Repository of Sermons / Calendar of Events / Activities

Christmas Eve - 4th Sunday in Advent
December 24, 2006 Sermon by The Rev. Barb Hauck, Deacon
Readings       

Holiday time is often vacation time. In the early years of our marriage, preparing for family vacations was a process…  Once the decision to take a vacation was made, we began by setting the dates… not always an easy task for if we were to visit family, their calendars had to be part of this pre-planning stage. Then it was time to consider what needed to be taken… snow suits or swim suits, hats & mittens or suntan lotion? By this time, the house was almost electric with anticipation – we didn’t take many vacations in those days, so each one was eagerly awaited as a magical time.  As the day for starting on this journey approached, I began to place items in a special place… so that when we began the packing process, little time was wasted searching for needed items. Finally the car was packed, our sons buckled snugly into their car seats, and we were ready to start the adventure. S-l-o-w-l-y we backed out of the garage. We drove through town, toward the highway that would lead us on our way. And then… usually at the last stop sign before merging onto the highway, we would hear a small voice from the backseat say, “are we there yet?”  Perhaps some of you have had a similar experience.

On this Sunday we feel a certain tension… the tension of starting on the journey for which we have been preparing, but knowing we’re not there yet. We continue in the spirit of Advent this morning, the spirit of anxious anticipation – while knowing that later this afternoon we will watch our children as they re-enact the events surrounding the birth of our Lord. It seems to me it was in 2000 when we last celebrated the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve on the same day – I remember it because it was the last Christmas Eve before I was ordained… my preparations were almost over (or so I thought!), but I wasn’t quite there yet, either.

Some of us gathered here this morning probably feel ready for Christmas Eve… the shopping is done, the packages wrapped, we’ve all been listening to Christmas music on the radio and in the malls for weeks on end – ‘so let’s get on with it!’ we say. But there are others among us who have not yet finished our preparations. Advent is the season of preparation… something many of us find challenging in a world filled with requests to ‘hurry up!’  

But for what are we ‘preparing’? For the excitement our little ones feel when they rush to the tree to open the gifts? For the family meal – complete with those ‘animated discussions’ we’d hoped we’d make it through Christmas without having to endure? For the sales in the stores on December 26^th? No, of course not… it’s not any of those things. We spend this season of Advent…. this season of ‘preparation’… we spend it preparing ourselves to receive new life in Christ when we re-member our dear Savior’s birth.

Think about the Gospel passage we just heard. Elizabeth, an old woman and wife of an aged priest was carrying the child who the world would come to know as John the Baptist, and Mary, a young girl with no expectation of living anything other than an extremely ordinary life, was carrying a child whose very conception challenged people’s minds and whose life and love challenged people’s hearts. These women shared an incredible… no, what many would deem an impossible experience.  How might these two impossibly pregnant women have prepared for this gift from God? How might anyone?  Elizabeth seems to answer that question in her initial response to Mary: “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” That’s right – Mary both believed and said Yes! to the Lord… for when, a short while earlier, the angel Gabriel told her how God was calling her to serve, Mary said: Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

  This is an amazing story of hope and joy – I say ‘amazing’ because for many in our world today, hope and joy seem almost beyond reach. There are those who will go hungry this night, and those who will not sleep in a bed. There are those whose families are abusive rather than loving, and those whose dependence on drugs or alcohol has numbed their ability to feel hope, joy, or anything else it seems. There are people who feel the weight of oppression on their shoulders because of their ethnicity, their gender, their age. There are those who are in shock from learning of a serious health condition, and those who are on the emotional rollercoaster of serving as caregivers for one or more frail loved ones. There are some who are in the midst of grieving significant losses. And there are folks for whom life is a never-ending shade of gray… for their depression has stolen any measure of hope or joy they might have once known.

It is to all of this that the hope and joy of Mary and Elizabeth speak most profoundly. For their joy is aimed directly at the world’s pain – at our pain. Think of it for a moment: Mary had probably walked about 4 days to reach Elizabeth, filled with wonder, worry, and fear most of the way, I’d bet. I imagine they both felt a higher-than-normal level of anxiety: this was, after all, for each of them a totally unexpected experience. Add to that the harsh reality of the world’s likely response to their miraculous, very out-of-the-ordinary news. And how do they respond to this heightened anxiety? Mary raises her voice in song – and I can imagine Elizabeth joining in, too! Neither sings because of how accomplished she is, nor because of how deserving she is. Neither sings because of what the world offers her, nor because it is the time of year people are supposed to sing. So what is the ‘Good News’ that causes them to respond with such hope and joy in their hearts?

I believe Mary and Elizabeth sing because they have been given a new life to share. They sing because that which nature and the world would have named as barren is suddenly filled… indeed, swollen with life – life that will, in the not-too-distant future, shake the foundations of a world that has absolutely no clue what is happening.

A few weeks ago, on Christ the King Sunday, we heard Bill describe the sort of kingdom Christ came to usher in. He said it was… “Not a kingdom where some chosen few are sitting on top, but a kingdom where the weak and lowly are lifted up. Not a king who Lords power over us, but a king who empowers us to be His co-workers who help make his kingdom come, by: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, housing the homeless, caring for the sick, working for peace and justice…”  Sounds very similar to Mary’s song in this Gospel passage – a song in which she recognizes that it’s the humble who are being raised, it’s those who feel awe before God who are shown mercy, it’s the lowly who are lifted up, and it’s the hungry who are fed. The seeds of life sown by God in Mary turned the world upside down. And it is those seeds of life – of hope and joy and so much more – that God wants, God needs to sow in us so that we might ‘help make His kingdom come.’ Have we prepared ourselves – our hearts, minds, and souls – to receive this gift? Are we feeling ‘pregnant’ with this gift of new life God is offering us? Are we there yet – do we, like Mary, have a song in our hearts?

Well, let’s see. I remember some of the preparations we made back in August – tilling the fertile ground of our hearts as we brought can openers each Sunday for the CHUM food shelf. And then there were personal care items for the Damiano Center – and, of course, serving a meal in their soup kitchen in September. There are also those among us who serve on the boards of non-profit agencies in our community… or as mentors at the “Y”… or read to young children in school, hold the hand of someone whose loved one is undergoing surgery, visit with friends or neighbors who are ill or experiencing the frailties of their later years. Oh, yes… there was also the sharing of craft supplies with the Mind 2 Mind kids and putting on the Halloween Carnival for the neighborhood in October. How about the outpouring of hats/gloves/sweatshirts and coats for the homeless and at-risk youth in our community – along with providing rolls and pies and serving their Thanksgiving dinner to them at Life House in November? Which brings us to Advent… when a holiday meal was served to the women at Women’s Transitional Housing and gifts were provided for 30 people who live there – families who have struggled with a variety of devastating situations and are trying to re-build their lives. These have been profound experiences for many of us – experiences after which I’ve heard some of you say… “I never expected to be so moved by doing so little.”  I believe these are the joyful and hope-filled responses of believers who have said Yes! to the call God is extending to them. It is these seeds of life – seeds of hope and joy that God has, and will again sow in us. These are the seeds of new life that we celebrate both individually and as a community of faith with our song of active service. And that’s Good News, indeed.

No, we’re not there yet… for, as we all know, there is still so much to be done. But, as we continue our last-minute preparations this one last day of Advent, may we – pregnant with all the wonder and anxiety of the season – joyfully join our voices with Mary, Elizabeth and all the generations to follow:  “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. AMEM

      
 Click here for earlier sermons