December 20, 2009

Luke 1:39-55

4th Sunday in Advent

 

Mary’s Song

 

Do you get it? Mary’s joy?  “My soul magnifies the lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he had looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.” The world was a mess and was a really, really bad place to be raising up children. The Roman armies were marching in the streets imposing their will. The tax collectors were taking everyone’s money and kicking them off their lands. Never before has Judea had such a large population of homeless, landless people. The highways were oftentimes lined with crosses with dying men and rotting corpses hanging from them. Women had no legal rights to property or to the courts for justice. If their husband left them, they were cast off without means to support themselves or their families. They became street people and had to often times abandon their children. Children just got in the way and were expendable. They were thrown away into the garbage. No laws protected them. No one cared.  

Can you find the joy?  God brings hope and joy into the world with a great reversal. Elizabeth and Mary are women nobodies, and they are blessed with babies that will change the world. Joseph is a side act and the shepherds just ignorant plain folks.  The Wise men were usually ignored by the powerful, and God chose to come to a small outpost town of Bethlehem in the middle of nowhere in the southern Roman Empire. Here the great reversal in Mary’s song, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; and filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” 

We celebrate God becoming flesh today in a world nearly as bad off as the Roman world. People we love get sick and die or linger in suffering pain beyond endurance. People are losing homes, jobs and insurance; and their future looks chaotic. Tyranny rules in nations where only might makes right. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Thousands and thousands of families are within one pay check of being on the streets.  

Sure, we have commercial joy that is mass produced in cut-outs for poinsettias or window decorations. But this cannot be the joy that Mary sings about. What do we Christians mean when we use the word “joy”?  When Mary sings her song, she is singing about God turning the world upside down. She knows that through her child God’s plan for the whole world will begin. God’s kingdom is coming. The mighty will be thrown down, the hungry filled, the poor will be lifted up. She is singing about real joy.  

God has chosen to come to the ordinary and dwell in the midst of his people. God chose how Jesus was going to enter this world, and he chose our mess. We rejoice because we know that God loves us enough to act. He was not content to just sit in the heavens, but joined us in our messy lives. And in this mess He has chosen you and me to bear His love and joy to others. The only way God has to bring his message of love and joy and peace is through you and me. We are bearers of God’s grace to others. We are blessed with the knowledge of God’s joy and love in our hearts and are charged to carry the Lord of life to others. This is God’s gift, and it is our real gift to others. The rest is commercial collateral.  

Do you know how to spell joy? One writer I read said remember how to spell it this way. “J”- for Jesus. An animated faith begins and ends with a relationship with Jesus. We are not alone. “O” – for others.  The kingdom of God grows in our midst as we share God’s gift of love and joy with others. “Y” – for yourself. Each of us is created to love the spiritual life more than the material stuff; and in celebrating the coming of Jesus we see the pure embodiment of love, hope, forgiveness, open doors, and joyful singing. We grow into the living Christ as we take this joy and share it.  

We rejoice when we see in one another’s faces the glory of God’s grace at work. Here at First Presbyterian Church we experience joy through the love and support we have for one another. The church should be the focus of vibrant life, laughter, and of deep feeling expressed in Christ-like actions and ministries. It is the only place where families come together and significantly share of themselves with others. The church is a place of joy where people worship God with a sense of anticipation and quiet enthusiasm. We need each other. And together we wait eagerly for what God is going to do in our midst. 

Let me share with you a story about a man who stubbornly refused to go to church and decided to be a lone ranger Christian. He didn’t need to get together to study God’s word with others, nor pray with others, nor sing with others the songs of our faith. “A wise pastor went to see him, and they sat in front of the fireplace, silently watching the flames and the glowing coals. After a while of total silence, the pastor got up, took the poker, and separated one of the coals from the pile. Then he sat back down. As the two men watched, the single coal gradually cooled and died. But the coals that stayed together kept flowing brightly. They warmed and empowered one another. Finally the man said, ‘Pastor, I see what you mean. I will be at church this Sunday.’”

 

We need each other. See you Christmas Eve.