The Advent of PEACE – Luke 1:26-38

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Lectionary Readings for Dec. 06, 2020         Second Sunday of Advent, Year B
Isaiah 40:1-11             v 8 The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13     v 8 I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people.
2 Peter 3:8-15a         v9b [The Lord] does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
Mark 1:1-8      John the Baptist Prepares the Way

But this week, we’re going to focus on Luke 1:26-38 “The Birth of Jesus Foretold.”

 

Peace Quotes

“Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.” ~ Thomas S. Monson

“I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things. It's about being good to one another, it's about the Christian ethic, it's about kindness.” ~ Carrie Fisher

When we focus more on others than ourselves, we’re more likely to create peace.

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me.           God loves me.            God has plans for me.

Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading

Last week, we focused on HOPE. This week we focus on PEACE.

Some days it can be difficult to have hope for peace when we live in a world that, at times, feels inundated with division and strife. But people around the globe and throughout time have always experienced division and strife – that’s nothing new. But Jesus… Jesus lived a life of peace and preached that we should do the same. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). We believe that we are ALL already children of God. The question is, how can we live our lives in a way that people call us peacemakers and call us Children of God?

As we light our candle, listen for how God may be calling you to be a peacemaker. What opportunities is God giving you to create peace?

Prayer: God of peace, help us see how we can be instruments of Your peace. Kindle within us the desire to create peace within us and share that peace with those around us. Give us the courage to step into dark spaces of anger and chaos and be Your light of peace. Amen.

Take a moment to click and look at these two images which represent what many of us are accustomed to seeing. Both this Greek painting and the stained glass are visually similar to the cultures that created them.

But what if… What if we grew up seeing this image from the Jesus Mafa art community of the early 1970s? This series of paintings was produced by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. As with many cultures around the world, they expressed their faith through art. How might we think any differently about angels, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus if we grew up with artwork like this in our churches and our Bibles?

Last week we read a portion of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth story. Today’s story can only be found in the first chapter in the Gospel of Luke which omits any angelic appearance to Joseph. I’m quite fond of Luke because I like a good story, and Luke tells a great one in a style that would have been appreciated by people 2,000 years ago.

Today’s story picks up shortly after the Angel Gabriel has told Zechariah and Elizabeth (Mary’s older relative) that they will miraculously have a child in their old age (remember Abraham and Sarah?). Their child will grow up to be John the Baptizer who, roughly 30 years later, will baptize Jesus.

Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we read today’s story.

 

Read Luke 1:26-38.

Have you ever had a dream, a goal, a hope, or a desire that was so big, you dismissed it thinking, “That would be great, but it’s impossible, impractical, completely unrealistic”?

  • Maybe it was with a geographic move, “I wish I could live in New Zealand, but it’s impossible to get permission.”

  • Maybe it was career-related, “I wish I could go (or go back) to college, but that’s too expensive.”

  • Or maybe you’ve hoped you could change someone’s mind or attituded about something, but “No, they’re too set in their ways; they’d never listen to me.” I’ve certainly had moments like each of those.

After decades of observing humanity, I’m frequently amazed by two groups of people. To be sure, each of these groups are filled with people of all races, religions, nationalities, and socio-economic groupings.

The first group I’ve noticed is people who seem to have everything that would help them succeed – education, money, social access, personality, physical fitness, mental ability, etc. – they have so much going for them, and yet, they don’t seem to chase their dreams or try to maximize their potential. Sometimes they don’t seem to care, and other times they lethargically regret not chasing the dream.

The second group I’ve noticed is people who seem to have nothing working in their favor. They lack all the advantages I previously listed. And yet… against all odds, they succeed – or at least they constantly try and, over time, make some progress in the desired direction.

In many ways, that second group represents so many of the key players in God’s activity throughout Scripture – from Genesis to Revelation. As we heard today, the Gospel of Luke’s first chapter opens with two impossible stories told through two improbable characters.

The first is Elizabeth getting pregnant with John the Baptizer (Luke 1:6-25). Zechariah and Elizabeth were too old to have children, a situation reminiscent of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 17:15-22). Zechariah, like Mary, questioned the angel Gabriel’s announcement, but Gabriel punished Zechariah for his disbelief (Zechariah lost his ability to speak for nine months). When Elizabeth became pregnant, she didn’t complain to God saying, “My knees and back are too old for this baby-making nonsense.” Nope. She rejoiced saying, “How kind the Lord is! He has taken away my disgrace of having no children” (v25). Despite the inevitable growing pains ahead, she joyfully awaited the advent of a new season in her life.

The second impossible situation with an improbable character is poor, sweet, young Mary getting pregnant with… the Holy Spirit so she can give birth to the Savior of the world. Really?!? That’s just weird in multiple ways at once. One translation says Mary was perplexed (NRSV), another describes her as confused and disturbed (NLT) which sounds closer to how I’d react. But here’s the key: Mary does not let that confusion and fear suffocate her willingness to accept the miraculous. After the angel Gabriel gave her a few words of encouragement, Mary responded with “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (v38).

All of us individually and as a faith community can learn a lot from Elizabeth and Mary. This is actually an extremely challenging text for us.

  • Do we believe God might make a personal appearance in our lives? Or is that just for Pentecostals? Fun fact: the Pentecostal movement was birthed out of the Methodist revivals in the mid-1800s.

  • If and when God does appear to us, are we willing to believe God and accept what God says to and about us?

  • Are we willing to make ourselves available to God so that God can use us to bless, not ourselves, but to bless others?

  • Do we believe that, simply by being God’s children – part of God’s intentional and miraculous creation – do we believe that we are worthy of God using us?

 

“God has always chosen the most humble of vessels from the most humble of places to give birth to his word. Mary had no rights; no power, and yet… … [One] Legend has it that Mary was not the first person asked to be the God-bearer, but rather she was the first person to say yes. … [Legend or not,] She said yes, yes to a God who desired to dwell within and through her. That is incarnational theology. God is not just with us, but can be within us, distinct yet inseparable. … The same is true of [the ancient Hebrew heroes and heroines] Moses and Deborah and Elijah and Esther. … The [Good News of the] gospel is that this message [of co-action with the Divine] has been extended not just to [Elizabeth and] Mary but to all of us. Every single one of us has received an invitation to help give birth to the kingdom of God. … we human beings are tabernacles, containers of the holy. God wants nothing less than for us to become pregnant with divine possibilities and then to give birth to the holy and precious in our time” and in our communities.
(Jarvis, Cynthia A., and Johnson, E. Elizabeth, eds. Feasting on the Gospels, Volume 1 : Luke. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. p16)

 

In this season of Advent, this season of looking forward with anticipation, today’s story presses us to ask ourselves – individually and as a church…

  • How is God inviting us to birth God’s loving presence into our community?

  • Will we steadfastly remain connected with God, continuously praying for God’s leading?

  • Can we overcome our own doubts and insecurities?

  • Will we work to prepare ourselves for an unknown future?

  • Can we deflect external negative criticisms?

  • Is our skin thick enough to be servants of God?

Like Elizabeth and Mary, despite the inevitable growing pains ahead, can we joyfully await the advent of a new season in our own lives and in the life of our church? Do we have the courage and bold humility to see ourselves and our faith community as instruments of God’s peace?

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, I am convinced that an incredibly impossible and improbable future awaits us if we are willing to say, “Lord, we are Susanville UMC. We believe You made us, You love us, and You have plans for us. Here we are. Send us! Use us!”

Amen? Amen!