Sermon for Compass Christian Church of Mason, Ohio
Sunday, December 3, 2023 – Advent 1
Advent Theme: Be Born In Us Today: Bringing Blessing
The Installation Service for the Rev. Beckie Linn Gregory, Pastor
Scriptures: Luke 1:39-56
By The Rev. Allen V. Harris, Regional Minister, Christian Church in Ohio (Disciples Of Christ)
You can view/listen to this sermon at https://youtu.be/nte2IIrpdbI?feature=shared. The sermon begins at about 24:10
From the first words of Holy Scripture to the last, and throughout the subsequent history of the people of God, the promises of the Divine are of an abundant life filled with blessings overflowing. To the first humans in the garden, to an enslaved peoples yearning for freedom, to a broken and exiled population needing comfort and wisdom, and – of course – to a young man and young woman betrothed while living under the control of an empire, God’s blessings are poured out like a fresh rain on a parched and dry land, like healing balm on a aching wound, like supportive words for a weary soul.
But you do not have to read very far into any one of these stories, or more deeply into any person or situation in the life of people of faith, before things start to get complex, a little bit ambiguous, before they seem to fall apart, before they become utterly chaotic. And the story of the young woman, Mary, and her intended fiancé, Joseph is not only no different than many of our lives, but a perfect example of how God’s bringing blessing most likely will cause chaos in our lives. Well, the cause and effect here might be debatable, whether it is our inability to care for and respond appropriately to the blessings of God or whether or not God’s blessings are just so wondrous, so plentiful, so complex they simply naturally result in turmoil, confusion, and challenges.
The story of the young woman, Mary, and her intended fiancé, Joseph is not only no different than many of our lives, but a perfect example of how God’s bringing blessing most likely will cause chaos in our lives.
Much has been made about the words of the angel Gabriel to the engaged Mary came to a person who was faithful but very young, part of a conquered peoples and a minority religion in the midst of a huge empire which cared very little for the individual and everything about the wealthiest ones in power, about a person who was living in poverty and on the margins of life. She was a perfect person to need the abundant blessings of God. I suspect the blessings Mary most needed were of a financial stability, a living wage job for her fiancé, Joseph, a safe and secure home back in Bethlehem, an assurance of good health and adequate health care for her and her baby all her days, or a world without war or famine. Those would be blessings that quite likely were on the heart of Mary. They might be on the heart of any parent bringing new life into this world in any point in history.
But perhaps she was not quite as prepared for the blessings of God to come to her in THIS way, in the form of a divine visitation with unexpected news, a blessing in the form of an unplanned pregnancy before she was married, a blessing in the form of being chosen to bear the savior of the world, the messiah, Emmanuel, God-with-us, a blessing in the form of living a life on the run in fear of the deadly retribution of some of the most powerful religious and political leaders of her world. There were many, many blessings Mary might have longed for, but it is hard for me to imagine these “blessings” were among them… at least at the beginning of the story.
Mary, in what has become known as “The Magnificat,” recasts the news that might have destroyed her into a proclamation of transformation, for herself and for the world.
But then again, maybe I am underestimating Mary. I say this not to diminish the challenges of the news of becoming pregnant with Jesus, but in recognition of her response which clearly does not illustrate her victimhood, but her empowerment. Mary, in what has become known as “The Magnificat,” recasts the news that might have destroyed her into a proclamation of transformation, for herself and for the world. Hear this inclusive version of these familiar and beloved words:
My soul proclaims your greatness, O God! My heart rejoices in you, my Savior,
because you have showered your servant with blessing! From now to the end of time, all generations will know the great things you have done for me.
Mighty One! Your name is holy! In every age, your compassion flows to those who reverence you! But all who seek to exalt themselves in arrogance will be leveled by your power.
You have deposed the mighty from their seats of power, and have raised the lowly to high places. Those who suffer hunger, you have filled with good things. Those who are privileged, you have turned away empty-handed.
You have come to the aid of your people, in fulfillment of the promise you made to our ancestors when you spoke blessing to Sarah and Hagar and all their descendants, to the utmost generation!1
Yes, the blessings of God are abundant, far more abundant than we usually give God credit for, but they also bring complexity, challenges, and chaos into our lives. But Mary doesn’t simply “get it,” she names it with exquisite clarity and painful honesty. The question is therefore not whether or not an abundant life is also chaotic, but rather how we will understand and respond to that chaos. Will we let it sour us to all of life? Will we let it diminish our faith in God? Will we let it twist the way we view and live in the world? (Confession: I have responded in all of those ways!) Or will we live into the chaos of life that results from the blessings of God in such a way that it will improve our lives and the lives of those around us.
The question is therefore not whether or not an abundant life is also chaotic, but rather how we will understand and respond to that chaos. Will we let it sour us to all of life? Will we let it diminish our faith in God?
But I want to dwell on a particular point of the Magnificat for just a moment, and that is how Mary named the chaos of life in such a way that it called for the betterment of the world around her and not just for herself individually: lifting up the lowly, feeding the hungry, giving power to the powerless, for example. There are many in our world, and throughout all of human history, who dwell on the negativity, twist the news and the storyline to emphasize all the bad things that will happen, who can only envision the direst of consequences. This way of viewing the world is rampant right now, and Mary’s song of transformation stands in stark contrast to all the naysayers and doomsday prophets around us.
I will just point out here without too much commentary that many mainline Protestant congregations that choose true blessings also experience those who decry these blessings as tragedies. There are those in our churches who leave sharing fairly loudly their negative dire predictions as certainties and failures of the institution. We have our faults and failures, surely, but there is another way to read this. When the first woman was called as pastor or elder, when the church started a homeless shelter in the fellowship hall, when the congregation voted to become Open & Affirming, when projected worship slides or bands and alternative music were introduced to worship, when the pastor preached a sermon linking faith and the political world around us, when we were forced by a global pandemic to livestream worship and offer online giving options… Each of these, and so many others, have been named as the reason for the decline of the church, Disciples of Christ in particular. My entire ministry has been in large part to claim these tools as blessings of God that can bring chaos but, if used well, will transform the church and save Christianity.
What’s vital to note is that Mary doesn’t interpret the chaos of life in terms of maximizing her own gain but rather to improve the lives of those who are marginalized, oppressed, living day-to-day, hand-to-mouth. Her vision of the chaos to come is neither bitter and negative nor selfish and self-serving but she imagines the transformation of creation itself. Like Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1–10 generations before her, Mary translates that which could destroy her into that which will save us all. Thanks be to God for Mary’s vision!
What’s vital to note is that Mary doesn’t interpret the chaos of life in terms of maximizing her own gain but rather to improve the lives of those who are marginalized, oppressed, living day-to-day, hand-to-mouth
Many who have left the church naming this or that blessing as the cause for all the chaos in life have done so, in my humble opinion, because they could not realize this vision of how God’s challenging blessings might transform the world around us but, rather, only how it impinged upon their own personal lives. When our vision of what is happening is built solely on whether or not *I* like it, whether or not it fits only what *I* believe, whether or not it serves *me* and my needs, then of course we think it will be bad news and not blessings. But if we have “Mary-vision,” we might be able to look beyond ourselves and see that while the blessings might inconvenience me, might make my life more complicated, might challenge my world, it could be for the reformation of the larger institution, perhaps even the salvation of the world.
But if we have “Mary-vision,” we might be able to look beyond ourselves and see that while the blessings might inconvenience me, might make my life more complicated, might challenge my world, it could be for the reformation of the larger institution, perhaps even the salvation of the world.
And without making too much of a leap, this is what is at hand for all of our communities of faith in our day and age, as well as for Compass Christian Church as you begin a new chapter with your new settled Pastor, Rev. Beckie Linn Gregory. The world around us is in chaos by anyone’s definition. Wars and ancient rivalries leading to holding hostage men, women, and children and the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent human beings. Political corruption and complete distrust in our governmental, social, medical, educational and religious institutions. Global warming that is becoming catastrophic on a daily basis. Laws are being passed on federal, state, and local levels that roll back and decimate decades of civil rights and human rights work. And the church, faith communities, are being abandoned by new generations at an epic rate as we are seen as irrelevant, hypocritical, backward, and self-absorbed.
Somehow, we have made gods of comfort, complacency, and familiarity, rather than reminding ourselves that the Christ we follow was the suffering servant. How we got to this place I will never know.
Your choice, my friends, is whether or not you are willing to take the blessing that is at hand in the installation of a new settled pastor and the chaos that is sure to come and understand it as curse or blessing. You will be challenged with her new ideas (yes, MORE new ideas), her unique gifts, graces, skills, and passions that will be ignited in a new way, and the wonderful and compelling chemistry that will certainly happen between her and you in the coming days. My prayer is that you, like Mary and so many other deeply faithful people of God, will claim the blessings and the challenges they present and live into them for the transformation of the church, the community around you, and, indeed, the world.
But you cannot make this a selfish endeavor. Let me tell you the hardest truth a Regional Minister can name: Claiming the blessings of God and fully and faithfully living into the chaos of life for the transformation of the world may not save your beloved congregation. You simply cannot go into this maelstrom of chaotic blessings with the singular goal of surviving. That is not how faith works and that is not how church was ever meant to be. Mary did not sing to God: please let me live through this! She simply sought for her soul to magnify God and for her soul to rejoice in her savior and in doing that to allow herself to serve God unconditionally.
My beloved Compass Christian Church of Mason, Ohio, our task today in installing your new pastor, the Rev. Beckie Linn Gregory, is not to be done in order to save the church. What we do here is to give praise to God and to rejoice in our Savior and to serve God and God’s people unconditionally in ministry, mission, witness, and service for the transformation of the world. And if we live, we will give thanks to God, and if we die, we will still give thanks to God. It will be in our living fully that we will truly receive the blessings of God born in us regardless of the chaos that might ensue. My prayer is that we might we will live faithfully this day and every day with the blessings AND the chaos that come.
Amen.
1 Inclusive Language, The Magnificat by Deacon Richard, St. Paschal’s Babylon on June 29, 2022, found online at: https://www.stpascals.org/blog/deacon-s-blog/inclusive-language-the-magnificat
For another interesting read on an inclusive version of the Magnificat, I recommend Reading Mary’s Magnificat as an Ode to Reproductive Justice By Andrea Corso Johnson, Feminist Studies in Religion, found online at: https://www.fsrinc.org/reading-marys-magnificat-as-an-ode-to-reproductive-justice/#:~:text=The%20Magnificat%20centers%20the%20experience,of%20her%20family%20to%20come.
Living Thoughtfully & Loving Meaningfully 