The best, most faithful sermons are not those that tell you what to do, nor are they the ones that make you feel bad about who you are or what you have done in the past. Though these things can certainly happen in a good sermon, the best sermons, and the most faithful sermons, are those that preach God’s promises to you.
Considering that we thought 2020 could not get any worse with the pandemic, and the struggles to keep afloat monetarily, and the political strife, and the loneliness, and the depression, and our children losing so many things; we had a cherry added to top off this wondrous ice cream sundae of a year. A massive snowstorm hit and the shoveling of feet of snow ensued. Let us just say that for a variety of reasons, we could all use some great preaching right about now.
Just in case you were under the mistaken assumption that the great preaching was going to come from me, I have some bad news for you; I need to hear these promises just as much as you. I too have struggled as of late, encountering unexpected and strong bouts of grief as I drive to work, struggling with getting the kids to sit and learn in front of a screen for hours, and suffering the same over-all exhaustion that I know all of you feel in your bones and your muscles.
Instead, the great preaching that I have promised will come directly from the Bible. After-all, the Bible is our book of promises. It is the written word of God, and it has the power to shape us. It contains the story of Jesus Christ, which has the power to save us. It is the manger that bears the Christ child to us. And, that story of salvation begins with some amazing words from a heavenly being.
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you,” the angel Gabriel says to the young woman, Mary. And, though the words seem like standard angel speak, these words are actually quite amazing.
You see, the angel has been sent by God to Mary, a young woman who has no reason to think that she is favored. She is not royal. She is not rich. She does not have the wisdom of the years. She is nobody.
One of my favorite paintings of the angel’s encounter with Mary shows this young teen meekly huddled on a bench in the corner of a bare, humble room, with the light of the angel shining on her. The power of the painting comes from that heavenly light. It shines on her poor, unimportant soul. We see that God has sent a messenger to the middle of nowhere, to shine on a nobody, because to God, this young woman is anything but a nobody. Rather, she is God’s “favored one.”
Unbelievably, God makes lonely teens “favored ones.” Yes, God steps into bare houses and bare lives and brings the message, “the Lord is with you.”
I do not care how out of touch with the rest of the world you feel right now (whether you are quarantined away, or hiding because of an embarrassing sin, or left with the impossible emptiness that comes from this year of disappointment and death), I am here to tell you that the Lord is with you. Even in the corner of a cold, bare room, the Lord is with you, and the Lord brings good news.
Oh, how we need some good news. How we yearn to hear that all we have right now in this life is not the best there is. Not even close. Preach to us, we need to hear it!
But, here is the thing with good news such as that: though the news that God provides is indeed very, very good, that does not mean that the news is easy. Mary’s good news involves the very real pain and blood of childbirth. It involves the complications of being pregnant in a situation that does not look moral. After-all, she is an engaged woman who is pregnant with a child under mysterious and apparently scandalous circumstances. Mary’s good news involves the struggles and pain of nursing. It involves the fears and expectations that come with raising the Son of the Most High, the future king.
And, her good news comes at a time in life when a young woman such as she probably does not even have her own life under control. Unknown to Mary, the story of good news involves seeing your son die in a horrible death. Children are not supposed to die before parents!
It involves taking a path in life that was never planned or anticipated. It involves fear, and questioning, and pondering. As I said, sometimes the news that God provides is very, very good, but that does not mean it will be easy.
Standing in a cold, bare room, alone with a mysterious and unexpected heavenly guest present, facing an uncertain future with an enormous amount of responsibility and an unprecedented amount of fear, Mary says what I could not say...what I cannot say.
And, this is where Mary preaches to me. Because, when the enormity of life overtakes everything and it threatens to leave you buried under several feet of life’s snow...and several feet of literal, very real snow, I need to hear some words of promise.
However, the temptation is that when life’s weight becomes enormous and the future is stuffed full of mystery and fear, it is easy to retreat. It is easy to retreat into some comfort food, or some strong drink, or the office away from others, or the woods away from the world, or the certainty that comes when you seek to be in control and allow hatred to spread, or into the arms of the wrong person, or the whatever or whoever that your place of retreat looks like. It is easy to retreat from it all.
Mary could have retreated. Instead, she says the words that are hard to force out of our own lips. And, in doing so, she gives me hope that God might bring me to that point one of these days also. She declares, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
In other words, “Here I am, your will be done.”
She says it, because no matter the fear, or uncertainty, or questioning she has clung to the sermon preached to her at the very start, “The Lord is with you.”
“The Lord is with you Mary.”
“The Lord is with you people of God.”
“The Lord is with you, and nothing is impossible with God.”
Through all of the difficulty, the Lord is with you. Through all of the uncertainty and questioning, the Lord is with you. Through all of the struggle of the days to come, the Lord is with you. After-all, don’t you realize that you are favored by God?
I am not quite there myself though. So, I will let Mary preach it to me. I will repeat Mary’s response to the angel of God, “Here I am, your will be done.” I will repeat Mary’s sermon to us. “Here I am, your will be done.” I will repeat it over and over again, “Here I am, your will be done,” until I am convinced that it is true, because it is.
We are favored, no matter our background. This Lord of forgiveness and grace is with us, no matter our circumstances. And, no matter how much we fear the future, we know that the Lord will bring us through it, according to the Lord’s word.
“Here I am, your will be done.” “Here I am, your will be done.” “Here I am, your will be done.” One of these days, the Lord will allow me to believe it. After-all, it is a great sermon.
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