Sister Ellen Francis

Advent 4, Year C, SunDAY December 24, 2006 Our Savior
Micah 5:2-4; Psalm 80:1-7; Heb 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-49(50-56)

Quote: “Blessed is she who believed” (Luke 1:43a)
Point: We too can be blessed and can believe in the promise of our salvation
Illus: baby in pageant was “George”; painting of Mary pondering the angel’s words

Last Sunday, here at the Church of Our Savior, we had a wonderful presentation of the Christmas story by our Sunday School children.
I enjoyed it so much and if you were here, I hope you did too.
I really enjoyed hearing the story read in such an excellent way and seeing the youngest children place felt figures on the large board to illustrate the story.
This was a wonderful way for us all to see how the Sunday School children are using the story board and felt figures to learn the important Bible stories.
* * * * *
At another parish where I used to serve, they have a tradition of holding a Christmas pageant each year with both children and adults taking part.
The youngest children are either sheep, with little sheep ears and cotton balls for the wool, or they might be little angels with halos and little wings.
One year, the littlest angel was so excited about the pageant that she could hardly contain herself.
She was so young that she wasn’t always sure what was real and what was symbolic.
To her, the Christmas story that we were presenting in the pageant was completely real.
To her, Jesus was really going to come to us that day!
That Fall there was a baby who had been born to a couple in the parish.
It was decided that, instead of using a doll, the baby would play the part of Jesus.
The baby Jesus would be a real baby.
The littlest angel was so thrilled to see the angel Gabriel bringing the baby Jesus to Mary and Joseph.
The pageant went very well, and the baby didn’t even cry.
But after it was over, the baby Jesus was given back to his mother.
The littlest angel got very upset when she saw this.
She couldn’t understand why the woman who played the Virgin Mary wasn’t his mother, and why the baby Jesus’ real name was George!
* * * * *
Jesus was a real baby, and as Christians we also believe that he was and is God incarnate.
Even as we grow older, we still may find the birth of the baby Jesus, To be a miracle almost beyond the reach of our imagination.
It would be much easier for us to imagine the fulfillment of God’s promise in a mighty warrior or a powerful ruler.
It also would have been much easier for the ancient Hebrew people, who were awaiting a Messiah, to imagine a King “standing… in the strength of the Lord” (Micah 5:4).
They could easily recognize power in forcefulness and wealth and stature, But not in a humble baby.
It was difficult, also, for Mary to understand.
When she was first approached by the Angel Gabriel, she thought “Who, me??”
At first she thought, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34).
* * * * *
There is a painting of the annunciation that I really love.
It shows the magnificent angel standing in front of Mary.
This is a modern painting, so the artist has tried to show the scene in a realistic way and Mary is shown as a teenager.
She is wearing a very plain dress and is crouching in the corner of a very simple room.
The angel has just made the announcement, and is patiently waiting for her answer.
Mary’s eyes are open, but we can tell that she is looking inward, not really looking at the angel at all,
and she is thinking hard about what the angel has just said.
She looks both puzzled and also very concerned about his message.
The painting freezes that moment when God has called her, and she has not yet said “yes”.
The magnificent angel waits patiently for her answer, giving her all the time she needs.
From the story in the Gospels, we don’t know how she came to accept that she would be the mother of the Savior.
We only know that when she was ready, she did answer, and she said, “Let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
* * * * *
God also waits patiently for us to believe that God took the risk to come to earth in the most simple, humble, vulnerable form.
God comes to us still, and is infinitely patient.
We may wonder – who are we to receive God’s promise?
How can we, in this time, receive the gift of God’s love?
* * * * *
There is a poem about the birth of Jesus, written by author Madeleine L’Engle: This is no time for a child to be born, with the earth betrayed by war and hate, and a nova lighting the sky to warn, that time runs out and the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born, in a land in the crushing grip of Rome; Honor and truth were trampled by scorn – yet here did the Savior make his home.

When is the time for love to be born? The inn is full on the planet earth, and by greed and pride the sky is torn – yet Love still takes the risk of birth.
* * * * *
The Love of God still takes the risk of coming to us in the most vulnerable and quiet way.
God came to us to be born a human baby, at a special and particular place and time.
There was a perfect time that God chose for Christ to be born, in a backwater of the Roman empire
and in the midst of the messiness of ordinary life – it was still the perfect time.
God comes to us now, in this ordinary and complicated and messy time of ours,
and now is also the perfect time for us to open our hearts to receive him.
God comes to us now, on the eve of Christ’s birth.
God comes to us as a humble, simple, human baby, fully human and fully understanding both the suffering and the joys of human life.
God comes to us now, today, right here, always taking the risk to offer to us all Love without bounds and without end.
God comes to us, here and now, a real baby and real God.