Scripture Texts for Sunday, November 27th:
Sermon
Imagine Mary
By all accounts, Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl in an ordinary Jewish community. And she was living a very ordinary life. But what is ordinary for others is always extraordinary for the individual living it- and Mary was at a pretty extraordinary phase in her life. Joseph had proposed, her father had approved, and now Mary was in the throws of wedding preparation. The day that she dreamed of as a little girl, when she would leave her father’s house and be united in marriage, was right around the corner.
She just knew her friends must be jealous of her. I mean, of course Joseph didn’t have much money, wasn’t very powerful, and didn’t have many connections. But he was a carpenter and should be prepared to provide for her family. But, Mary thought, what is truly amazing is just how wonderful of a guy he seemed to be. She had heard of friends who had been married off to men who barely paid attention to them, who seemed to care very little about the woman but instead hungered for the dowry that would come with him. But never in Mary’s 15 years did she think she’d find a man who seemed to be so kind, caring and loving. “He didn’t look through me, but actually cared that I existed!” It was more than she could ever have hoped for!
And then, just when everything seemed perfect, life took an unexpected twist- One night she has a vision of an angel, and just like that- Mary found herself pregnant! “Oh my god- my life is over! Joseph is a nice guy, but he is never going to buy this! How exactly is anyone supposed to believe that I’m both a virgin and pregnant! My engagement will be broken off, my family will shun me, and I could well be killed. What did that angel say? Oh yea- “I have found favor with God!” God- if this is how you treat those you like, can you like me just a little bit less?!?!?!”
At that moment, Mary’s whole world must have seemed like it dissolved. She had prepared herself for a particular life- one in which she be married, would have kids, would support her husband, and, if they were lucky, would live long enough to see her grandkids. She didn’t prepare herself for this. Who would have thought to prepare themselves for this?
What an unbelievable “gift” from God. How totally unexpected. Have you ever received a gift like that? Something totally out of the blue, unexpected, and maybe even confusing? I don’t think we can imagine just how confounded Mary’s expectations were.
Now, I might have subverted some of your own expectations when I read the second text. What on earth does a scripture text that is usually used to talk about the “end of time” have to do with Advent? This is a time for Christmas carols and nativity stories- why clutter things up with that passage?
You see, today is not just the start of Advent, but the start of a whole new year in the life of the church. When ever we start something new, like Mary starting to get ready for her marriage, we come in with some set expectations. While we know we can’t predict the future, we usually have some idea of how things are going to go. The author of this text in Mark had some pretty specific ideas. He envisioned the sun and the moon going dark, stars falling from the sky and the whole earth shaking. Sounds like the start of a great disaster movie. He also talks about Jesus coming back in a grand procession where he would be greeted by all of his followers who would escort him to earth. And, even better- this was going to happen soon. “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.”
And yet, to the best of our knowledge, life didn’t unfold the way the author expected. Instead of witnessing the triumphant return of Christ and the establishment of a great kingdom, the author likely saw the temple, the seat of God’s power, the dwelling place of God, torn to ruins by the Roman army. He had a very specific vision of a glorious future. Boy, did God surprise him.
Advent is traditionally seen as a time of expectation. We await the celebration of the coming of Christ. And of course, we await the time with family, the special Christmas eve candlelight service, the hunt for the perfect gift, the opening of gifts, gorging out on Christmas cookies, etc, etc, etc.
Now, I realize some of us may await this time more eagerly than others. For many, Christmas is a time of pain because of broken relationships, broken families, lost loved ones, and general malaise. Whether we await with joy or enter with dread, we likely come into the Christmas season with fairly set expectations.
But, if there is any one consistent aspect of scripture, I think its that God constantly surprises us and confounds our expectations. Most frequently, this is a good thing. God is unexpected generous; outrageously forgiving, unbelievably loving. Just when we think God might abandon us, we are surprised by the presence of the divine.
And, at times, that surprise might confound us. It certainly surprised the author of Mark. It certainly surprised Mary. As we await Christmas, what we really need to consider is how to prepare for Christ coming back in some unexpected way.
What if Christ came back only to be trampled in the riot last Friday at the Strongsville Victoria Secret?
What if Christ came back only to be pepper sprayed on the UC Davis campus last week?
What if Christ came back in the midst of the protest in Cairo square in Egypt?
Or during a Tea party rally?
Or as part of the annual pilgrimage by many millions of Muslims to Saudi Arabia?
The point being is that when Christ comes back, and as Christ comes back, he is going to constantly confound our expectations. Even the author of Mark, while describing a vivid and specific vision, admits “that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Personally, I sort of expect that God is confounding us in a different way. We constantly talk about when Christ will return only to miss the fact that Christ is constantly returning. He is returning in every new birth, in every act of sacrificial love, in every couragous step to leave a violent situation. Where ever there is an explosion of love and life, there Christ is.
Our Wednesday morning bible study I think has experienced a bit of this. We were surprised to study Islam and find Christ bursting forth in the Qu’ran. Who expected him there? And as we meet with members of the Brecksville Unity Center on Saturday, a Shiite mosque, I think we’ll be surprised to find that Christ is already there at work and will make himself known as we meet and grow to love new friends.
So, how do we deal with this confounding of expectations? What do we do if Christ shows up as some unexpected pregnancy that completely messes with all the plans we have in our life? What if we are favored with our own unexpected surprise?
Mary responds pretty remarkably. I mean, she’s afraid, and she certainly asks a number of questions. But ultimately, she responds “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.‘ I sometimes wonder just how long of a pause there was between the end of the angels speech and Mary’s acceptance. I just can’t imagine it was immediate. But somehow, someway, Mary was prepared for God’s little surprise.
Can we be ready? I think we can. But its going to require us to stretch and grow, perhaps just as much as Mary. I think the way we get ready is by doing something unexpected- we stop waiting. We anticipate the coming of Christ, but we do so not by waiting impatiently, but by doing. By embracing our loved ones, our community, and our world in prayer. We re-devote more of our time away from spending and instead invest in our church and our community by providing for those who do not have the financial means to celebrate the holiday. We get over our fears and welcome the community in with outrageous love after the Community tree lighting. And we begin to realize, as one United Methodist pastor put it, that Christmas is not our birthday, but is a celebration of the moment in which the divine is united with humanity in the form of Jesus Christ.
This advent, let’s get away from waiting. Lets just assume Christ is already coming back, is already here, and is just waiting to be found. Let’s get ready.
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