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Mary. She's the star of every elementary school Christmas pageant.
Oh sure, there's Joseph, but he usually just stands around looking dazed and confused, not unlike the historical Joseph of Holy Scripture.
And even though we all understand the pageant is about the birth of Jesus, everyone knows that, in this production,
he's really just a plastic doll that’s been carefully stored away in a box each year and pulled out for the evening. There are plenty of other characters –
always enough to go around so that every child has a part, even if it means one or two kids have to be a sheep. But Mary!
The spotlight and focus is always on Mary for the Christmas pageant! So when the director asks "Who wants to be Mary?"
it's not unusual to see a handful of would-be Marys eagerly raising their hands, each wanting the chance to stand up front with a (probably uncomfortable) young Joseph and hold the baby-doll Jesus.
Everybody wants to be Mary, even though verse 29 of this morning's text says that she probably did not.
After the visit from Gabriel, Mary was – depending on your translation – "much perplexed" in the NRSV,
"greatly troubled" in the NIV translation, "confused and disturbed" in the New Living Translation,
or "thoroughly shaken" in Eugene Peterson's The Message. Even though young girls vie for the position of Mary in the annual Christmas pageant,
and even though the word “gospel” is literally translated as “glad tidings” or “good news,” pregnancy wasn’t particularly good news for Mary,
despite the assurance of the angel Gabriel that she would give birth to the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.
Mary was a young girl, engaged but not yet married to Joseph. She hadn't had any *** relations with a man, and so she was supposed to be happy about this pregnancy?
How would she explain to her fiancé that, even though she was pregnant, she had not been unfaithful to him?
She was nothing more than a peasant child, insignificant in every way, and she was supposed to convince everyone that she had been singled out to give birth to the Messiah?
For something that was supposed to be so wonderful and special, she was probably feeling just about anything but "wonderful" or "special" when Gabriel broke the news to her.
It was hard for her to see past the moment. All she could focus on was the heavy blow that had been dealt to her.
And it was nearly impossible for her to imagine herself as the "favored one," to use the words of the angel.
Life has a way of dealing heavy blows that seem like anything but good news and glad tidings.
The phone call at three o'clock in the morning is never good news. The grim face of the doctor following what was supposed to be nothing more than a routine checkup
usually doesn't bear glad tidings. The notice that the company is downsizing and your job is expendable is not the Christmas greeting of good cheer you were hoping for.
And so we look around for the nearest baseball bat to use on the next person who tries to take on the role of the angel Gabriel and tell us that things aren't quite as bad as we might imagine.
Fortunately for all of us, Mary didn't take a stick to Gabriel. And surprisingly, just thirteen verses later we hear her words of gratitude and love:
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, who has looked with favor on the lowliness of this servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name."
Somewhere between the “thoroughly shaken” Mary of verse 29 and the Mary who gave voice to the Magnificat in verse 46, something happened.
And we wonder what it could be. These two snapshots of Mary seem more like a schizophrenic than the venerated saint we have come to know her as.
But if we look closely we can find a clue to Mary's transformation in the words found in verse 38:
"Then Mary said, 'Here am I, the servant of God; let it be with me according to your word.'
You see, Mary gave her consent. By the time the angel had finished talking, Mary had moved from a state of confusion and resistance to that of acceptance and consent.
And when that happened, she was in a position to give birth to love. When we accept the fact that we really have no idea where life is taking us;
when we decide that maybe God knows how to run the show better than we do;
when we realize that the job loss, the health diagnosis, or the death of a loved one is not the end of the road, as it may feel in the moment, but rather, a turning point in the road –
in short, when we allow God to take the reins of our life and we find our own way of saying, "Here I am ... Let it be,"
then we have a chance of giving birth to love, just like Mary. It's our acceptance, our consent to God's will for our lives that opens us up to creating love.
And heaven knows, this world can use all the love that we can manage to create! Acceptance changes our attitudes from resistance to openness.
God's will can flow more freely. And we become the instruments of that will. The Season of Advent is a season of preparation.
We prepare ourselves for the re-birth of hope, peace, joy, and love into the world.
And the best way we can prepare is to align our wills with God's will. To give our "yes" to God’s plan for us.
To believe that the way things are happening can turn out for the good if only our response is "Let it be."
When this church aligns itself with God's will, we give birth to love. Love that takes the form of acceptance to those who have been overlooked or outright rejected.
Saying "Let it be" to God has given rise to the Red Door Project which serves the *** population of Waco and the surrounding area.
Saying "Let it be" has given birth to our new Transgender Ministry. Saying "Let it be" opens us up to things we never could have imagined,
never would have thought possible for such a small and insignificant group of worshipers. But as the angel Gabriel said to Mary,
"Nothing will be impossible with God." And just as the church gives birth to love when we align ourselves with God’s will,
and just as Mary gave birth to the very incarnation of love when she said, "Let it be" to the angel Gabriel,
so too, will you and I give birth to love when we accept how God is moving in our lives.
When we understand that we don’t have to run the show. That God is the director, not us.
When we can get to that stage, then love will play out in ways that we never could have imagined.
And when that happens then we have done what I believe our calling is as people of faith.
When we open ourselves up to the possibility that maybe God knows what's best for us, when we take a risk and gather up our courage
and follow the path that we believe God is calling us along, then we are co-creators with God. We create love.
And quite frankly, I can think of nothing more important than that. Mary was willing to sacrifice her reputation as a pure and unblemished *** in order to give birth to Jesus Christ.
By accepting God's will for her, it meant she had to let go of the opinions of other people.
I have a feeling she played an important role in the instillation of that character trait in Jesus, a character trait that would play out in his ministry.
She let go of the opinions and values that were important to her culture and she embraced the will of God. It was a risky thing to do.
But then, love is always risky. It’s just not love if it isn't. This Advent Season, I invite you to take a risk and let go of how you think life should turn out.
Let go of the opinions of others. And embrace the possibility that God loves you and is in control and things will turn out the way they are supposed to turn out if you accept God’s will.
And then allow love to play out in your life. Allow it to pour forth into a world that is aching for it.
Give birth to a love that heals and soothes and nurtures others this Advent Season.
And may God bless you as you do. Amen.
