My stepdad George is one of the main people who influenced me to join the Episcopal church. And when we discussed religion, which we did a great deal back then, he always said about our tradition and our worship, that we gather together to tell the story. This week, our story begins, and continues in Christ’s coming. Especially in today’s readings, we hear the why of his coming. We are reminded today and every day that the cross is just as much a part of the story as the cradle. For without His coming, we would not have Easter!
Both Christmas and Easter, and actions that God did, shows us how much he loves us and what the kingdom is about. God has an amazing way of showing us all what is important by using the most unassuming people to make the biggest difference and to show us the depth of his love for us.
I think that sometimes we take this love for granted or maybe at times feel that we are unworthy of such deep, healing, forgiving love. But all we have to do is look to Mary, the mother of Christ, to see how an example of a faith that believes in that love. When God chose this unknown girl for the greatest job in the world, she said yes.
In our reading from the Prophet Mica, we see God using small to do great things. Out of Bethlehem, home to one of the little clans of Judah. A clan thought of as insignificant, God has promised that out of Bethlehem will come forth great things. Words written by the Hebrews in expectation of the Savior king who would come to return the Israelites to their rightful heritage in the name of their God. To save them from the tyranny of those who want to destroy them. From this small clan, He shall be Great to the ends of the earth.
Paul in his letter to the Hebrews tells us why God has given us this small gift who will do the unimaginable: offer himself for us. The final sacrifice through which we are sanctified set apart as holy. Where the Hebrews had been used to providing their own sacrifices to God. God himself prepared Jesus as a perfect sacrifice for all. This is what he was born to do.
Which brings us to the Gospel of Luke, and the repeating of the beautiful and meaningful blessing by Elisabeth for Mary because of Mary’s accepting her chosen-ness and her trust in God’s promise of what he was doing through her for Israel.
I think we sometimes forget just how small and insignificant these two women were in their daily lives in their society. We have preached so many times from this pulpit the lowliness of women in this patriarchal society. But the fact that God uses these women makes their role even more powerful. Picture a teenager, anywhere from 12 to 15 years old, standing before Elisabeth, a matron, both expecting men who will change the world. Both have been told by angels their roles in history. And both, to their credit, do not spend hours or days or months trying to convince each other or themselves for that matter that they are worthy.
God trusted His very self, totally and completely and in full bodily form, to the care of a woman. God needed women for survival. Before Jesus fed us with the bread and the wine, the body and blood, Jesus himself needed to be fed by a woman. He had Mary who said “This is my body given for you.” (Rachel Held Evans, Wholehearted Faith)
Of course, Nadia Bolz-Webber had something powerful to say about these women and us. And of course, she has a tattoo to support her belief in what she said! If you have seen her pictures, she has many Tattoos!
Nadia posted this in her Dec 18th article in The Corners, really more about the annunciation, but it fits perfectly with our theme today of how God uses the small and insignificant and for great things.
She writes, When we think about the Annunciation, this scene between the angel Gabriel and Mary, we think of the faith it took for her to believe that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and that her son, the illegitimate child of an insignificant girl, really would have a throne and a kingdom. But I wonder: If I had been in her place, which would hue harder for me to believe: The part about a virgin giving birth to a king? Or the part where the angel said I was favored? I mean, if an angel came to me and said, ‘Greetings, favored one,’ I’d be like, you’ve got the wrong girl!
But here’s where Mary had some real chops (Nadia’s words not mine!). She heard outrageous things from an angel and she didn’t say, ‘Let me see if I get any better offers.’ She didn’t say, ‘Let me get back to you.’ She heard outrageous things from an angel and said, ‘Let it be with me according to your word.’ (Luke 1: 38) Mary trusted the word from the angel, telling her that she was favored. And maybe that trust is what made her trusted.
You know, we have no idea what Mary was like before the angel visited her, but here’s what I am thinking. I seriously doubt that she made herself into a girl whom God could favor because she took the advice of her youth rabbi, someone like our youth minister Rev Thomas, and lived the way she should. Nowhere does it say in scripture that the angel Gabriel took days or months to find the right girl who had all of the virtues to make herself worthy to be the Theotokos, the Godbearer. I mean, he favored many who were not always… virtuous. Prostitutes and tax collectors and adulterous kings. So, I think it is safe to say that it is God’s nature to look upon those who are struggling and not perfect, those who want to know God but who sometimes get lost in the messiness of the world.
Because God’s like that.
Lucky for me and all of the other broken folks out there.
Elisabeth says, ‘Hail Mary, full of GRACE’ not hail Mary full of virtue. This is what Mary understood: that what qualifies us for God’s Grace isn’t our goodness. What qualifies us for God’s grace is nothing more than our need for God’s grace. God has chosen Mary, and you, and me. Not for our greatness, but, for our willingness and belief and trust in the promise that there would and will be a fulfillment of that which was spoken to her. God chose us not because of our greatness but because God makes all things great.
You know, maybe we too should stop questioning our worthiness. Our smallness. In God’s eyes. And in everyone else’s. We should be more like Mary and understand that we are small but great in God’s eyes. Because small IS powerful!
When telling my good friend this past week about my sermon, she reminded me of a show that she and I have enjoyed sharing together in the past. Mike Rowe has a wonderful realty web series on Facebook called Returning the Favor. If you have never watched it, please Google the show and start. But be sure you have tissue because you will need it. Mike and his team scour the country looking for stories of folks doing nice things in their community in an unselfish way. In 2018, he found a gentleman and his family doing just that in Twin Falls Idaho.
One Christmas, Luke Michelson said he got irritated when his kids kept complaining about all the gifts they did not receive that year. He said he was having a sort of faith crisis and knew that somehow, he wanted to help those who were in need. Out of frustration, he went into his garage to build a bed out of the wood he had lying around as a part of a youth project in his community. After the bed was completed, he reached out to his church for help and the sheets, pillows and blankets started coming in!
After that, Mickelson and his family went on to build another 10 bunk beds. That was in 2012. And the charity was born. By 2013, with the help of friends and neighbors, they had constructed and delivered15 bunk beds, all built at Christmastime in Mickelson’s garage. And by 2018 they had made and delivered 600. “I can’t stand the thought of kids sleeping on the floor,” he said. And so, Sleep in Heavenly Peace was born. With their motto, No kids sleep on the floor in our town.
Michelson says that the beds are built with efficiency in mind, made for small places because most families in need live in tight quarters often times in the corner of a room.
The garage business is now a large non-profit with chapters in the Bahamas, Canada, Bermuda, and of course throughout the US. His dream was to have a chapter in every town and state and country.
So, when you leave church today, grab some tissue that we have in the Narthex and Google that story on the way home. The video features Luke and Mike delivering beds to three kids who were sleeping in a basement on blankets. Their excitement to get these beds with mattresses will make you cry.
And be sure to take your bulletins home and re-read these scriptures this week along with your daily meditations from Richard Rohr. We need to be reminded that our faith is serious business. God came and walked among us. He died for our salvation. And because he sees greatness in all of us, he expects greatness from us.
Like Mary, we can say yes, let it be with me according to your word, your promise. Like Nadia Bolz Weber, let us say yes, I am worthy. Like Luke Michelson, let us say because of our faith and our willingness, no one will suffer in our town.
And tonight, let us all say, “God has chosen me not for my greatness but for my willingness to believe.”
Sources
Bolz-Weber, Nadia. The Corners. “And the soul felt ________.” December 18, 2021.
Evans, Rachel Held. Wholehearted Faith. HarperOne, Nov. 2, 2021.
Rowe, Mike. Returning the Favor. Sleep in Heavenly Peace Facebook Page.
The Lectionary Lab. Two Bubbas and a Bible. Lectionary Lab Live PODCAST for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C. https: twobb.substack.com.
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