Michael D. Powell December 21, 2008
Luke 1:26-38 Fourth Sunday of Advent
This is the fourth Sunday in Advent. The next time we gather it will be on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of the Christ child. This morning’s scripture is called “The Annunciation” which simply means “announcement.” Theologically this word refers to one of the most foundational stories of our faith. The angel Gabriel comes to the Virgin Mary and announces, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Then Gabriel proceeds to announce that Mary will conceive and bear the Son of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
There are many beautiful paintings of the Annunciation. They usually show an elegant angel proclaiming the Annunciation to a beautifully dressed Mary. Luke tells us that Mary draws back, “perplexed by his words,” and Gabriel responds by saying: “Fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God. And, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus!”
Usually in these paintings there is a dove, hovering just over Gabriel and Mary. That dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes there is an almost imperceptible thin line drawn between the dove of the Holy Spirit and Mary’s ear, the symbolism being that Mary is literally impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit through her ear – that the Annunciation, the hearing of the Word, is the moment of holy conception!
The Annunciation to Mary was unique, because nobody before or since has heard exactly what Mary heard or been called to do exactly what Mary did. She was called to be the Mother of Jesus, the “Theotokos,” which means “God-bearer,” or “Mother of God” as Catholic theology describes her.
Having said that Mary’s call was unique, however, does not mean that there are not other annunciations, other holy announcements from God. We are all Mary, in the sense that we are all able to hear and respond, to be impregnated by the Word of God’s Holy Spirit. In fact, we cannot hear the story of Mary’s call without in some sense thinking of our own. I believe that every one of us here this morning has been called by God. Our encounters with God often show some of the same patterns as Mary’s. There is perplexity, perhaps some confusion and a drawing back. Oh, your call may not have come from an angel, or on the wings of a snow white dove, but each of you, in your own way, has heard the voice of God.
One of the first papers Divinity
students are required to write in seminary is called, “My Call To
Ministry.” Everyone has to tell his
or her story. Bishop William Willimon,
who for years taught at Duke Divinity school, tells of a student named Sam
whose description of his call to ministry began with an opening paragraph that
read: “I was the teenager from hell.” Sam then went on to describe how his
irresponsibility made his parents miserable, and how he flunked out of
college. Later he met a woman and
married and they began going to church and gradually he realized that God was
calling him. When he announced this to
his mother he was shocked at her response.
She burst into tears, saying: “I am so ashamed! I can’t believe this has happened.” He was confused at this until she explained: “Didn’t I tell you that before you were born
I had had a couple of miscarriages? I
didn’t think we’d ever have a child. So
I promised God that if he would let me have a baby, I would name him Samuel and
would dedicate him to God, just like Hannah did back in the Old
Testament.”
Sam heard all this with
astonishment and asked, “Why didn’t you ever tell me? You could have saved us all a whole lot of
trouble if you had just told me about this.” To which his mother replied, “We’re
Methodists. How was I to know something
like this would work? I didn’t know
Methodists even believed in this sort of thing.
How was I to know it would work?”
It’s the Sunday before Christmas, before the birth of the Christ child. If we had the time today it would be informative and inspirational to share our own personal stories of annunciation. Every one of us has a story about how we have heard, not heard, accepted or rejected what we understand to be God’s call, and these stories are always interesting because talking about God’s call takes us out of the ordinary and into the realm of the extraordinary, out of the natural and into the dimension of the supernatural.
The story of Mary’s Annunciation is unique, but the voice of God that calls us and claims us and empowers us to be bearers of God’s Holy Spirit and birthers of Christ’s Love and Light is an Annunciation that has come and is still coming to me and to you! Our response is often the same as Mary’s. We can think of all the reasons why this doesn’t make sense. We are not perfect people, after all. We have baggage. We have issues and limitations. And yet, the call comes. And, in our better moments we find ourselves, like Mary, simply saying, “Yes. May it be with me according to your Word.”
Willimon tells his students that annunciation, the calling and claiming and empowering of people to do God’s will, is the primary way that God is working to change the world. “Through annunciation, through call and vocation, God changes the course of history, not through earthquake, wind and fire, but through ordinary people like Mary, and like you and me, who get called, and who say ‘yes’ to God.”
The reason I’m so confident that you have already heard God’s voice calling to you is simply that you’re here instead of someplace else this morning. You don’t have to be here. You could be doing a million other things that a million other people are doing. But you are here, listening, hoping and praying to hear God’s ongoing annunciation. That, in a word, is what worship and spiritual fellowship is all about. And that is a blessing in itself. In a very real sense worship and prayer and spiritual community are their own rewards. We can simply not listen or not respond, simply living for ourselves and for what’s in it for us. But, if we choose that route, I can guarantee that something vital, vibrant and holy will be missing. But when we hear and respond to God’s call our lives are caught up in some purpose greater than simply living to satisfy our own personal needs and desires.
Annunciation is about that Mary part of ourselves listening for God’s Word to impregnate us with the Holy Spirit. It is about God’s call and claim on your life, to be more, and to live for more than simply yourself. When the angel Gabriel spoke the words of Annunciation to Mary he said, “The Lord is with you.” And that Word of God is music to our ears. We are not alone. God is with us. The message of Christmas, in a Word, is Emmanuel - God Is With Us. May you hear the Word this Christmas day, and always. Thanks be to God. Amen.