The Power of "With"

 

Based on Luke 1:26-38

            There is a lot to be amazed about in the story of the annunciation. As Gabriel appears before Mary and greets her, Mary is puzzled. She is puzzled over what the angel said, not that an angel was talking to her. If an angel appeared before me and started talking to me, I might find that in itself puzzling. For Mary, it seems that this is not the first time she has had a conversation with an angel. Amazing. It is amazing that it is Mary, a young virgin living in the little town of Nazareth that is approached by Gabriel rather than someone with more status and clout. She is just an ordinary young woman in an ordinary town. Yet, the archangel Gabriel comes to her to give her a message direct from God. Amazing.

            What I invite us to focus on is the first and last thing that Gabriel says to Mary. In particular, there is a word that Gabriel says that is a critical word. It is a word that reveals something about God: about how God acts in the world, about how God’s plan of salvation unfolds, about how God relates to Mary and to us.

            The first thing that Gabriel says to Mary is, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” The last statement that Gabriel makes before departing is, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” The word with is an important word. If Gabriel used a different word than “with”, this would have given a different meaning to the message.

            What if Gabriel said this: “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is for you.” And at the end, “Nothing will be impossible for God.” Can you tell the difference? By saying to Mary “the Lord is for you” is to mean something like God believes in you, supports you, is on your side. It is a vote of confidence in your abilities, what you are able to accomplish. In the same way, if Gabriel said “nothing will be impossible for God” this is a claim that God can do anything. Nothing is impossible for God to do. In either case, by using that word for implies that Mary and God are capable on their own to get things done. God supports Mary in whatever she wants to do. There is nothing that God can’t do.

            But Gabriel didn’t use the word “for.” Gabriel said to Mary “the Lord is with you.” Gabriel said, “nothing will be impossible with God.” That word “with” implies relationship. To say to Mary the Lord is with her is to say that God is her companion, by her side, in her corner. To say that nothing will be impossible with God is different than saying nothing will be impossible for God. To say nothing will be impossible with God is to make the claim that whatever you and God set out to do together, assuming it is God’s will since God would never do anything opposed to God’s will, whatever that is, even if the project or goal appears impossible, is not impossible because with God all things are possible. It reminds me of that passage in Philippians, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” While the word “for” implies support for someone or personal power and ability, the word “with” implies companionship and even partnership. This is an important understanding of who God is and how God relates to the world, to Mary, to us. If you wanted to boil down Gabriel’s message to Mary it is that God is coming alongside her and together something that seems impossible will happen. Mary, partnering with God, is going to advance God’s plan of salvation in an amazing way.

            A few years ago, I was at the State House participating in a protest over the continued killing of unarmed black men by the police. A number of speakers came forward one at a time to say what they wanted to say. After the speakers on the program had finished, one of the leaders came up to the mic and invited anyone else who wished to come forward and say what they need to say. But there was one rule. No one was to come up to the mic alone. They had to bring at least one person with them to stand by their side. She said, “No one is to stand up here alone.” I had never heard something like that before. It was a powerful symbol of how crying out for justice is not meant to be done solo. It is meant to be done together, people standing with each other, in that pursuit of justice.

            Who is your circle of friends? I remember doing this exercise once where we were asked to take out a piece of paper and draw a small rectangle in the center of the page with enough space where you could write no more than three names. We were then to write in that rectangle the names of those who we can turn to when we need support. It was an exercise that forced us to think about who were those few people who were in our closest circle, who are the ones we trust, respect, and love. Who are those few people who are in your inner circle? These are the ones who are not just for you, but are with you. No matter what is happening in your life, no matter the struggle, in good times and bad, these are the ones who will stand with you, no matter what. I do hope you have that small circle of friends who walk with you through life. That small circle of friends can be a lifeline sometimes. This is the power of “with.”

            And so, here is Mary being told by Gabriel that God is with her. God has come alongside her. This may explain why Mary was puzzled by these words, and maybe even a little scared. She may have thought to herself, “What does God want to do with me?” See, if God was with her, that may mean God has something for her to do. She knew the stories. She knew of God coming alongside Abraham and Sarah, Moses, David, and others. God was up to something, and of all people, God decided to come alongside her. What could that be? What is God up to and what is God going to be asking of me? I bet that’s part of what Mary was puzzling about.

            This can be a bit scary. Perhaps you have had that experience where you sensed God’s presence and began to get an inkling that God has something for you to do, a vision or a calling that God wants you to give yourself to. Or someone in your life has said something like, “God is with you and has plans for your life.” Who, me? What plans? This can stir up some puzzlement, some anxiety, even a little fear. What does this mean?

            Thankfully for Mary, Gabriel is fairly explicit about what God has for her to do. For those of us who have received the message that God has plans for us, they aren’t always clear at the beginning. Mary gets a pretty clear description. She is going to give birth to a son. She is to name him Jesus. That’s it in a nutshell. Mary responds with the question, “How can this be?” This is not a question of doubt. She takes what the angel is saying seriously. She accepts this is the assignment that God has for her. Her question is about logistics. She is a virgin and engaged to be married to Joseph. How is it that this baby she will give birth to will be called son of the most high instead of son of Joseph? She understands what she is supposed to do but unclear about how to do it. For any of us who have gotten a sense of what God wants us to do but with no provided plan from on high on how to accomplish it, we can relate to this question!

            That question Mary asks opens the door for Gabriel to speak of the Holy Spirit that will overshadow Mary. Ah, the mystery of the Spirit. I have discovered in my pursuit of living out God’s call on my life that it is often a mystery how this life I’m living will go. For those of us who sense an invitation from God to be engaged in the work that God is doing in the world, we need to be comfortable with ambiguity. There is a lot of mysterious Holy Spirit that overshadows partnering with God. That’s just the way it is, that the mystery of the Spirit makes things happen in amazing ways.

            After Gabriel explains that the Spirit will be active, will cause things to fall into place, will make the way where there seems to be no way, and then says that with God all things are possible, Mary exercises her agency. She first names out loud her dignity. I imagine with her head held high and her back straight, she says in the spirit of Isaiah who said, “Here am I, send me” Mary says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” With that statement, she places herself in the ranks of Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. She says out loud that she is one whom God has chosen for an important task in God’s ongoing plan of salvation.

            Then after claiming her dignity as a servant of God, she says “Let it be with me according to your word.” In other words, Mary says “yes” to God’s invitation. This is perhaps one of the most critical moments in the unfolding of God’s purposes. Mary was not forced. She consented to what God was asking her to do. I love that. In fact, love is at the heart of all of this. Remember how Paul wrote that love does not insist on its own way. God is love. So, God would not force Mary to do anything that she would not consent to. Mary, whose love for God is on display, says yes to the One who has given her an incredible role to play in the salvation of the world.

            One of the big themes at Christmas is Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” This means so many things. It means we are never alone. It means that God is always in our corner. It means that God is in a relationship with us, a love relationship. It also means that each of us have parts to play in God’s unfolding plan of salvation. God has chosen to partner with us. Who, me? Yes, you. That can be scary. Not always, but there are times when what we sense God is inviting us to do calls for a big change in what we do in our lives, how we spend our time, what gets prioritized. Sometimes what we sense God calling us to do is radical, and we wonder if we are up to the challenge. Often when we sense that call we start asking questions of logistics: where will I find the time? What resources do I need? Where do I start? While we long for the divine blueprint to drop from heaven we are reminded that partnering with God requires trust in the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit. And we are reminded that when we engage in pursuing the vision, the work that God has placed on our hearts and in our dreams, that with God nothing is impossible.

            God is with us, Emmanuel. God continues to extend to us an invitation to partner with God as God goes about the work of saving a world that needs saved. Today, we are reminded of the dignity, courage and trust of Mary. We can join Mary today and name our dignity as servants of God and to say with Mary, “Let it be with us according to Your word.”

 

Good News!

 

Based on Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

            I want to begin this message by asking you to take a second and think back to the good news you have received in your life. Anything come to mind? I remember one time when I was at the church in my office when the phone rang. I answered and it was my wife, Kim. She shared with me the news that she was pregnant! I hung up the phone, ran out of the church and across the yard to the parsonage, and bounded into the house to give her a big hug. What great news! What is your good news? Maybe it was something like when your daughter’s boyfriend came over to the house one evening to ask for your blessing to marry your daughter. Or it was your son opening the letter from Ohio State to learn that he had been accepted to attend school there. We get all kinds of good news throughout our lives.

            When we get good news, it gives us a jolt of energy, of excitement, and especially stirs within us a great sense of anticipation. As I embraced Kim and then we sat down and talked about this good news we began to anticipate holding our newborn baby. Giving your blessing to your daughter’s boyfriend, you anticipate the wedding and walking your daughter down the aisle. As you celebrate with your son you anticipate watching your son walk across the stage to receive his diploma in four short years. Good news prompts us to anticipate something good that will come in due time. It lifts our spirits and make us feel excited about the future.

            Good news also moves us into action. After Kim and I knew that she was pregnant and we spent a few moments reveling in the joy, we started thinking about all we have to do to get ready. Kim, the master of lists, was already working out in her head a list of all the things that would need doing. There would be a doctor’s appointment to schedule, a nursery to set up, a baby shower to plan and birth announcements that would need ordered. Now that your daughter and her boyfriend are engaged, there is a wedding to plan. Now that your son has been accepted to attend Ohio State, you now have to plan how to help get that education paid for and get your son moved out of the house and into his dorm. Good news, that stirs in us joyful excitement and anticipation of what is to come also motivates us to plan and get to work, to do the things that need to be done so that the anticipated birth, wedding, matriculation, whatever that anticipated event, can happen, that we will be ready to receive that anticipated event. Excitement, anticipation, action, this is what emerges from the announcement of good news.

            In the scripture reading for today we hear the prophet proclaiming good news to the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the captives. What does he say? “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” God is about to do something. The people, who were enduring a time of great struggle and suffering, were once again going to experience God’s deliverance. The prelude to that deliverance is the prophet who proclaims good news.

            As the good news is announced, the people are filled with excitement. Their spirits are uplifted. They anticipate the exchange of ashes for garlands, the exchange of mourning for the oil of gladness. They anticipate the heaviness of their burdens and suffering to be lifted and for their lives to be better. They anticipate better days ahead.

            And with that anticipation comes motivation. The people start planning, start organizing, gearing themselves up for the real work of building up the ancient ruins, raising up the former devestations, repairing the ruined cities and the devestations of many generations. As they anticipate the time of recovery, of renewal, of restoration, that God is about to commence, they are motivated to action. They know that the restoration doesn’t happen by magic. It takes a lot of work. But it is hope-filled work as they anticipate, assured by God’s power, that the restoration will come to pass in due time. It is the proclamation of good news that initiates this move, from excitement, to anticipation, to action.

            We could use some good news these days. There hasn’t been a lot of good news this past year. In fact, it has been a steady stream of bad news. It sometimes has been so constant that we find ourselves numbed to it. There is a new term that has come into vogue lately: doom scrolling, which typically is referring to those who scroll through their Twitter feed looking at one outrage after another. It seems sometimes that we couldn’t go one day without some kind of bad news. It hasn’t been all gloom and doom. But, honestly, the bad news has been unrelenting.

            That hoped for vaccine that will help us get a handle on this virus has been developed and is beginning to be distributed, and that is good news indeed! I suspect that if we collectively weren’t already exhausted and numbed by everything that has happened this year we would be expressing more excitement and joy about that. It really is amazing how quickly the vaccine has been developed. With this vaccine we anticipate finally getting the virus under control. And we are motivated to action. Lots of planning has already been taking place, work has been underway in anticipation of the release of the vaccine. The protocol of who will get the vaccine has been determined. The logistics of distribution are worked out. The plans are going into action. We now wait to be alerted when we can go get our vaccination. Good news!

            We can anticipate a lot of good news in the year ahead. As we move into 2021, we will hear good news about case numbers and hospitalizations going down. We will hear the good news that mask mandates are being lifted. We will hear the good news that we can start having concerts and festivals again. There is going to be so much good news in the year to come. And this will fill us with anticipation that we will have the pandemic behind us. Good news! And as we anticipate that time post pandemic, we are motivated to action. The work of recovering from what this pandemic has inflicted on us will be extensive. The economic damage and the emotional harm is great. It is sort of like after the 9/11 attack. We have entered a new world. We won’t really go back to the way things were in February of 2020. We have seen more clearly how fragile our society is, how out of whack it is. The politicization of dealing with this pandemic has torn at the fabric of our society. It seems we are living in two different realities. We all have a lot of work to do, to offer our small contribution to the great project of recovery.

            Here’s some more good news. God is still with us. God has been with us all through these past months and God will continue to be with us in the months and years to come. We are still a functioning church. We have each other. The Free Store and the food pantry are still here, still tending to the physical needs of our community. They never stopped. We still are part of a community full of people who are caring, generous, and committed to making things better. We are not out of the woods yet, but the good news is that God is with us and we are still here! We anticipate that God will always be with us and that the church will always be present. This calls us to hopeful action, to keep living out our discipleship in the ways we can as we respond to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our neighbors. Excitement, anticipation, action.

            The year to come will be a year of recovery. As we continue our journey through Advent, as we celebrate the birth of the Christ, and as we then move into the new year, my invitation is that we proclaim good news. May the Spirit inspire each of us to be proclaimers of good news. The good news we proclaim is not based only on the vaccine. Our good news is based on our faith and hope we have in the power of God. We proclaim the good news that God is engaged in the work of renewal and restoration. We proclaim the good news that with God we have a future with hope. With the power of God we will, in our lifetime and in the generations to come, engage in the work of building up the ancient ruins, raising up the former devestations, repairing the ruined cities, the devestations of many generations. Our God will see to it that this happens. Good news!

 

Passing Through the Wilderness

 

Based on Mark 1:1-8

            One thing you can say about Mark, his gospel is laser focused. Matthew and Luke have at the beginning of their gospels the stories of Jesus’ birth, including Jesus’ lineage all the way back to Abraham and Adam. John’s gospel starts with a poetic introduction reflecting on the mystery of the incarnation. But Mark has none of that. He isn’t worried about providing a back story or filling in the gaps. He drills down to the essence of the gospel. Details are at the bare minimum. He uses as few words as possible. No fluff in Mark’s gospel. He gives it to us straight.

            He starts with the opening statement, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And then Mark goes straight to prophecy. He says the prophecy is from Isaiah but in fact the prophecy he quotes begins from Malachi. In Malachi 3:1 we read, “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me.” Then, in Isaiah 40:3 we find, “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.’” These prophecies speak of preparing the way for God who is passing through the wilderness. The wilderness is a sacred place. Moses encountered God in the wilderness in the form of a burning bush. Elijah saw God in the wilderness. Israel was led out of Egypt by way of the wilderness, where they saw God in the form of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God is found in the wilderness. These prophecies call those who find themselves in the wilderness to prepare the way because God will be passing through. That’s how Mark starts his gospel.

            Mark then shows how these prophecies from Malachi and Isaiah are being fulfilled by John. Out in the wilderness we find John. How does he fulfill the prophecy of preparing the way of the Lord? He does it by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. There is something about this ritual act of confessing, repenting, and then marking that with baptism in water that links with the prophetic call to make a way in the wilderness for the coming of the Lord. Confession, repentance, ritual washing, all has something to do with preparation, of straightening the path upon which God will walk. We could pause right now and reflect on what this means. In these brief sentences Mark has opened up something deep and profound. But Mark doesn’t linger in his telling. He leaves it to others to take the time to read these words slowly and ponder the meaning. He has a gospel to proclaim. He rushes on to tell of how all the people who live in the country and in the city of Jerusalem come to John to receive that baptism. He describes John in a way that would cause people to associate him with Elijah, who was also described as one who was hairy and wore a leather belt. Then he recounts what John said about the one who is coming after him who is so much greater and who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  All in eight verses. Again, there is a lot there in a few words. Mark’s gospel narrative is like a bullion cube.

            Now, here is where it gets interesting. Why was everyone going out to John anyway? What was going on in those days that motivated so many people to make the journey out into the wilderness so they could confess their sins, repent and be baptized by John as a ritual act of purification? It must have been a time of crisis. There must have been a sense that everything was out of whack. Things needed to change. There was a collective sense of a need to confess the mess that the people were in, the desire to repent, to choose a different direction, and to collectively start fresh. There was a collective sense of the need to get back to basics, to come back to God, to straighten things out and set a new course.

            Those were hard times. Israel was under foreign occupation, again, this time under the boot of the Roman empire. Many looked on the religious leaders and the whole system built around the temple in Jerusalem as corrupt. Things were bad. Many were longing for a messiah to be sent from God to fix things. We talked about that some last week. The status quo was terrible. Things had to change. The people were looking for something they couldn’t find in the religious system of the day, the sacrificial system based at the Temple.

            And that leads to the other interesting thing: why was John in the wilderness and not in Jerusalem? The obvious answer is because John is fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi and Isaiah. But there may be more to it than that. There is something about the wilderness that Mark is really stressing as he begins the telling of the gospel. I already shared a bit about what makes the wilderness special. It is sacred land. It is where people encounter God. And not just God. If we continued reading Mark’s gospel we will read how Jesus was sent into the wilderness by the Spirit of God where he was tempted by Satan, lived with the wild beasts and had angels waiting on him. Yes, the wilderness is a sacred place, a wild place, very different from the city. This may be where Mark is going with his early emphasis on wilderness and on all the people going out of the city into the wilderness to receive that baptism. The people were being drawn out of the city, a city that was corrupt and oppressive. You could almost say that what Mark is setting up is a new exodus. John is that voice in the wilderness calling the people to come out of the place of their oppression and to prepare for a journey toward freedom led by one whose sandals John is unworthy to untie. There is something about this gospel that calls for a journey through the wilderness, a new exodus from what was toward what is to be.

            What does all this have to do with us? The gospel of Mark was spoken into a specific context, of first century Palestine under Roman occupation and with a corrupt political and religious system. We live in a different time and place. We have a different history. Is there something about how Mark begins his gospel that can speak to us in our context?

            We are certainly in a time of crisis. Like I shared last week, we are in such a mess that maybe we can relate to the word of the prophet who pleaded for God to rip open the sky and come down to fix the mess. I don’t need to give you the litany of the crisis upon crisis we are facing. All I want to say about it is that we are in a big mess and it is the cumulative affect of our actions as a whole that has us where we are. There is not one person or group of people to blame. It is counter productive to try to determine who is at fault when the fact is that we are where we are today because of decisions and actions that have been carried out for decades and decades. The damage has been done. We are in the mess. There is no escaping it.

            How are we to respond to the mess we find ourselves in? We already know trying to identify who to scapegoat is a waste of time and counterproductive. Denying the reality of our current crisis is irresponsible. We have to respond to the mess we find ourselves in, but how?

            We begin with the example given to us in Mark 1:4-5. We give ourselves the space we need to honestly confess what we have done individually and collectively. How have we harmed the planet? How have we propped up white supremacy and systemic racism? How have we contributed to the vicious divisiveness in our politics?

            From confession, we move to repentance. To repent is to change your mind, to change the way you live, to do life differently. If we want to see a change in this messed up world for the better, then we have to change how we live in it. That is what repentance is about, consciously choosing to live a different way. For us, that always means consciously choosing to live our lives guided by the example and teachings of Jesus.

            Then we move to baptism. By baptism, I’m talking about the baptism that John provided. This was a ritual cleansing, a tangible act marking a clean slate, a fresh start, a new beginning. For us, we can simulate that by coming to the baptismal waters when we renew our baptismal vows. We touch the water and remember that we are baptized. Maybe there is something else you can do to symbolically mark your intention to live your life differently, more fully aligned with the way of Jesus. What could you do? I’m giving you the invitation. If, as part of your Advent preparations, you give yourself space to name your confession and make your commitment to repent, to live differently moving forward, how can you mark that commitment? How might you use water to ritually mark your intention to live differently with a clean slate?

            In Mark’s gospel, the people were preparing in the wilderness for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to come. John the baptizer was leading the way in preparing the way for the Lord. Well, Jesus has already come. We are following Jesus on a journey right now. It is a journey of exodus, of leaving behind what was and moving toward what is promised to be. We are on a journey to freedom, freedom from the powers of sin and death toward a community infused with light, life, love and beauty. Jesus is leading us toward that promised land.

            But right now, we are in the wilderness. This journey to freedom that Jesus is leading us on goes through the wilderness. The wilderness is a sacred place. According to Mark 1:13 the wilderness is where we are tempted by Satan, live with wild beasts and are waited on by angels. The wilderness is a space that is, well, wild. There are dangers and possibilities. There are no maps in the wilderness. And this is where we are. This is where Jesus is leading us now. Or, at least, this is where Jesus is trying to lead us. To follow, we first have to prepare the way by confessing, repenting, and then claiming a fresh start. The choice to prepare and follow is yours to make.