Behold the Love!
Luke 1:39-56
Micah 5: 1-5
This past Thursday, Eddie and I went over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house – to celebrate Christmas with his parents. Driving in Massachusetts is always a challenge to body, mind and spirit but is even more of an adventure during the holiday rush. It seemed as if everyone was out shopping or going somewhere extremely important and every intersection that we approached caused me to spend some time in prayer. (Eddie was driving)
There were four way intersections with lights – which tell you when to go and when to stop. There are four way intersections each with a stop sign - which leaves safe passage up to the courtesy and common sense of each driver. There is an infamous intersection with a warning sign that say “dangerous intersections ahead” and there are rotaries where drivers’ behavior within them still defies explanation.
There is an intersection in East Bridgewater that boggles my mind – and I always pray that we will get through it safely. It is a six way intersection –and as we sit and wait for our turn to get through – I marvel at the engineering job, including the crosswalks, the placement and timing of the signals that seem to be well planned so that every vehicle and every pedestrian can make their way through safely. On this particular trip – as we were sitting and waiting in long line of busy traffic – a pedestrian on the other side of the intersection just decided to step out and cross the street - without waiting for the green walk signal that would have given him permission to cross. He may have been talking on one of those blue tooth cell phones and he just stepped off the sidewalk into the traffic, passing over two of the main roads before safely getting to the other side. Fortunately other drivers were paying attention, had stopped in time and waited for the man to get to the other side. I am sure that he was so involved in his own conversation and not at all paying attention to the activity in the intersection - that he had no idea what had happened. It was a good reminder that you really need to stay alert, pay attention to the signs and signals while driving and walking.
The scripture lesson this morning, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, reminds us to be alert and to pay attention for the signs of God who is at work in our lives and in our world. This story from Luke tells us how the once separate lives of Elizabeth and Mary now intersect with each other in a new and wondrous way. It is the story of Elizabeth who is pregnant with John and Mary now pregnant with Jesus coming together – and it is about God who joins them and fills them with awe, with understanding, with insight and with joy. These two women of faith – who listen and pay attention for the signs of God’s presence - experience a moment of the holy that has been orchestrated by God’s amazing timing and purpose.
Mary had just been told by an angel that she would be expecting a child – the Son of God! In addition the angel told her that her cousin Elizabeth was expecting as well – and so Mary rushes off to see her - and at the moment of greeting – the moment where their lives touched – the baby within Elizabeth leapt for joy! And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out (in a loud voice)” blessed are you among woman and blessed is the child you will bear.” Something holy and sacred happened at that moment of greeting - at that intersecting moment – where both women knew that God was at work within them and within the world in a new way - in a way that would radically change the world.
And at that moment - no ordinary moment in time - Mary responds with a proclamation of joy…she is overwhelmed and her response just pours out of her.
“My Soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior”
“My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”
A magnifying glass reflects, enlarges or illumines that which you already have – and so Mary’s soul was magnifying the Lord whose presence was already within her and was working through her.
In this story God has used two seemingly ordinary people to be a part of a plan that would radically change the world. Two women – one older – one much younger – one the wife of a priest and the other a young Jewish girl – became a part of God’s plan. God has a tendency to do that – to work through the seemingly ordinary events and often unnoticed people in the world. There was no big birth announcement forthcoming from the Temple to prepare everyone for the birth of the Son of God and there would be no baby showers for these two women. God doesn’t work - the way the world thinks - God should work.
Remember the story of the burning bush? A story is told of a man who asked a rabbi, "Why did God speak to Moses from the thorn bush - shouldn’t he have spoken through a peal of thunder or from the top of a majestic mountain?” The rabbi answered, "To teach you that there is no place on Earth where God's glory is not, not even in a humble thorn bush."
God still works in unexpected places and in unexpected ways and when we are aware of them – when we are alert and paying attention to the extraordinary and unusual – we find ourselves in the midst of some very sacred moments. God continues to reach in and touch and work and heal and extend His most gracious love. These holy moments – these intersecting moments have different names and feelings. Sacred moments, moments of awe, liminal moments, threshold moments. Moments where the distance between heaven and earth seem as if they are not very far apart – or the space between them is very thin.
I have seen many of those sacred moments this week. I have been in those intersections and God has used those moments for healing, or reassurance, for deep peace and for comfort.
There were many hands that were busy knitting and crocheting prayer shawls that were lovingly made and brought here to church. There were hands and voices that prayed over those prayer shawls and then they were carried to people who were in crisis or in ill health. The shawls were wrapped around their shoulders while they were in the hospital, in nursing homes, in apartments or in their own homes and we joined hands and we prayed and God showed up and Behold – the love was there! The love of all those people and the work of their hands were all there at that moment in time and God’s presence was deeply felt – and there was a response – similar to Mary’s that magnified and reflected the love and deep comfort of God.
And then there was the intersection of hands and hearts that provided boxes and boxes of food and multitudes of Christmas presents through the Council of Churches. A major six-way intersection. Organizing hands, hands that collected food at Donelans, hands that gave food at Donelans. Hands that provided gifts, hands that sorted items, fireman’s hands that delivered the food – and God showed up and Behold the Love was there!
And then there was the intersection of the unknown. Hands that dialed the church needing help, hands that answered the phone to direct the help, hands that dialed the church offering to help – serve a meal, give away money, buy more toys, or clothes or prescriptions. And then there were hands that directed the gifts or delivered the gifts – and God showed up and Behold – the love was there!
God shows up.
God has come – God is here and God is coming again.
God showed up in the lives of two women long ago and it was a miraculous moment of love and joy and proclamation. Behold that Love! The work of God is not at all confined to this or any other house of worship - because God is out and about doing extraordinary work in small out of the way places – off the beaten path – like stables and inns – desert hills and fields – and in your lives as well. This is how God works.
We now move from all this waiting and all this preparing – to the arrival of the birth of Christ tonight. And the birth of Jesus did not occur in the some well constructed hospital surrounded by the best and most advanced medical team and equipment. No - the Son of God was born in a common stable surrounded by cows and sheep and chickens and bales of hay. This is how God works. It was a seemingly ordinary moment and place in time – but God had a different idea. Behold the Love of God - as the story of God’s involvement with humanity begins a new chapter. Immanuel God is with us.
And this is the good news – this is the healing message of Christmas – that God shows up in our ordinary moments - whether they are joyful moments or whether they are messy, stable moments when we are lonely or depressed - God shows up and loves us. Behold and feel this deep Love and God’s comforting presence.
Howard Thurman says that God makes these moments happen - these little moments of awe and wonder - when there is “a quiet release of fresh energy deep within the spirit - which pushes the ceiling of one’s hope higher and higher”.
“A quiet release of fresh energy deep within your spirit”
On this day and in this season of Christmas may the deep love of God creep in beside you and may you be strengthened and may you notice the release of fresh energy deep within your spirit and your soul. For this is how God works.
Emmanuel – God is with us.
Amen.
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