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Sermon - The Fourth Sunday of Advent (B) - 21st December 2008
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping 7 & 8am
Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Luke 1:46b-55, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38
Luke's distinctive attention to God's work among ordinary people continues to be evident in this mornings readings. The angel Gabriel appeared first to Zechariah, an old priest going about his duties in the Temple and then to a young girl not yet married. God chose the lowly rather than the high and mighty to fulfil the plan of redemption. Instead of sending Gabriel to a queen or princess, God sent the angel to a young girl betrothed to a carpenter. They lived in an insignificant town in an unimportant province of the Roman Empire. Nothing about their circumstances would have led anyone to suspect the role they would play in God's plan.
The Annunciation contains the quintessential statement that the impossible is possible, "for with God nothing will be impossible." Again the roots go deep in memory. Out of the barren woman there comes the child of promise. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, the mother of Samson, Hannah and now Mary's kinswoman, Elizabeth, are the bearers of God's miracle of salvation. When there seemed to be no hope at all, the impossible became possible.
Elizabeth's miraculous pregnancy is a sign to Mary and to us all, that an even greater event will take place. God's own son will be born of a virgin. That which defies the natural order startles us into attention. Truly God is faithful and what has been promised through the ages will be done.
What tremendous power of the Spirit is set loose in those who believe that "with God nothing will be impossible". They are impregnated with prophetic vision, radical courage and enduring compassion. They are companions of the one who has come, is to come and who will come again at the end of the ages.
Mary humbly waited for the promise of God to be fulfilled through her own flesh. Her trusting openness to love gave birth to Love in the world. The impossible became possible. Through her radical courage, she was willing to have the miracle take place within her and through her.
This same power of love and hope can be liberated in us and through us. A person undertook to visit the bedside of a stranger with AIDS. That person went because the regular visitor was no longer able. The person being replaced was now in another hospital and could not visit, so the new person went in her place.
At first the sick person was hostile and apprehensive. No one else had come to visit him and he questioned the new visitor’s presence. The nurse asked her to light a cigarette for the patient. She had to ask how, since she herself did not smoke. When she later questioned what she could do for him, someone suggested that perhaps she just go and light his cigarettes. She did so, faithfully.
One day she took him a flower from her garden. He also loved flowers, and from then on each time she went she shared her flowers as well as her presence. Gradually a bond of trust and love grew which transformed both his heart and hers. They had become companions in love through life and death. Hope was born anew, for with God nothing is impossible.
Another way of looking at the theme of these readings is listening in as the angel tells the perplexed teenager that she has formed such favour with God that her baby will receive “the throne of his ancestor David” and “of his kingdom there will be no end”. In the Magnificat, Mary reveals good news for the poor and marginalised for in the birth of Christ, the Mighty One has “lifted the lowly” and “filled the hungry with good things.”
This is not simply charity, but a levelling of the social playing field. Mary says God has “scattered the proud”, “brought down the powerful”, and “sent the rich away empty”. With the help of the angel and of the Davidic tradition, Mary can see that God incarnate will bring deep justice and systemic transformation.
When people like Elizabeth and Mary find the courage to cooperate with God, the impossible becomes possible.
Let me pose these questions? Have you ever experienced the impossible becoming possible? What happened? Have you ever seen love come to birth as a result of someone's courage and vulnerability? Where are the signs of saving justice and fair judgments, faith and constancy, that mark God's reign? In what ways have you brought about some change during the past few weeks?
This sermon produced using the resources of www.sojo.net