Advent Wreath Candle Lighting Liturgy: Peace
Although we are separated due to Covid, we are still journeying through the season of Advent. We light our path by lighting the candles on the Advent Wreath. Today, on the Fourth Sunday, we relight the candles of Hope, Love, and Joy and light another purple candle as we begin the journey into Peace.
“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6-7
Collect: Heavenly Father, who chose the Virgin Mary, full of grace, to be the mother of our Lord and Saviour, now fill us with your grace, that we in all things may embrace your will and with her rejoice in your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Word
Micah 5:2-5a
Hebrew 10:5-10
Homily: Mary’s Story, including the Gospel, Luke 1:39-55
And so we come to Advent 4, and are again in the midst of a surging pandemic. We need to hear some ‘good news’. The gospel for today begins with “In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb…” Luke 1:39-41
But Mary’s story starts a little further back in the narrative with the announcement by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus, “called the Son of God”. We mark the event as the Annunciation. Luke 1:26-33 And Mary’s courageous, faithful response to Gabe is this “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” That angelic encounter occurred nine months before the holy child of Bethlehem was ‘away in a manger’…nine months of gestation, as is the norm with a baby’s birth.
Gabriel had also visited Elizabeth, Mary’s auntie, perhaps, a few months earlier. Elizabeth was ‘advanced in years’ as her husband Zechariah the priest said, and note he was struck speechless because of his words! Well, not exactly…he did not believe that he and his beloved would, in fact, become parents, or that their child would prepare the way of the Lord! By the way, Zechariah’s speech is restored at the time of his son’s circumcision, after insisting on the name John.
And “Immediately his mouth was opened and he began to speak, praising God.” Luke chapter 1:64.
In those days…It’s hard to imagine a more humble, ordinary scene…two pregnant women, meeting together. Two very vulnerable individuals…full of that bittersweet mix of fear and joy for their unborn children…that overwhelming sense of responsibility, of protectiveness, of being co-creators with God, felt by all good, new parents since time began…for as vulnerable as these mothers are…how much more fragile the lives they nurture within their bodies…
Seeing Mary, Elizabeth speaks words of prophecy or perhaps revelation “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb…”Luke 1:42 And that is the last we hear about Elizabeth, though, of course, her son John the Baptist later makes the news.
Mary, however, remains an important figure throughout the Gospels; from the birth of her baby boy, through his ministry, to his death. Her response to Elizabeth, words found only in Luke, are called the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will called me blessed for the Mighty One has done great things for me.” Luke 1:46-49
She then turns the spotlight away from herself to point to God…His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation, He has shown strength, He has scattered the proud, He has brought down the powerful and lifted up the lowly; He has fed the hungry, turned away the rich who don’t care, He has helped his servant Israel…Luke 1:50-55
We tend to view Mary through a bit of mist…and like an old black and white photo retouched with pale watercolours, with soft edges…certainly ‘otherworldly’… but I think we prefer it that way. Celestial messengers making pronouncements, being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, the Virgin birth… even Christian churches who hold to a highly developed theology around Mary at some point confess to the mystery of it all. In other words, it’s beyond our rational thought; we just can’t relate to it easily in human terms.
What we can relate to is that Mary is one of us. Mary is a woman with no distinct position within the body of faithful people. There is no mention of her special interests, her skill sets or work experience. There is no indication that she can sing, speak in public, count the collection or lead a group. Timothy Johnson writes, “Mary is not a particularly righteous person (according to Luke); she is not a known and a pious woman but rather an ordinary citizen… “She is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy…She actually is of very little value at all.” Many of us can relate to that, perhaps wondering about ourselves, about our worth, our contribution to society, even how we will be remembered.
It is to Mary, ordinary as she may be, that God comes and gives grace…conceiving love incarnate…love ‘in the flesh’. God chooses Mary particularly and in so doing God chooses all of us. And if God can do such great a wondrous things through her, then maybe…no, then certainly, God can do great things through us. If Mary can bear God’s grace, then so can we witness to that love to a broken world so in need of the ‘good news of a great joy.’
We are chosen like Mary, as individuals and as a faith community, confident that the Holy Spirit is upon us, assured that we are beloved and gifted and precious in God’s sight…And, so embraced, we are called to make God’s grace, favour and love known. With Mary, and with the saints of every age, we are challenged to make a difference, to share our faith in the Holy Child of Bethlehem and the Risen Lord, and to have courage, at Christmastide and always, to respond to God…“Here am I.” Say it, and then see what happens.
Blessing: Be steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and untiring in love all the days of your life; and the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.