The Church of the Transfiguration The Little Church Around the Corner One East 29th Street, New York, NY littlechurch.

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1 The Church of the Transfiguration The Little Church Around the Corner One East 29th Street, New York, NY littlechurch.org The Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary August 17, 2014 The Rev d Mary Julia Jett + In the name God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Right before I was ordained, I was standing in the hallway with the dear old priest that was to preach. He asked me, very sternly, Are you nervous? I said, Yes, of course. He laughed a bit, and said You should be. But don t be too nervous. Smarter, bolder, and harder-working people have built a grand Church and also completely failed at destroying it and with God s help, the Church will endure you too. He said some tremendous things in the sermon with more than one not-subtle reference to obedience but that conversation that s the conversation that tends to stick with me the most maybe because I know how completely skilled I am at failing maybe it s because I spend a lot of time reading history and Bible and trust me, we are neither creative in our brilliance or our destruction. The lectionary for the past several weeks has been a handy reminder. Paul debates with himself why people do absurd things and not the simple, clear, saving things. And why people never will do it exactly right. The stories of patriarchs are completely resistant to a nice, puritan moral that we can carry in our pockets and use to support or condemn much of anything. The Gospels have been a bunch of parables about a long hoped for perhaps yet to be seen kingdom of God. And maybe because of the weeks of that along with the weeks of strife throughout the world and not all that far away from here I was thrilled to move the Feast of Mary to this Sunday and celebrate the very

2 beacon of simplicity obedience perfection the Blessed Mother of our Lord the God bearer And it s easy to think that she is, indeed, simple --- For the most part, all we know about her from the Greek Gospels is that she travels at really inconvenient and uncomfortable times, perhaps argues with son at a wedding and is there when her son dies. And before all that we know that she will bear the son of God and she will make the declaration we read today. The trick of it is, none of that is exactly clear and simple. But just like the parables and everything else the mixture of God with the world is anything but simple. and her declaration certainly isn t What s remarkable is that none her magnificent declaration is original. Almost every line every word had been uttered before in the Old Testament sometimes in Psalms of praise, sometimes in Psalms of supplication, sometimes in Psalms of anger and throughout the declarations of people in the midst of victory, defeat, fear, remembrance and hope for a distant and unknown future. All of it with words that can be used to describe The triumphs and utter defeats of the past The past promises and the yet revealed hopes. The creation of the world and the destruction of war. The full complexity of the past is strung together to proclaim a fulfillment that declares a still future hope and inevitable occasional failings. All of it is bound together in the covenant of the past and the promise of the future and the very events of the present. Incarnation means all of that and it means that our redemption the redemption of the world - is tied to declared through carried through the very flesh that requires that same redemption. In Mary in that perfect model of simplicity, obedience, and faithfulness -- the complexity swirls around the incarnation and birth in a conflicted world a promise to be fulfilled in the midst of a wide

3 array of people including the disciples who are unable to recognize it most of the time to sit at the feet of both the life and death of her son to still intercede for the humanity that both continues to bring life and bring destruction that she remembered hoped for and indeed brought forth in a way that could never be destroyed despite the bold efforts of the greatest supporters. About four days ago, the National Church sent us an declaring this to be the day that we remember the strife in Iraq. My initial reaction and reaction for the next several days, really was wild frustration. Frustration that it apparently took the Church that long to notice the problem frustration that we could pick just one place of strife in the world frustration that this magnificent, seemingly simple Holy Day could get trumped by remembering that the world is anything but simple and clearly magnificent. And I was totally wrong. Whether or not the National Church thought about parishes that moved St. Mary the Virgin to this Sunday isn t the point at all because whether they meant to or not, the day represents exactly what we should in the midst of strife throughout the world, in our country, in our midst. The Blessed Virgin Mary s story sits in the very place of some of that war and her story, in many ways, is not unlike many of the most terrifying stories that appear on the news And in her time and place she, like us, stood in the midst of it all and not only held on faith but proclaimed it. She drew on dozens of threads of hope and strung together the very patriachs and prophets that cried out in darkness she strung together the very conflicted, war torn, and at once divine and deeply human stories of the message of God carried through generations. She drew upon those ancient declarations of promise that were declared in the midst of defeat and darkness since the very beginning. Left at that moment with little do of her own power, she did the greatest of things and not only modeled that for us but gives us the words when words fail

4 And on this day when we denote her assumption or dormition or as the Episcopal Church simply calls it her day, I guess we not only remember that ancient declaration that we repeat at offices, read in the Gospels, and cling to as that ancient promise of hope. We celebrate that in the past, present and future she continues to intercede in the midst of the greatest destructions and unceasingly declares hope in the darkest of places. We celebrate that she sits atop that full communion of patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints. And stands as a model and bearer of perfection for the whole lot of it and the whole lot of us. Perfection that proclaims -- finds hope in -- and intercedes for the imperfection that came before and will follow. The same act that brings forth God as humanity, forever binds God to the very humanity that rebelled against God In order to save humanity, God becomes flesh the very flesh that required the saving in the first place. It serves at once to call us to do better and to remind us that we probably won t. It serves to remind us that our greatest and cleverest declarations have probably come before and thus brings us a bit of humility. It serves to remind us that our greatest failings and falters have been tried out before thus brings us a reminder of the grace that covers the whole lot of it. It serves to remind us that all that came before were great, grand, flawed that we stand upon giants that can endure our beatings and failures and we stand upon a foundation that is only strong because of the rock Jesus Christ that lies below the whole magnificent mess of it and his blessed Mother who brought this incarnate son to earth.

5 In that way, in the midst of darkness, we celebrate both the shining example and the gift that came through her that the salvation of God encased in the very humanity that continues to carry it through the world and yet so desperately needs it. [Amen.]