A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
2 Samuel 7:4,8-16
Psalm 132
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38
We all want our little church to survive. We want it to be here for us – for worship, for celebration, and for our funerals. We want our church to survive. "Survival mode" is supposed to be fatal for churches. Yet that's just where the Israelites were 2000 years ago. And for most of their history: Survival mode.
But for them there was no going out and inviting strangers to worship so that they'd grow. In fact, they avoided strangers who might corrupt their faith. They hoped to survive by having lots of children. (I'm not sure that's a viable option for a congregation our age. But then again, Sarah and Elizabeth might offer biblical evidence to the contrary.)
In survival mode, the Israelites wanted a miracle to rescue them. They hoped for the Messiah, the Christ, to save them. So they settled into survival mode and waited.
No church expert comes along and tells them about evangelism. Instead along comes that wildman John the Baptist out in the desert and then a terrifying angel, both saying, "Get ready, things are going to be different."
And what happens? Some back-country kid, who claims she has never had sex, gets pregnant. "Who me?" Mary thinks. And she asks, "How can this be? I don't know any man well enough for that!"
This unexpected, miraculous pregnancy, it seems, will bring about the salvation of Israel. Jesus, Mary's baby, will save his people. One baby and everything changes. No more survival mode.
That's fine for the Israelites. They are going to get their Messiah. We claim he's our messiah too, but it seems like we are still waiting in survival mode. This advent are we all sitting around waiting for a wildman in the desert or frightening angel to show up?
Now some might suggest that we've already been visited by a crazy wildman, predicting unlikely things and saying "Get ready, things are going to be different." Well, maybe not a guy wearing camel's hair and eating locusts; imagine instead a woman carrying a raccoon and eating chocolate, predicting unlikely things and saying "Get ready, things are going to be different."
And the messenger brings the same crazy message that Mary's messenger brought: "Don't be afraid. God is going to make something wonderful happen in your life... Something that can save your people from what you fear."
And you said "Yes." "Yes" to a crazy idea intended to save our tiny church from closing. "Yes" to the ministry of all the baptized, to "total ministry." So toss out that survival mode. We're pregnant.
And this "total ministry" pregnancy comes with all the joys and miseries of any pregnancy:
Some of us are pregnant with new ministries, preparing to preach or to preside at the Eucharist; to plan liturgies, administer, or teach; or to reach out to people in need. But, as with most pregnancies in families that have been around a while, while new ministries are being born someone needs to take care of the "older kids' – those essential ministries already part of our family -- wardens, treasurers, and such. There's a now-familiar saying that "It takes a whole village to raise a child."
Today we often hear young married men saying "WE are pregnant." And when birth announcements appear in the paper, we see an older sibling holding the new baby. Pregnancy is a family thing. And, at it's best, a community thing. Mary may not have "known" (meaning sexual intimacy) a man, but she needed Joseph's support for the miracle to happen. (Another angel took care of getting that message across to Joseph.)
If this miracle is to happen in our church, we all need to help. Those called to the ministry team can't get through this pregnancy alone. This baby is going to need older sisters and brothers to help. The ministry team needs the active ministries of the rest of the congregation. Wardens, clerks, sextons, and active vestry members. We're in this together. It takes a whole village to raise a total ministry program.
And it's true of Mary's pregnancy too. Bringing Christ to the world takes all of us. Mary and Joseph listened to the angels – the messengers that God sent them – and brought Jesus, the Messiah, safely into the world. Now it's our turn. Because of our baptism, the Messiah, the Christ, now lives in us. Like Mary, we're asked to give birth to God's gift of love and to offer it to the world.
"For nothing will be impossible with God."
Here we are, the servants of God; let it be with us according to God's Word.
