Advent 4, Mary

The Christ Mass has been celebrated since about 400 AD. The story brings Light into darkness, Hope into hopeless situations. The story focuses on the birth of a baby, born to a Middle Eastern couple, who find themselves homeless.  On this fourth Advent Sunday we traditionally remember Mary, a young girl, a teenager. She suddenly finds herself pregnant and is visited by an angel. (It could be a bad hair day!)  The child she is carrying is destined to fulfill the prophesies concerning the Jewish Messiah. The Magnificat in Luke 1, sung by Mary as she carries the baby born to be such an important person in human history, gives us hope, hope of justice, of material relief from poverty, hope of change, release for captives.

She was pregnant before being married and we are told that Joseph, her fiancé, thinking the worst, plans to divorce her. It's a story with ominous beginnings. It is a story of personal crisis. The Christmas story begins with shame, the shame of a pregnant, unmarried teenage mother. It goes on to release its power through the childless, the dumb, the poor. This Christmas they are all still with us. Those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless.

The story gives us options. Superficially it is a story of a poor Palestinian family who are homeless, as the young mother goes into labour, at the time of the Roman census. Interestingly there are rumours of angels and three wise men travel from Persia/Iran to worship the baby. And the then king gets in a state because this baby could threaten his authority.

We do know Jesus existed, was born as a baby and that those around him described him as a religious teacher, a prophet, a miracle man. We know that like his birth, the nature of his death had unexpected controversial twists and turns. The rest is up to us.

The divine is birthed by a teenage mother. Teenage mothers are still ostracized today. God was carried by someone who could be seen as a problem, someone not mainstream. This homeless God is homed in her. Any fanciful ideas we have about God need earthing and birthing. Pregnancy is an emotional, fragile and exciting experience. Being on the edge of the old and the new.

At the very least it’s a good story and better than many others that we are fed. At the very least it is a story with a message of hope for us all to feed our spirits and our imaginations and to inspire us in turn to bring hope and peace on earth.

The world needs this kind of hope, this kind of story, this Christmas. And of such stuff are dreams made of and of such stuff is the journey we embark on when we begin to engage with the spiritual possibilities this story invokes, so that we too can become part of the story, catching its message of hope and passing it on, like a candle burning in the darkness of an often dark world.

What are we going to give birth to this year?

Advent 4, Matthew 1:18-25, Mary

Take us to Bethlehem, House of Bread

Where the hungry are filled

And the satisfied sent empty away

Where the poor find riches

And the rich recognize their poverty

And all who worship are filled with awe.

Today on this 4th Advent Sunday we traditionally remember Mary, chosen by God to give birth to Jesus. Mary knew it was going to be a hard time for her and she was just a young girl, a teenage mum. In her life she had some hard journeys to make, to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, to Egypt, where they had to go to escape the soldiers, and to the cross, where she watched her son die. And yet she said yes to the angel. Mary knew what Jesus birth was meant to bring. 

In the story we hear described that an angel comes to Mary to tell her she will be pregnant before marriage. We also know that Joseph, her fiancé thinking the worst, plans to divorce her. It's a story with ominous beginnings. It is a story of crisis. The Christmas story begins with shame, the shame of a pregnant unmarried teenage mother, a single parent and a break up of relationship. It goes on to release its power through the childless, the dumb, the poor. This Christmas they are all still with us. Those we despise because of their situation. those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless. It is to these and many others that the Christ light gives hope, lifting up the lowly, proclaiming release to the captives, bringing meaning at a time of crisis.

And so it is that with Christians throughout the world that we are waiting and preparing. The Bible  gives us a spectrum of history from 20th century BC to 21st century AD and we see the message of hope run like a golden thread through the story a drama, Gods drama. The hope of the rainbow and ê the ark; the hope of the Israelites in Egypt; the hope for a king, the hope of deliverance from Babylon and finally the hope of the Messiah, the one who will come to deliver the people. We often hope for a deliverance which we do not get. Deliverance from poverty, from pain, from death and yet  the Magnificat sung by Mary as she carries the baby born to be such an important person in human

history, gives us hope too of material relief from poverty.

The message of hope that the Christmas story brings is the golden thread that runs through the story of Gods people. For many of us we need to feel the brush of angels wings and the whisper of hope this Advent, this waiting time.

We may experience hope coming to us in a dream. We may realise that the situation we regarded as hopeless is a vehicle of hope. We may realise that God is with us in all things and especially in the crisis 

we face.

There can be nothing better than to hear words of hope. An infertility broken. A diagnosis wrong. A wrong forgiven. A brokeness mended. New possibilities envisaged. Hope of a better world, hope of in Syria, Chechnyia, Iraq, Afghanistan. Hope born of years in prison, or of a death for a dream. Of such things others maybe have much to teach us.

This Christmas there will be no hope in the noisy shopping rituals and the exchange of presents but hope is found in the humbling, waiting, vulnerability. Christs coming, the perspective of God with us, can change us, forever, completely. 

God given hope is not optimism, or sentimentality, based on ignorance or naivite. It is based quite simply in a trust in God. A little candle light burning in the darkness is a symbol of Christmas and a source of inspiration shared by people of all faiths. May this Christmas be a vehicle, a carrier of hope for us all to feed our spirits and our imaginations and to inspire us, with the angel’s message, to bring hope and peace on earth.

This week take time and space to be still before God, take time to look at your priorities as we approach the end of another year, take time to give to others less fortunate than yourself and the God of Hope, the God of Light will be with you, and you will know it by the peace in your hearts. And of such stuff are dreams made of and of such stuff is the journey that as Christians we embark on when we decide to truly follow the Light of All Lights.

Loving God help us once more to hear your voice

and glimpse your light.

Deepen our faith

and enlarge our understanding,

so that even in the darkest of places and bleakest moments of life we may recognise that the light of your love continues to shine, and that nothing shall finally overcome it.

Amen.

Advent 4, Luke 1v39-45

The Christ Mass festival has been celebrated since about 400 AD, Christ' means 'Messiah' or 'Anointed One' - the title given to Jesus - and 'Mass' was a religious festival. Today if you visited Britain from another planet you would be forgiven for thinking that Christmas was a retail festival! This Christmas we will rush around fulfilling the need to buy presents for our loved ones and friends. But this is not what Christmas is about.

On the fourth Advent Sunday we remember Mary, chosen by God to

give birth to Jesus. Mary was a young girl possibly a teenager. She suddenly finds herself pregnant and visited by angels. It could be a bad hair day!  The child she is carrying is destined to fulfil the prophesies concerning the Jewish Messiah. He will change history and be a beacon for those who are oppressed, a standard for all to live by in opposition to the standards of society. She knew it was going to be hard and she was just. In her life she had some hard journeys to make too-to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, to Egypt, where they 

had to go to escape the soldiers, and to the cross, where she watched her son die.

And yet she said yes to the angel.

So Mary went to stay with her cousin Elizabeth who also was expecting a baby but was further advanced in her pregnancy. Mary went to a town in the hill country of Judea. 

The Song of Mary is in the form of a hymn of praise directed to God for his kindness toward Mary, with particular reference to remnant Israel and reflecting the Old Testament sense of God's covenant loyalty and loving kindness toward Israel, his hesed, Heb., "his faithful love". To those who acknowledge God's position and authority. His mercy extends to all people in all ages.  Mary stayed approximately three months, indicating that Mary probably stayed till the birth of John.

If you have no contact with the church at this time then Christmas is empty of the spiritual. It is purely a family affair. The Old Testament prophets spoke of a return to God and to keeping Gods laws as a basis for living in peace, peace with God, with one another and themselves. When God’s people wander away from their true calling, and forget the plight of others, they become aimless and empty, and their souls are not fed. Only God can satisfy the hungry soul, and so Gods prophets cry in the emptiness and chaos, because in their hearts is a dream which refuses to die. Isaiah speaks of a light in the darkness. Its an everlasting promise, there will be light in the darkness for Gods people, because as the passage goes on to say a child will be born who will save the people. This child, this Jesus.

And so like the rest of the church throughout the world we are waiting this Advent time for that child to be born again in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities, God with us. Immanuel.

Some of us have travelled long journeys away from our place of birth to where we are today. 

Some of us have travelled hard journeys before today.

Mary knew what her son's birth was meant to bring and I wonder how our journeys as 

Christians and as a church measure up to the message in the Magnificat? The season of 

Advent is a time of waiting, waiting for the Christ, the baby born to be Messiah, the God/man 

The Magnificat sung by Mary as she carries the baby born to be such an important person in 

human history, gives us hope too of material relief from poverty. In the story we hear 

described that an angel comes to Mary to tell her she will be  pregnant before marriage. We 

also know from Matthew that Joseph, thinking the worst, plans to divorce her. It's a story with 

ominous beginnings. A story of crisis.

We dont want our ordered world disturbed with the scandalous and unexpected. The 

Christmas story begins with shame, the shame of a pregnant unmarried mother and an 

imminent divorce. It goes on to release its power through the childless, the dumb, the poor. 

This Christmas they are all with us. Those we despise because of their situation. Those

who are vulnerable because they are women or young or powerless. It is to these and many 

others that the Christ light gives hope, lifting up the lowly, proclaiming release to the 

captives. For many of us our materialism and our busy lives stifle us and we will find it more

difficult to recognise the spiritual. God with us.

This week if we can take time and space to be still before God, take time to look at our 

priorities as we approach the end of another year and take time to put right relationships 

around you as far as is possible, take time to give to others less fortunate than yourself then 

the God of Hope will be with us and we will know it by the peace in our hearts.

Advent 4 Luke 1v39-45

1.Christmas

The Christ Mass festival has been celebrated since about 400 AD, Christ' means 'Messiah' or 'Anointed One' - the title given to Jesus - and 'Mass' was a religious festival. Today if you visited Britain from another planet you would be forgiven for thinking that Christmas was a retail festival! This Christmas we will rush around fulfilling the need to buy presents for our loved ones and friends. But this is not what Christmas is about.

2. Mary

Mary was a young girl possibly a teenager. She suddenly finds herself pregnant and visited by angels. It could be a bad hair day! The child she is carrying is destined to fulfill the prophesies concerning the Jewish Messiah. He will change history and be a beacon for those who are oppressed, a standard for all to live by in opposition to the standards of society. So Mary went to stay with her cousin Elizabeth who also was expecting a baby but was further advanced in her pregnancy. Mary went to a town in the hill country of Judea.
The Song of Mary is in the form of a hymn of praise directed to God for his kindness toward Mary, with particular reference to remnant Israel and reflecting the Old Testament sense of God's covenant loyalty and loving kindness toward Israel, his hesed, Heb., "his faithful love". To those who acknowledge God's position and authority. His mercy extends to all people in all ages."
Mary stayed approximately three months, indicating that Mary probably stayed till the birth of John.

3. You and Me

My own family didn’t go to church so Christmas was empty of the spiritual. It was purely a family affair. So it was for that reason that on Christmas day in 1972 I became a Christian because my life was lacking the focus and structure that being a Christian brings.

The Old Testament prophets spoke of a return to God and to keeping Gods laws as a basis for living in peace, peace with God, with one another and themselves. When God’s people wander away from their true calling, and forget the plight of others, they become aimless and empty, and their souls are not fed. Only God can satisfy the hungry soul, and so Gods prophets cry in the emptiness and chaos, because in their hearts is a dream which refuses to die. Isaiah speaks of a light in the darkness. Its an everlasting promise, there will be light in the darkness for Gods people, because as the passage goes on to say a child will be born who will save the people. This child, this Jesus.

And so like the rest of the church throughout the world we are waiting this Advent time for that child to be born again in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities, God with us. And so the preparation is a spiritual one, we turn to God to put ourselves in order, much as a confession before receiving communion, in order to be ready for the coming of Christ in our own lives. Part of that preparation means recognizing that all is not well in our own lives and in the lives of those� around us.
The Christmas festival is symbolised by light, a light shining in darkness and the coming of hope. The story of the coming of Christ is a vehicle, a carrier of hope for us all to feed our spirits and our imaginations. The incarnation is God with us, born as a human being suffering as we suffer. Today this message challenges us to live lives according to gospel values rather than those of the consumer capitalism that surrounds us. God given hope is not optimism, or sentimentality, based on ignorance or naivite. It is based quite simply in a trust in God. the God who brings light into darkness. and speaks to us.

This Christmas there will be no hope in the noisy shopping rituals and the exchange of presents if there is not also a humbling, a waiting, a vulnerability, to Christ’s coming again, the perspective of God with us-Immanuel, can change us, forever, completely. For many of us we need to feel the brush of angels wings and the whisper of hope this Advent, this waiting time, to give our lives to Christ, knowing our own inadequacies and failings and by the presence of the Holy Spirit living a new and changed life.