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“The Announcement”
Luke 1:26-38
A sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
Today
begins the season of Advent. It’s the
four Sundays that lead up to Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Advent is ultimately a remembrance of
pregnancy and all of the flood of emotion that such a
thing brings. Throughout the season, we
will look at the different stages of pregnancy.
Today is the week to look at conception, next week is the first
trimester, the week after is the second trimester, and the fourth week is the
final trimester and labor. And finally
on Christmas Eve we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Would that the birth of Jesus would be a
simple event. And yet like most
things that are important, there is a hard labor to get there.
I am aware
that talk about birth and conception leaves some people out. I for one have never been pregnant, and I
don’t plan on becoming pregnant any time soon.
Many of the rest of us have never had the experience. Some have wanted to have a child but have not
been able to. And yet each of us came to
the world through this process. Please
bear with me and my rather limited experience.
When
conception happens, we are of many minds.
If it is an intended pregnancy, then we want to make the announcement as
soon as possible. Although many wisely
wait until the end of the first trimester, for anything can happen.
Ten years ago, I planned a surprise
for Kim’s birthday. After church, we were
to drive up to Calistoga where we had three days at a mud bath and spa amongst
the
Then there are those whose pregnancies are not planned or pregnancies that occur as a result of violence. Think of the choices these people need to make: Whether to have the baby; whether to keep it once they have it. There may be no initial excitement. There may be horror and dread. The announcement is a mixed one at best. Many in this room know intimately what I am talking about.
I had a close friend in high school
that didn’t show up for her senior year.
When I asked about it, people said she had moved. We lost touch for many years until through
the wonders of Google and some high school alumni
events we realized we were living in the same state. We arranged to meet and we exchanged pictures
of our children and our spouses. After
she left I did the math of the ages of her children. Sure enough, her oldest was born our senior
year in high school. I can only imagine
the choices she had to make. Her
daughter’s picture was the way my friend made her announcement, almost 20 years
later.
I think it is this latter kind of unplanned
pregnancy that most closely mirrors Mary’s experience. Mary was a young person, maybe as young at 12
years old. She was engaged to Joseph, so
the story goes.
We don’t know much about their
relationship.
We don’t know if it was an arranged
marriage.
We don’t know if Mary had any say
in the matter at all. In today’s scripture reading, Mary is encountered by
Gabriel who doesn’t give her a choice either.
He simply made an announcement.
Gabriel tells her, that she has
found favor with God. Well that’s good,
God likes her. But it’s a loaded
favoritism. Gabriel also says that there
is a huge task ahead. She will conceive
and bear a son who is going to be God’s son and who will reign on David’s throne for
ever and ever amen. You and your child
will have a special relationship with the Holy Spirit. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” said Gabriel. “God will always be with you.”
Gabriel didn’t ask Mary if she
wanted this child.
Gabriel only said, don’t be
afraid.
Ha!
Of course she was going to be afraid.
She was going to be the laughingstock of
Either way, she would likely be
left behind by her betrothed.
She might be shunned by her
family.
She may be humiliated in front of
the community.
She might have even been believed
by some wacky preacher who used her to his own unknown ends.
Mary had to be very deliberate
about her acceptance of this task as well as about her announcement. Mary did not have many choices back
then.
I imagine a bit of resignation in
her statement “Here am I, the servant of God, let it be with me according to
your word.” In other words, I have no
choice in this, like I had no choice in picking my husband, like I had no
choice in selecting my state in life, like I have had no choice at all
throughout my life.
The only choice he gives her is how
to announce it. But how do you garner
the wisdom and strength to make such an announcement?
Thank God
for Auntie Elizabeth. She knows what’s
going on. Gabriel gave her an offer she
couldn’t refuse either. They commiserate
together and come up with a plan. A plan
to tell it like it is, a plan to say what this child is going to be like, a
plan to tell what Mary is going to be like in her new-found life. With
Mary and Elizabeth together shared in the journey of
pregnancy and in the responsibility of bearing the children who would set the
world on its end. For three months they
stayed together—talking, laughing, crying, and conspiring the nights away. They created sacred space, even when they
were not considered clean or even acceptable, especially when they were looked
on with suspicion by others. They had
both found favor with God and that was all that mattered.
The both
knew a secret, you see. God was
participating in a new way through the ultimate subversion of
acceptableness. God’s own incarnation
was being smuggled into the world through Mary, a would-be outcast. This was going to be God’s presence on earth:
with the outcasts. God is one of us! That’s what Mary and
Gabriel
made the first announcement. It’s now Mary’s
turn to make her announcement. That
announcement is the Magnificat—her great poem of
redemption and hope and audacious boldness.
What is
burning in your heart and mind?
What has Gabriel or his horde announced to you that is awaiting the right pregnant moment to burst forth?
What is
conceived inside of you that will change everything?
Hope and joy mingled with fear and lamentation and ecstasy and redemption?
Sisters and brothers, it is God’s
method to conceive something within each of us.
We will give birth to something,
even though we don’t expect to, even though we don’t feel worthy, even though
it scares the heaven out of us.
When we give birth to this new
thing, it will grow to be ultimately out of our control. It will bring good news to the world, because
that is what we are here for—to bring good news.
Thank God, we never have to go
through this alone.
Gabriel
says, “Be not afraid.” Afraid is what
you are when you don’t know what the future will hold and you think that you
are alone.
Gabriel
told Mary not to be afraid because she has a definite future that is
important. And she also has God in her
side at all times. Think about this for
your own lives. We fear the
unknown. There is so much about our
lives that is unknown. But this much is
known: We don’t go on this journey
alone. God is always there holding us
up, egging us on, picking us up when we’re down. And if you don’t believe that God is there,
then all you have to do is look around you.
For the church is one clear way that God is there for
you. The church is how God does
not leave you comfortless or alone or hopeless.
We are your
Sisters and
brothers, as November becomes December and we inch closer to Christmas, think
for now about what God might conceive inside of you.
What has God’s angel announced to
you in the recesses of your soul?
How do you respond to such an
announcement?
Your answer to that is what God is
waiting for this and every Advent.
Thank God we don’t do this alone.
Amen.