December 24, 2006 Sermon
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Sermon (12/24/06)
Fourth Sunday of Advent—Year C
Gary Sanford San Angelo, TX
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit Amen
Every year we hear complaints about how commercial Christmas has become. Sales abound and we hear daily reports on how profitable the season is for merchants. Favorite carols—and, oh how I love those old, traditional Christmas carols— are rewritten to sell merchandise and services. I even heard “Good King Wenceslas” used by the Texas Department of Transportation to warn about drunk driving. The words were changed, but the melody was the same…and somehow that just does not seem right. Yet, even with all of the commercialism there still seems to be a spirit present that somehow reaches through all of that. There is an undeniable feeling of good will and forgiveness that seems to effect even the ‘scroogiest’ of us. A feeling of love and good will that manages to sift through all of the hustle and bustle, the stress and distress of finding ‘that perfect gift.’ It is a time to remember family and friends, a time to eat too much candy and turkey and ham, offset by the promise to diet for all of the next year. A promise that I never manage to keep.
This morning we are celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Christmas is not yet here…Jesus had not been born yet. But there is a feeling of great expectancy, expectancy that we have reveled in for the past four weeks. We know that the light of the world is about to make his entrance. A birth not to well known affluent parents, but to a teenage girl and her struggling carpenter husband. Not in a warm comfortable home, but in a dark stable on a cold winter night. An entrance not into a world of comfort and luxury, but to a life of pain and suffering. Not as a ruler, but as a servant to all. We know all of this because it has already happened, it happened over 2000 years ago. Yet, every year it happens again. Every year we eagerly anticipate the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior as if it were just happening, an offering to us of God’s all abiding love.
Our Gospel lesson this morning speaks to Mary’s visit with Elizabeth. It addresses the ancient longings for redemption and security fulfilled in the story of Elizabeth and Mary—a story of hope and joy, a story of two impossibly pregnant women. Mary a poor, unknown girl from an unimportant family not yet married and Elizabeth the barren wife of an ageing priest. In this lesson we see the wonder, excitement and joy these two women share in the expectancy of these coming births. Both know that they have been given a gift from God, that the lives growing in them will change the world forever. What joy and eager anticipation they must have experienced in this mysterious miracle. Anticipation we can only marvel at as we celebrate these weeks of Advent.
My soul
proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant
From this day
all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
The Song of Mary, or as it is known in the Latin, Magnificat, is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible—it speaks to that great expectancy, it speaks to the gratitude and love that Mary had for our God. It proclaims the coming of our Lord and Savior and foretells the future. Our Gospel reading this morning rejoices in the marvelous mystery that is our faith and the love of our Father—a love greater than any other, a love beyond our meager understanding.
As your deacon, I’m supposed to stand up here and tell you to go out into the world and serve the weak, the poor, the sick and infirm, to remember those who are alone and suffering. But not today, you know what God wants you to do. Today I’m going to tell you to offer praise to God for the blessings He has given you. To receive with an open heart the love that He has given to you through the gift of His Son and to share that love with others. I’m going to ask you to ignore the commercialism of the season (it is good for the economy, though) and experience the love that is in the air instead.
The Rev. John Shearman, a Lectionary Analyst from Oakville, ON, Canada wrote for Christmas 2003 the poem:
WHO IS HE?
It was a stone
manger,
That place where he lay;
Not a fine
oaken cradle,
But a box filled with hay.
His mother
sang to him
Suckling her breast,
While
shepherds came kneeling
At angels behest.
Is this the
Messiah?
Not a king, but a child?
Just like our
children
In a world just as wild.
Does God
really want us
To follow this boy?
Can he be the
Savior
Who has not one toy?
The hopes of
the world,
Invested in pain,
Will not bring
another;
There's nothing to gain
In pining and searching,
In warring and strife;
For God's gift
of love
Came in that helpless life.
It is the season of forgiveness, let there be peace on earth and good will to all.
Glory to the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…Amen.
Copyright © 2003 Emmanuel Episcopal Church. All rights reserved.
Revised: 01/16/07