Advent 4 - December 21 The Rev. Diane Livingston, Interim Chaplain and Deacon Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, Mississippi Finally today we light the fourth candle of Advent! When our children were growing up and we kept the tradition of lighting our family Advent wreath, this was always an exciting day because depending on the year, Christmas would be anywhere from 1 to 7 days away and our children knew that the next candle to be lit would be the Christ candle on Christmas Eve night. For those of you following the lectionary this Advent you have heard the progression of scripture from the anxiety and anticipation of the end of time to the fiery pronouncements of judgment from John the Baptist last week up to today and now the mystery of the Incarnation. Today's readings focus on the fulfillment of God's promises as foretold by the prophets and as exemplified in the Gospel story of Mary and Elizabeth. One thing alone can be truly pleasing to God, and that is obedience - the effort to perform God's will. Jesus Christ comes into the world to do this. His life replaces the outmoded sacrificial law such as burnt offerings mentioned in the Hebrews reading. Thus our Gospel reading has us look specifically at the events that set the stage for the One who will offer himself for the whole world. Our story today has Mary coming to visit Elizabeth and this would have occurred shortly after the angel Gabriel had told Mary that she would bear a son to be called the "Son of the Most High." When Mary questioned how this could happen since she was a virgin, Gabriel quoted God's same words to Sarah (in Genesis): "For nothing will be impossible with God." Personally I am always glad that Mary and Elizabeth could be together as there certainly must have been comfort for the two women to spend time together and talk about their pregnancies and share their dreams and concerns and I imagine that they were a great support to one another. When Mary responds to Elizabeth with the words that we call the Magnificat, we see clearly that Mary is a model of faith - she is one who believed what the Lord told her and acted in obedience. The anticipation of a child's birth is an event unparalleled to anything. Think of waiting for a baby to come that you have experienced - maybe within your family through your sister, mother, wife or your own child (there are a couple of families in our parish now awaiting grandchildren's births), or maybe a co-worker, or someone in the church family. We find ourselves praying for the parents-to-be and the baby. In a church where I worshiped in another community, there were not any babies - all of the children were school aged and older and when one of the members became pregnant the whole church became very involved. The anticipation of the birth impacted every member of the parish. Ideally that is how all births should be! Rightly we recognize Mary as the amazing young woman who said yes to God. In her response in faith, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is first among the saints of the church. She was open and vulnerable to the unexpected - to the coming of the Lord. She and Elizabeth were most unlikely to become pregnant, the one a devout young woman engaged to be married, and the other barren and past the age of childbearing. They bore the unexpected fruit because their ears were open to the message. This morning I would like for you to bring Mary very close to you - I would like you to be pregnant with Mary. For you men - I am not thinking about the Arnold Schwartzennager movie when he became pregnant! Seriously I invite you to think about hearing God ask you to do something or be something that is needed in wherever community you are - your family, your office, your classroom, Church of the Resurrection, Starkville, the Diocese of Mississippi or even the world. After all, we are called to imitate Jesus and to go through our lives embracing everything, not avoiding the difficult or confusing things. We are called to be open to all of life, pain and suffering included, so that we may be agents through whom the world might be transformed. What if our ears were open to listening to God and not pushing aside those crazy or illogical thoughts that don't seem to make sense? Think again of Mary - no avoiding the voice she heard and the words from her mouth were, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Our lives are great works in progress and God is always designing our special gifts and uniqueness to be available to a world who needs what it is we have to offer. Whether we are 5 years old or 13 or 80, God calls to us and hopes that our answer will be YES. With our human natures, I know that as you listen, you may think that I refer to persons that you would all suspect to be called by God for various purposes. However, let us not forget that God uses the reverse of what the worldly culture would present. The last shall be first and first shall be last. The proud are brought down and the lowly lifted up; the hungry are filled and the rich sent away empty. Those of low degree will be exalted in God's Kingdom. I give you a simple, possibly weird example of saying yes to what we hear from within us - which often I believe is God. While living in Austin when Bill was in seminary, I was at our house one day. The only other person home was our son Lee, a high school student. I had been trying to read my EFM assignment and was being interrupted by city workmen in front of our house. They were repairing something and the work was not going smoothly and so the loud noise of their equipment kept on and on. Now this was a very hot, humid day in Austin and I could see their sweat pouring and feel their frustration. Out of the blue, I had the idea that several cold sodas in our refrigerator would be just what was needed by these workmen. I did not act right away but the thought would not leave me. Suddenly I jumped up and ran to the kitchen to grab several of the cold sodas. Realizing that my son may wonder what on earth his mother was doing, I remember calling out, "I always have these ideas about doing things but then never do them. I am going to do this." Naturally he came running from his room to try to understand what I was hollering about. Together we handed out the round of cold drinks and saw some smiles and pauses and some unexpected relief. We retreated to the house and probably did not speak of this again. Was God whispering in my ear to do what I did? I don't know but I do know that the more I have responded to thoughts, hints and ideas the more joy I have experienced in my life. I choose to think it was God to whom I was responding. Another example, more serious, is of an adult I met last month while attending Happening. When asked about her family in our small group, she shared that she and her husband had longed for children for many years and did not have any. One evening several years ago while watching Wednesday's Child which features children who need homes, she felt strongly that God was telling her to try to adopt the particular child, a 17 year old, interviewed that night by Maggie Wade. She talked with her husband and amazingly he said yes. They had not really considered going this route but they did. As it turned out, they were able to adopt that very child. Clearly my friend heard God and she and her husband answered YES. As we live among others in our family and in our parish, we can be open to the words of God that THEY may hear and we can respond out of lowliness and servanthood. We can ask ourselves what would build up the other person and what would nurture the other person so that they may hear more clearly and have the courage to answer YES. Now maybe you are saying at this point: Mary may have been of low estate and a perfect example of God choosing the most unlikely but Mary was holy and I am not that. Who I am and what I have is not worthy to be called by God. To illustrate our worthiness, I conclude with this story. One summer while serving on staff at Camp Bratton Green at a special session, all of the campers and staff had gathered in the chapel for the morning assembly. We had just had worship together and as one of the permanent staffers entered the room to start the skit that would follow our worship, he noticed that John, one of the campers, was still standing at the altar where he had been assisting the priest. This camper really enjoyed helping at the altar and was quite skilled at it. The permanent staffer called out in a humorous way to John that he did not know John was a holy man. Then what happened next was one of those grace-filled moments: the college aged staffer turned to look out to all of the gathered campers ranging in age from 8 to 60 and the assortment of high school, college and adult staff, and as he swooped his arm out to the room he commented, "but really we are all Holy people, each one of us!" Yes - that's it! Each of us is holy because each of us is God's child, created in God's image and filled with unique gifts. God can use our gifts, personalities, offerings or whatever to spread the Kingdom here at Resurrection, in this community, in this diocese and even in this world IF we would believe what God tells us and act in obedience.