plans and getting things ready for the Christmas dinner; creating cookies for coffee hour.
And then there are all the things that we're preparing for our family and friends. You have to get out the decorations and tree lights. We have to decorate the house. We have to decorate our bushes and our mailboxes. We have to put a wreath on the door. We have to write the Christmas cards or the Christmas letter. We have to ship out the packages for friends and family far away. Then we have to go to Christmas parties and we have to go to concerts and we have to go to office parties. Then we got to go shopping. And then we got to go wrapping and then deliver all the gifts! Oh, and then there's planning and shopping for Christmas Eve--for the special dinner that we all have and then for Christmas day. There's so much to be done. I think I’ve got to lie down. How are we going to get it all done? The answer is not simple; but if we continue to focus on all of those things, the only thing we're going to look forward to is a nap on Christmas Day!
But not Mary. Mary was just minding her own business and an angel came to visit her. And the angel came and said, ‘Mary I have something to tell you and you're not going to quite understand it, but you are favored. You are beloved by God and God is going to do something miraculous through you.’ And then you know the rest of the dialogue. ‘This can't be possible. I'm not even married yet.’
But then, Mary was also thoughtful. Mary was also an obedient Jew. Mary was a believer in God's grace. Mary was also a worshipful Jew. She devoted herself to the Jewish law and to piety. She knew that when an angel showed up, something big was about to happen--not because of her, but because of God! Mary knew that when an angel showed up, that Grace was also on the way. Mary knew that God was bringing Grace to her and she had two choices. She could say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” which a lot of us do when we feel overwhelmed; when we feel over committed; when we feel overextended; when God calls us to do something, it's the last thing we want to do; or we realize that the deadline for getting the Thanksgiving baskets is tomorrow morning and so we don't feel like going shopping for all of those cans; or realize the deadline for the Christmas tree gifts which is this Friday. Now we got to get the Christmas decorations out and my living room is trashed with all sorts of junk that's in my Christmas box, because I'm starting to wrap all the gifts. And now my living room is just a mess.
But Mary, she knew that God was asking her to do something significant. Now I'm not saying that God is asking us to do something as significant as Mary. Mary was the first disciple. But I think there's a lot to learn from Mary.
So we have a choice here today to start making lists of all the things we have to get done by Christmas Eve or we can make lists of all the ways in which God has blessed us with Grace. We can make lists of all the ways in which God has blessed us in the small ways and in the big ways even in the last year. We can make lists of all of those who need to hear a message of Hope and Light. And it may not be because you have a beautiful Christmas card with gold inserts or a hilarious Christmas newsletter. It may just be a simple phone call or a picture on the internet that gives hope. Or buy someone a cup of coffee and really listen.
I was with an old friend recently whose wife died very suddenly and he's struggling for sure. He said, “You know, Rev. Jen, everybody always says to me, ‘If there's anything you need, just let me know.’” We all do that, right? When someone's hurting, we say, “Hey, if you need anything, just let me know.” But he said, “What I really need is someone to say, “You know what, I'm going to take you out for lunch. Can I do food shopping for you? You want to go for a walk? Can I run some errands for you? Can I pick up your dry cleaning? Can I help you decorate Christmas this year?’”
But we don't go that far, because, guess what, our lists for Christmas have lists and those lists have more lists, because we want to get all these things done. And that's not the preparation that God is inviting us to. The preparation, I think, God is inviting us to is to shrink those lists and create new lists of those who need our presence; who need us to be an angel; for those who are hurting or struggling or grieving or sick or depressed or lonely.
So as you catch yourself getting anxious and tossing and turning and worrying about perfection and all the beautiful things, we have a choice. We can say, “God, I'm a little busy. Can I get back to you.” Or we can say, “Let it be with me, according to your word.” Because that's the joy that we can create for God. Because God has already brought us Grace and joy and peace and Hope, and, if we blink, we'll miss it.
So our call, friends, is to be more like Mary, who many say was really the first disciple, and whatever God calls us to do--even that little nudge in the back of your mind--just say, “Let it be with me according to Your word. May it be so. Amen.