Copies of the Sunday Sermons for the current month and previous month are attached below in chronological order.

The Hopes and Fears of All the Years

Ephesians 3:14-21

1.         Hopes & Fears

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written by American clergyman, Phillips Brooks, after a trip to Bethlehem. The year was 1865; the Civil War had just ended.  As he walked the streets he imagined back long ago to the birth of Christ but also his recent history of a divided nation. 

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting light.

The hopes and fears of all the years,

are met in thee tonight.

The hopes and fears of all the years.  Maybe Brooks meant that Christ is the Hope of all hopes and the answer to our fears.

And fears we have.  I have a friend who every time he’s in his car with his 15 year old son is telling him what’s ahead and warning him of all the crazy drivers out there.  Fear can be a good thing.  There are things in this world worth being afraid of. Appropriate fear keeps us from making foolish and dangerous mistakes. We come with two built-in fears the psychologists tell us: fear of falling and fear of abandonment. 

We’ve always known that the power of fear is a motivator and market force.

Fear sells car alarms and security systems. Fear sells guns…Fear causes population shifts as refugees move across international borders and from deteriorating urban neighborhoods.

But fear can limit and paralyze us. Fear of failing prevents us from trying something new, stretching, and risking. Children humiliated by a teacher or parent are afraid to speak up and ask a question—sometimes for the rest of their lives. Fear of rejection keeps us from going out for the team, trying out for the part, applying for the job. Sometimes fear of rejection—or fear of intimacy—prevents us from saying, ‘I love you. I need you’ Fear prevents us from striving for greatness and straining toward excellence.

Recall a time when, as a child, you were frightened: maybe lying in bed, sure that the shadows on the wall were of a monster hiding and the bumps and creaks on the stairway were telling of something dreadful about to happen. And you called out to your father or mother, who appeared and took you in his or her arms and said, ‘Everything is all right. Don’t be afraid.’  Maybe that is what faith is about. And it is the primary, fundamental, and persistent message in the Bible.

• When Moses is becoming nervous about the dangers of leading his people

out of Egypt, God says, ‘Fear not. I will be with you.’

• To a frightened nation, quaking before the might of a cruel and

overwhelmingly powerful enemy: ‘Fear not. I will be with you.’

• To any who face the ultimate threat to life: ‘Even though I walk in the

valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.’

• To shepherds startled in the middle of the night by a bright light and angel

choruses: ‘Fear not.’

• And at the very end of the story, to frightened disciples at an open tomb:

‘Fear not. He is not here. He is risen.’

One of Jesus’ allies, a cousin actually, John the Baptist, was in prison, in trouble because he had criticized King Herod. John’s prospects, to say the least, were not good. John had been Jesus’ advocate, had recognized in Jesus the righteousness and holiness and presence of God. John was a fiery preacher, calling religious leaders a ‘den of snakes,’ talking about laying the ax to the roots of the tree and burning the dry branches in a consuming fire. But now he’s in prison and he’s having some misgivings. In the first place, Jesus isn’t acting the way John thought that the messiah should act. He isn’t talking about laying the ax to the roots and burning dry branches. In fact, he isn’t judging and condemning sinners at all. What kind of messiah would befriend sinners, be seen with them, eat with them? What kind of messiah would spend his time with unrighteous, unclean men and women instead of insisting that everybody obey the law of Moses?

But, beyond that, I think John is scared. He’s alone. It’s dark and damp in the tiny cave where he is kept like an animal. The king he has publicly humiliated is the pettiest and cruelest of tyrants. John is going to die and he knows it. So maybe the reason he doubts and asks Jesus to reassure him that he’s right, that he’s about to die for something true not a vain hope, is that he’s frightened.

Jesus sends his friend, his cousin an intimate but coded message. Tell John, he says, that the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear. That’s an almost direct quotation from a passage everybody knew and loved: a lyrical poem by their great prophet-poet Isaiah.

John’s captors would not know it or understand it. Jesus is pointing John to the Isaiah 35

The eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped,

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad.

“Remember, John, as you sit there, in that cell—cold, hungry, thirsty, waiting for your inevitable execution—remember the promise that came to our people at the darkest, most frightening moment in their lives, the worst moment in our history, when a cruel and powerful enemy was about to attack and kill and defeat and imprison and exile.  Remember:

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

the majesty of our God. . . .

Strengthen the weak hands,

and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

‘Be strong, do not fear!’…

Remember your greatest hopes, your purest desires, your deepest longings, all met in Christ.  If you received this message, from whatever state you were in, you would find your hopes and fears met by Christ.  I would imagine something would strike a chord.  Maybe you would be brought home to your deepest desires.  Desires & hopes planted in your being by God.   

2.         Desire

Margaret Silf in her book Inner Compass writes about desire.  Desire is a strong word, full of energy.  When we encounter our desires, we know that we are dealing with something forceful.  Desires weave their way into our thoughts and actions.  If we suppress them, they simply go underground, like bramble roots, and surface somewhere else when we least expect them. 

It can be likened to the force of growth in nature.  For a tree, the energy goes in two directions.  The life force inside the tree pushes roots down into the ground, seeking water and nutrients.  At the same time, the above-ground growth is pushing branches out into the air, seeking light and warmth in the sun and the life-giving components of the air.  The downward force creates a firm hold to the earth.  The upward force gives visible form, the beauty of its own being. 

I can see both.  There is a force within pushing me to put down roots.

Seeking stability, meaning, purpose, nourishment, a network of friends who will hold me in equilibrium when outer circumstances get difficult, a thirst to go deeper in friendship, study, and prayer.  These are my root desires.

But there is also the desire, the force urging me to express myself, to spread out my arms and my heart to the world around me.  To express the real me, to laugh, to convey hopes and fears, to show compassion when I meet someone in pain and open my heart to them.  To strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. To say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!’…

3.         Beyond

There is always something beyond, toward which our living energy is striving, delving for security, stability, peace, nourishment, and reaching out for creative expression, for the joy of responding to the needs of others.  Tree roots go deep because there is always something deeper to strive for.  Its branches reach up because the sky, the sun, the air are always beyond and out of reach.  It is in the striving that the growth and fruitfulness happen.  It is in our seeking that we are found.  Oswald Chambers writes, “God does not give us overcoming life.  He gives us life as we overcome.  The strain is the strength.  If there is no strain, there is no strength.  Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy?  He cannot, unless you will accept the strain.  Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength.  Overcome you won timidity and take the step, and God will give you to eat of the tree of life and you will get nourishment.  If you spend yourself out physically, you become exhausted; but spend yourself spiritually, and you get more strength” (My Utmost For His Highest, August 2). 

So we realize that growth requires energy, strain, and direction.  It is as if every desire we can experience and name points beyond itself.  And where is that “beyond”?   

The trouble we run in to is when we think our desire has no beyond.  I simply want that candy bar, that affirming look, and we settle for much less than what we are really striving toward.  We stop seeking and start settling.  We stop giving and start possessing.   We forget that we are not simply a bundle of feelings.  We are not a zoo of desires.  We are wired by God and for God.

Sometimes we stop because we do not believe in ourselves even though we say we believe in God.  Sometimes we believe in ourselves, deep down, but we are afraid of others and exposing ourselves to public opinion.  We are afraid to risk our talent on the open market.  And the fear is stronger than our desire to exercise our gifts. 

So in the midst of our fears, we yearn for something to lift us up out of our fears and restore our hope. Like John the Baptist, languishing in a prison of darkness and despair, we want God to set the world right. And God comes along with his drum and says, ‘Listen to the tune I'm playing and see if you can catch the beat.’ It’s not the tune of those who hold you captive but the rhythm of the one who sets you free.  It’s a rhythm deep down, one that might not be discernable at first amidst the noise of our culture but its there.  It’s about enabling the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. It’s about enabling the dead to rise and about good news for the poor. And it’s about accomplishing all those things with the love and strength that God provides.

This is what we are waiting for when we stop for even a moment in all our mad rushing around to think about it.  This is the answer to Paul’s prayer that we would be strengthened in our inner being, that Christ would no longer be so distant, but now dwelling within through faith as we are being rooted and grounded in love.  And suddenly we start recognizing the beat of his will.  We start hearing the rhythms of healing.  We start sensing the height and depth, and width and breadth of God’s love in Christ.  All other desires fade in comparison.   

Al Porter Jr. in the Cleveland area leads workshops for hip-hop rap artists trying to develop their craft.  He keeps artists from relying on profanity and forces them to dig deeper to create true art. 

4.         Understanding

As we are seeking God, we find His desires awakening in our lives. Desires he has planted there.  Our prayers then become the response to God’s action in my life and his presence in my heart.  We start focusing our energy and discerning which desires to engage and which ones to let go.  

In the face of a disorderly mob of wants and wishes, and the negative counterparts, fears and resistances we start making choices.  We look back and see occasions when we have chosen lesser desires and felt the consequence.  Notice the intense competition.  Every time I choose in favor of my deeper desire, I reinforce it.  It becomes dominant, until it meets and even stronger desire in me.  In this way, my lived experience gradually reveals to me my own deepest desires. 

Although we are directed toward God, there will be desires that pull us away.  We need to remember what direction we are facing and let these contrary desires, lusts, temptations, pass.  We don’t need to change our course and should not nullify our commitment to God.  When we are living toward God, we will find that God’s will is not something remote and unknowable, but something close to me as the deepest desire of my heart and something he is only waiting and longing to reveal to me .  Here is the peace that the world cannot offer but the peace God supplies. 

Augustine once prayed, “Our hearts are restless O Lord, until they rest in Thee.”

Psalm 1  -  Tree planted by streams of water

Psalm 63:1-8

500 years ago John Calvin wrote, “Since so great a storehouse of every good thing is found in him, let us drink from our fill from this fountain and no other” (Institutes of the Christian Religion).  

2 Gifts

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 and Luke 2:1-20

1.       Variety of Reasons

I’ll never forget last year coaching Colin’s rec. basketball team.  The first gathering is perhaps the most interesting as you size up the team, try to gauge the talent you’ve got as a coach and just how much work is ahead of you.  You’re not just gauging size and talent, but also personality.  So the group of 7 year olds stood around me.  I asked, “have any of you ever played basketball?”  A few had played one or two years, a few had never played before.  They were the ones with jeans and boots on. But one kid announced to the team he had played travel basketball for 6 years.  Remember, he was 7.  Pretty competitive group, these one year old travel players.

Some of you are here for the first time, you’re not sure about the language, but your eyes are open. Thank you for being an example of courage.

Some of you are here searching for answers. Thank you for bringing your questioning this night.

Some of you are skeptics, needing some evidence and wanting some experience of the Divine. Thank you for your skepticism that checks any ease and over-familiarity with the story. 

Some of you have many times heard the story and left it behind. For you once had faith, knew what it was to be loved and live in hope. But now you have lost confidence in the story. Well, where better to recover that lost faith than in this place.

Some of you are here because you’re worn out and need a Savior.  Thank you for bringing your honesty. 

Some of you are here for others.  There is something is the story that resonates in your soul and you find yourself moving toward others to encourage them and remind them they’re not alone.  Thank you for bringing your compassion.

To all of us, Christ is born, a Savior is given. 

The announcement long ago came to shepherds. Shepherds are a strange breed who live topsy turvy lives: awake they watch their flocks at night while others sleep and snooze by day while others work. They are alert to anything unfamiliar. If anything disturbs the sheep, they go and find out what it is. That night they were watching, for shepherds are professionally curious.

To the shepherds, the angels appeared with the announcement, “To you is born this day a Savior who is Christ, the Lord.”

There are two gifts that we celebrate tonight. 

1.       The first is God’s gift

God sent his son.  Our Lord lived here.  He knew the context of our humanity.  He said once to his friends about a crowd of people, “I will not send them away hungry.”  He knew what hunger was about?  He felt our cold and knew our heat?  He experienced our sorrow and tasted our joy?  Yes he knew.  He was born in a humble manger, but angels attend the birth and sing their songs of welcome if people will not.  He sits wearied at the side of a well and asks for water gives to the woman water that satisfies forever.  He sleeps wearily in the bow of the little fishing boat, but stills the storm in the waters or the storm in the hearts of those who are with him.  He weeps at the grave of Lazarus, but with his voice reaches into the depths of the grave and calls Lazarus forth.  He is crucified, dead, yet risen. 

He meets us where we are yet lifts us to himself.  It is the story of the lost sheep.  The shepherd goes and finds the one, lifts it up and carries it home.  To you is born a Savior.  In other words, you have been found.  The news that the angels bring is that God has sent one to find us, rescue us, forgive us, carry us home, and show us the way.  People walking in the land of darkness have seen a great light.  For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests on his shoulders.  In Isaiah 40 we read how God will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.  And he will carry us. All rests on his shoulders.  I rest on his shoulders. 

He does not want us carrying him.  He will prove too heavy for us.  He wants to take our guilt, lift our burdens and carry us in love.  Is it not an odd sheep that carry’s tries to carry the shepherd? 

Although my children are too big now to hoist onto my shoulders, I loved doing this.  There is something about taking a child and lifting them high up and placing them on your shoulders; giving them a view of the terrain ahead.  Giving them a sure sense that you’ve got them steadied on your shoulders and they can trust you.  And for the one being lifted.  You see things.  More things are visible to you. You know where you are going.  Someone else is carrying your weight. You feel loved, protected, provided for. 

And so it is with God.  

He who lies on Mary’s lap is our Savior.  And for a sign he sent the angel from heaven to proclaim him.  That’s the first gift.

2.The second gift is ours to give.  We give God adoration and praise.  We consent to the angels’ announcement even if we still feel uncertain, even if we feel awkward being lifted, being forgiven, surrendering life, ego, control, we confess him as our Savior in every need, call upon him, and never doubt that he will save us.  At this point the story is not just in the head, it takes root in our heart.  We go and see this thing that has been told to us. 
Like the shepherds, we listen, we act, and then we share

Sing, My Soul

Psalm 139:11-18 and Luke 1:46-55

1. Courage

Back in 1895 Stephen Crane wrote an American Novel entitled The Red Badge of Courage.  It is a story written about 30 years after the Civil War telling of a young soldier named Henry.  Henry has great dreams of being a war hero.  He and his friends are confident they will not flee but will be admired and respected for their courage.  That is until their first march into battle.  Fear strikes him hard.  He begins doubting the generals and measuring the risk.  He uses arrogance and boasting to cover his innocence and fear.  The first battle Henry fights is the battle in his mind.  He can’t win that battle and fear drives him into the woods to escape.  He wanders through the dangerous forest looking in vain for safety and peace.  Eventually he is wounded by a blow to his head, wandering aimlessly on in the woods. 

It is then that Henry meets the “tattered man.”  This man binds his wounds and guides him home.  Brambles seem to part in front of the tattered man and obstacles vanish before him.  His words are consoling and kind.  When finally Henry is led safely back to camp, he realizes too late that he never once looked up into the tattered man’s face.  He des not know what his rescuer looks like, where he came from, or where he went. 

Being led back, he faces his fear, finds his comrades, and re-commits himself to the cause. 

We’re not sure of Mary’s fears.  We just know that after the angel Gabriel leaves her with the news that she will conceive and bear a son, and name him Jesus, she flees.  She leaves Galilee and makes her way through the Judean Hill country to her relative Elizabeth who will soon bear a son named John.  That visit gives Mary courage. The doubts faded away and a song in her soul was released as she fully trusted God.  She sings of praise, she sings of being blessed, she sings of God’s holiness and his great works.  She also sings of the scattering of the proud, the powerful being brought down from their thrones and the lowly being lifted up.  The hungry will be filled with good things, and God will help and give mercy.  This young girl, chosen by God, found her voice, found her courage, found love. 

Maybe you were chosen to sing at a concert.  The music teacher for some reason picks you out to sing a part.  You’re not sure why but she seems to have some trust in you.  You’re given the lines and score and are encouraged to learn them, to practice.  She works with you but each time you sing in front of the choir or in front of your parents your voice feels small.  It’s a kind of high pitch that is all in your throat.  But then you start liking the song, thinking about the words and your confidence lifts.  The little doubts in your mind begin to fade away and you’re ready to sing.  There is a quickness to your courage and a readiness for action. 

2.       It’s not much different in our journey with Jesus.

We are chosen, called out, you know how good it feels to be picked for a team.  Well, Jesus has chosen each of to play on his side.  But you know what, we’re not so sure.  We compare ourselves with others and don’t feel quite up to the task.  We have great dreams of success and holiness, and getting to church every Sunday but then we face the battle in our mind; kind of like Henry’s.  We cover our fear with arrogance.  We’re OK, we begin bragging and promoting what we are doing but inside we know we’re afraid.  We’re afraid of the market, we’re afraid of peers, we’re afraid of bad grades, we’re afraid of failure, we’re afraid of debt and conflict.  Then our worst fear comes to pass and we flee.  We end up in dangerous places.  We end up injuring others and often get injured ourselves.  But even in those places, Jesus is with us (Romans 8:37-39).  He mends our wounds and brings us back home.  The one who wore the red badge of courage parts the briars of sin and the obstacles cluttering our way and brings us home.  Often we do not see his face.  Often he uses someone else to help us and encourage us and direct us.  But somehow we receive the help and find ourselves given another chance; always another chance. 

So here we are back in worship.

Maybe this week has been like a wilderness to you.  A wilderness of expectations, doubts, disconnect.  But somehow you’ve arrived here. 

3.       Here you learn your part. 

You learn how to worship:

We echo Mary’s song, My soul magnifies the Lord.  My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  I like the word magnify.  To make large, to increase in scope and sight and influence.  This is worship.  To know that God is at work, to trust his activity.  To know that we do not have to have everything under our control.  God’s got it.  Though our voice falters, God’s does not.

We learn the story.   

You start learning about his call to his followers to go out and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything commanded.  You learn that Christ is with us always, even to the close of the age.  When we get to the end, he is there.  We learn the story.  We study the scriptures, we ask the questions, discover that God is ready to use us for his kingdom. Some call them practices, exercises, methods, experiments with truth.  All are ways of encountering God on a daily basis.

Go into the world.

No longer are we fleeing, now we are sent.  You don’t get to the point of sharing your faith simply by learning about your faith.  You’ve got to start speaking it, talking about it, offering it in what you say and do.

The world doesn’t really want to here that we believe about Jesus.  They want us to show them Jesus.  They want to see if we know him.  If we’ve encountered him in the dangerous forest of life, the wilderness of doubt, the darkness of despair.  If we’ve experienced him in times of deep joy, profound insight, or acts of service.  

Jesus isn’t saying believe this and that, he is rather saying, try this, and you will see the kingdom.  The world is not waiting for us to convince them of the truth of Jesus.  They want us to show them Jesus.  They want to see faith lived out.  They want an example, not a lecture or a doctrine.  They want to hear about our experiences with Jesus, what we have learned along the way.  They are also curious if we’re able to share about what we have seen and experienced.   

They are also curious if we see anything wrong with the way things are turning out.  Mary saw it and was given a vision of change.  The proud would be scattered.  The powerful brought low and the low raised up. The hungry would be fed.  The song we learn is a song of many nos. 

No to greed. No to poverty. No to oppression. No to violence. No to exploitation. No to selfishness.  You add to the list. Get in touch with your deepest love for the world and its people, and start saying no to everything that works against them.

The song we sing is one of hope, but most importantly, one of love. 

Singing Mary’s song along with her, we begin to look at the world through her eyes, and by God’s grace, sometimes we find the courage to do something about it.

Today our job is to let Mary stir us into song, get our souls churning. And figure out what it means for us this year to tell out the greatness of the Lord.

Overshadowed

Luke 1:26-38

Opening verses  Philippians 4:4-7  /  Hebrews 13:2

1.         Listening to the Larger Voice

During the Men’s Breakfast Fellowship on Tuesday morning, we looked at this passage.  I asked, “What was Mary afraid of?  The angel told her not to be afraid.  What did she fear?”  One man said, “Community.” The people in her community, family and friends would not understand.  But still she was willing to listen to and be obedient to God’s plan.

Was she familiar with angels?  Was she used to their voices?  We’re not sure.  All we know is that she was willing to listen, somewhat afraid and bewildered.  All we know was she was willing to acknowledge that there was something going on way beyond her scope of understanding or control.  She was hearing a voice above and beyond her community, way outside her comfort zone, telling her of a Bigger Picture opening up.   As she listened to God’s plan the voices of her community, though important, were no longer primary.  She started letting go of the immediate consequences to trust larger or longer term consequences.  She listened to a voice other than her own. 

When we are in conflict with one another, how often the only voice we hear is the voice of disagreement, the voice of contention and the only voice we anticipate is the voice of our rebuttal and defense.  We know we’re missing something but we start isolating particular parts of the argument, swaying things our way, and thinking of amazing things we should have said.  But most of the time, the voices we’re hearing and attending to are little voices.  They are surface and reactionary.  They are little voices trying to defend my perspective, my ego, my reputation, my needs, my nation, my perspective, my ball team.  These are important voices but if they are the only voice we hear, we’re going to run into trouble and will be hurt and offended a lot.

Obedience to God is listening to the deeper voices, but that means we have to have deeper voices!  We have to be practiced in prayerfully listening to the voice of love, the word of truth, the way of peace.  These will not come right away but often through the “entertaining of angels who usually come unaware” (Hebrews 13:2), a verse or song that comes to mind, a friend who lends perspective.  How often when strife comes, our counsel and strength fail.  Harmful imaginings follow.  Thomas a Kempis advised, “Put them away from thy heart as well as thou canst, and if tribulation touched thee, yet let it not cast thee down nor entangle thee long.  At least bear them patiently, if thou canst not joyfully.  And although thou be very unwilling to hear it, and feel indignation, yet check thyself, and suffer no unadvised word to come forth from thy lips, whereby the little ones may be offended… What should I do in my so great tribulation and anxieties, unless Thou dist comfort me with Thy holy words?”  (Imitation of Christ LVII). 

Something happens to our little words when the holy words fill us up.  Maybe that’s why Mary was pondering the greeting.  Maybe she was trying to get rid of the little voices that shouted out consequences and needled away at faith.   Brenda Euland writes, "The imagination needs moodling -- long inefficient, happy idling, dawdling, and puttering. People who are always briskly doing something and as busy as waltzing mice, they have little, sharp, staccato ideas...But they have no slow, big ideas."^[1]   Mary pondered the words of the angel and the testimony of the shepherds, and as the story of Jesus unfolded before her she treasured each piece in her heart.

2.         Asking How

Once she had pondered, slowed down, and got hold of God’s big idea, she was ready to ask “How?”  There was the need to know how all this would happen.  You see, we like to manage things and control the outcome of events.  We are trained to be managers, to organize life, to make things happen.   How much of parenting is planning, orchestrating.  Sometimes it’s easier to be on this end than the other end of having to trust another’s management and oversight.  Ask any child or teenager.  The problem comes when we want to manage the activity of God.   

Mary chose to ask the question because she could not and would not manage God’s plan.  She could have said, “Great idea God.  It’s about time.  We’ve been waiting for how many years: like 500 for you to fulfill your promise.  So, let’s do it right.  Joseph and I will soon be married.  We’re going to move out of Nazareth, get away from family for a bit and make a home out west.  Then, once our finances are secure, we’ll talk again about this child you have in mind.  I’ll talk to Joseph and see what he thinks about the name Jesus.” 

That conversation never took place.  Instead she asked, “How can this be since I am a virgin?”  In other words, if this is your will, what’s your plan?  Gabriel was ready with the answer.  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God… Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:35,37).  Mary, you will be overshadowed.  You cannot dictate this power.  It will come upon you. 

You see, when we ask how, we hear of God’s authority, not our own.  We can’t manage, maneuver, or manipulate spiritual energy.  It is a matter of letting go and receiving what is being given freely. 

It is the gradual emptying of our attachment to our small self so that there is room for a new conception and a new birth.  Something must be displaced.  If we ourselves try to “manage” God, or manufacture our own worthiness by any performance principle, we will never bring forth the Christ but only ourselves.  Mary asks, “how” and the angel says, “by God’s power.” Not by her power, not by Joseph’s power, nor by the power of friends/family. It is not the power of nature or the power of luck, but by God’s power!

3.         Here am I, servant of the Lord

Finally, Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).   

She listened to Gabriel and pondered the greeting.  She sought understanding for how God would carry out his will.  Finally, she consented and opened up her life to the life of God, to the word of God, made flesh. 

Mary certainly had to contend with suspicion, scorn, and rejection.  But she possessed the life of God in her being.  She pondered that life, nurtured that life, protected that life, and finally gave birth to the Son of the Most High.

People who are centered in God instead of themselves always hear larger voices.  Such people will know what they must do without being able to prove it.  They have the passion to carry through on what must be done.  Mary’s yes was said in the darkness of faith.  She was not certain, nor assured by any Scripture quote, doctrine or pastor.  She just heard what she heard and did what God asked her to do.  She had enough inner authority to not need a lot of outer authority.  The angel only gave her a glimpse but that glimpse was enough.  Mary’s trust in God carried her the rest of the way.

We will not always know what’s next.  But in trust we are able to wait and listen to the larger, pure voice of God.  That voice will come through prayer, through safe and loving people around us, through time in scripture and in fellowship with one another.   

But be assured that the smaller voices will still demand a hearing.  They will whisper words of doubt, beckon you toward old crooked paths.  Know that these voices still exist but don’t require attention.  You don’t have to invite them in.  Remember that they are small and overshadowed by the voice of God.  The voice of God comes to Mary with power. Great (v. 32), Most High (v. 32), Lord God (v. 32), throne of his father David (v. 32), reign (v. 33), kingdom (v. 33), never end (v. 33), power of the Most High (v. 35), and Son of God (v. 35).  And, it doesn’t stop there. Mary goes to see Elizabeth. As soon as Mary greeted Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s baby leaped within her. When she told Mary what happened Mary began to sing (what is known as the Magnificat, or the glories).

Look at the power phrases and images:
• He has power enough to overcome (vv. 49, 51, 52).
• He has power enough to be pure (v. 49).
• He has power enough to be compassionate (vv. 52-55).

I love watching people express what they are hearing, thinking, imagining.  I love watching people recognize a larger voice, a bigger picture.  One lady came to me with an idea for helping people network and find job openings.  One woman wanted children to be able to follow the service so created a worship book.  One man wanted to respond to hurricane relief efforts.  One man had time between jobs and decided to come and help clean the church.  One woman believed her spirit had been stifled enough and it was time to make a change.  A manager at True Value talked with me about the economy and said in the end, it will be good.  Each of these people came to me with a gleam in their eye.  They were not sure where the change would lead.  All they knew is was that something in their soul was stirring.  So they listened to the message from God maybe even the angel voices, they asked how, let themselves, their agendas, even their sophistication be overshadowed by God, and said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.”       

Just because God sends an angel to invite one girl onto the dance floor is no guarantee she will say yes. Just because God sends a prophet to tell us how life on earth can be more like life in heaven does not mean any of us will quit our day jobs to make it so. God acts. Then it is our turn. God responds to us. Then it is our turn again. --  Barbara Brown Taylor

Presbyterian missionary Rebecca Young in Indonesia writes about the Christmas Eve service.  At the beginning of the service on Christmas Eve, when the liturgist processed forward carry the Bible, they were accompanied by a husband and wife who carried a baby Jesus doll. They ceremoniously placed it in a manger as they pledged their devotion to each other and to their children.  Later the youth did a liturgical dance during which they worked their way to the manger scene. Beside the infant Jesus was a bare-branced tree, and each one of the youth were wearing a mask or a label that read “snobby, greedy, rude, etc.  AS they danced near the manger, they removed the mask or label and hung it on the tree, then danced away, linked arm in arm with their friends, celebrating their renewed lives.

We are invited to dance near the manger, remove the sin, and learn the larger patterns of the Kingdom, attend to the larger voice of love, and enter the power, mystery, and joy of God’s overshadowing Spirit.

Prepare the Way

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9, Mark 1:1-8, John 3:22-30

Opening verses  Malachi 3:1-3

1.  Messenger

John knows that he is not the main attraction.  From the start we realize that John is going to prepare the way (Luke 1:12-17).  He will turn many to the Lord, parents to their children, and the disobedient to wisdom.  He will be in the gap, between the people and their God.  He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.  He will be a prophet of the most high to go before the Lord and prepare his way, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of sins.  The dawn from on high will break upon us to give light to those who sit in darkness and guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:76-79).    

His early years, like those of Jesus are hidden, but when he appears in the wilderness we find that he has focus and clarity for his part in the kingdom.  He has played his single and important part and he knows it which is why he can say, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).   He is not concerned that his disciples are going to Jesus.  That is what he prepared them for.  If they stayed with him, he would not have been true to his calling of messenger. 

Somehow Elizabeth and Zachariah helped John not only understand his role, but helped him reject other roles.  He learned early on about letting the ego go.  It has been said that the acronym for EGO is Edging God Out.  John would have nothing to do with this.  Letting his message be God’s message, His life used for God’s purpose.  There’s got to be such emptiness and surrender or we cannot point beyond ourselves to Jesus.  “Such emptiness doesn’t just fall into our laps; such humility does not just happen.  It is surely the end product of a thousand letting-goes and a thousand acts of devotion, which for John the Baptist gradually edged God in.”  (Preparing for Christmas, Richard Rohr, p. 21)   This kind of devotion takes a lifetime;  a lifetime of testing out roles, recognizing good news worthy of sharing, and bold acts of surrender and obedience to the will of God.

John’s life has become, nothing more, nothing less than the stage upon which the Messiah will appear.  He wants the message of that appearance and the appearance itself to advance change.  This announcement is not simply