Sermon Notes December 9, 2018

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Sermon Notes December 9, 2018 The Meaning of Christmas (Grow Your Heart #2) Luke 1: 26-38 (The New Living Version) 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to

28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! 29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.

1 Sermon Notes December 9, 2018 The Meaning of Christmas (Grow Your Heart #2) Luke 1: (The New Living Version) 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! 29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 Don t be afraid, Mary, the angel told her, for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end! 34 Mary asked the angel, But how can this happen? I am a virgin. 35 The angel replied, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail. 38 Mary responded, I am the Lord s servant. May everything you have said about me come true. And then the angel left her. Reflection on the Word: 1. Who is Elizabeth and why might this detail be important in the setting up of the encounter between Mary and the angel Gabriel. 2. What is significant about Gabriel s greeting to Mary? 3. Why would Mary be afraid of the angel and the angel s message? 4. Why is the virgin birth important to the Christmas story? 5. How is Mary s acceptance and response different from Elizabeth s husband Zechariah found earlier in chapter 1?

2 Family Time or Small Group (Better Together) Discussion: 1) Do you believe in angels? Why or why not? 2) What role do angels play in Christmas movies? 3) What are your thoughts about Mary? Is she a role model of discipleship? 4) What does it mean to be the Lord s servant in 2018? 5) How do you open yourself to God s will? 6) How can I pray for you? Series Resources: - Seuss, Dr.; How the Grinch Stole Christmas; HarperCollins Childrens Books, MacBeth, Sybil; The Season of the Nativity: Confessions and Practices of an Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Extremist. Paraclete Press, The Grinch [Motion picture]; Geisel, A. (Executive Producer), & Cheney, Y. and Mosier, S. (Directors). Universal Pictures; Series Progression: (from No Stopping Christmas based on Matthew 3: 1-12 by Rev. Amanda Webber) As you peak through the trees and over the hills you might think you are dreaming as you get a glimpse of the thrill. The thrill of the twinkling lights of a Whoville Christmas night. Upon a closer look you will see that it is not a dream at all but all of the Who s from the big to the small scurrying here and there and all about as they prepare for a Christmas with three times more clout. You see the Mayor has declared, and no expense be spared from the decoration bout town to the village tree that this Christmas will be greater and grander TIMES THREE! With this decree all the Grinch can see is the Who s of Whoville running everywhere with glee as they shop till they drop and then collapse from exhaustion under the tree. They will tell you with a touch of glee when it comes to putting on a Christmas The Who s of Whoville are a sight to see.

3 The story of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas opens with Grinch, perched high upon a mountain, peering out his window down on the Who s of Whoville. And we get a bit of his back story you see the Grinch is a Who, who once was an orphan, who spent many Christmases alone. In his isolation and pain he becomes a cynical grump. In all of his despair, the Grinch too declares, that there will be NO Christmas! What better place to begin our journey in Advent then a story that reflects an age-old dichotomy that we continue to struggle with today. The duality between a grinchy Christmas and a Christmas that changes our heart. It is this dual reality that the story of the Who s and the Grinch boldly reflects as we see this beautiful little town consumed with Christmas preparations. Consumed to the point that for an outsider looking in they might appear to be wholly obsessed with the material side of Christmas where the focus is on being three times better than Christmas past. And don t we all know someone who we might think of as being a Grinch around Christmas? Or perhaps not just during Christmas but all year around? Now, back to our story - what does The Grinch have to do with today s scripture passage? EVERYTHING! In the scripture passage we read a few moments ago, we hear the voice of a prophet crying out with a prophetic message about the struggle for people of faith between being part of the world and set apart from the world. In today s text John the Baptist is challenging disciples then, and yes now, to live a life that is different. To live a life that has been demonstrably touched and transformed by the power of God s grace and love. It is a transformation that is critical to the kingdom of God, to bringing peace and goodwill towards all. Critical because there are people in our lives and our community, who are desperate for hope, people who are in need of the power of God to transform their life. Moreover, if we think about the Grinch, isn t he one of these people? As we get to know the Grinch, we see that he lives high up on a mountain in a McMansion of sorts filled with gadgets galore, all of his favorite foods, and material things that he craves and desires from goose juice to perfectly made espresso to music and more. The Grinch convinces himself that he is happy and protected up on his mountain, that he stays safe in his cave and away from the fray reminding himself it is better this way. Alone in his isolation Mr. Grinch remembers Christmas s past as a lonely orphan boy with no mom or dad and no one else who cared. The Grinch had no sense of belonging any where. In his pain and despair, as he grew into a man, the Grinch s heart grew tighter and tighter until the hope of Christmas is squeezed out of this life. Ultimately, the Grinch declares Christmas as the worst day of the year! As his pain comes to the surface and his hope dwindles, all he can see are ways to be angry and cause others pain as the Grinch works to stop Christmas he declares Today was great! We did mean things and did them in style! But even in his pain, we see glimpses of hope breaking through his mean exterior revealing the Grinch s greatest longing.to be loved and have a place to belong. You see, we all long to be a part of something that is greater than ourselves. To be part of communities and families that love and accept us as we are. When we are hurt by our families, our friends, and communities, whether accidental or intentional, real or imagined, we tend to respond by protecting ourselves. In our pain we lash out with unkind behavior or words and in ways that tend to isolate us which, becomes a downward spiral of pain and isolation.

4 And for some, like the Grinch, the pain goes on for years and years, to the point that one s life is overwhelmed with angst and hopelessness on the outside and inside we are filled with feelings of pain, sadness, and hurt.the bottom line is we suffer and at our worst we want to make others suffer too. This is what we see in the Grinch and remember that person I asked you to think about who is a bit Grinchy? I suspect that most of us didn t have to think too hard or too long to think of someone who is a bit of a Grinch. But how about us? Do we ever play the part of the Grinch? I am sure I do, and if you thought for a minute or two, I am sure you could think of a situation where we have let out our inner Grinch. Isn t that the place where our lives need to be reoriented? This is preciously the point that John the Baptist is making in this passage. That as the kingdom of God is breaking in to the world, it has the power not only to reorient history, but to reorient our hearts and lives. But, and this is an important but, we have to prepare ourselves and the way we prepare ourselves is by repenting. I love the way theologian James Boyce understands repentance. Boyce writes: Repentance means to assume responsibility for the future and not to be tied to the past. The key focus is on God s ability and the promise of God s power to overcome the sin in our lives. Repentance and judgement are serious business, but one does not force fruit. Fruit springs forth out of new orientation, out of knowing one s place as a child of God.. In baptism s call..we experience the transforming power that links being (children of God) and doing (bearing fruit), between faith and action. What John tells us is that it is not enough to talk the talk, one must also walk the walk. In other words, there is a clear connection between one s actions and one s faith. There are times when this can be confusing, especially at Christmas when our focus often appears to be on the superficial shopping, and presents, and parties, and holiday cheer! But is that the truth? On the surface, The Who s of Whoville appeared to have a superficial faith focused only on the material aspects of Christmas. In his pain, believing that the Who s were focused on meaningless stuff that they didn t even need instead of manifesting heaven on Earth through kindness and love, the Grinch hopes to stop Christmas. He rode with his load to the tiptop of Mount Crumpet Thinking from there he could dump it! Pooh-Pooh to The Who s He was grinch-ish-ly humming. They re finding out now that no Christmas is coming! They re just waking up! I know just what they ll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two. Then the Who s down in Whoville will all cry BOO-HOO! That s a noise I simply must hear! And the Grinch put a hand to his ear. But the sound wasn t sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn t be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! He stared down at Whoville! The Grinch popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!

5 He hadn t stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! somehow or other it came just the same! And that my friend is the power of God. You see the power of God is unstoppable, so there is no stopping Christmas. Nothing that we can do can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. You know the rest of the story. After realizing what Christmas was really about and that the Who s real actions matched their faith, along with returning their gifts and apologizing, the Grinch is once again surprised by a Who living out their faith. Cindy-Lou Who knocked on his door inviting the Grinch to Christmas dinner. But, I stole your Christmas. The Grinch replies. We are inviting you anyways. You have been alone long enough! In these words Cindy-Lou reflected a heart changed by Christ. And in her words and actions we see love in action the antidote to the duality that John the Baptist was railing against the duality that hurt the Grinch. In that moment the Grinch wondered if he did what she did would he feel what she felt? And, with that he accepted her invitation and in his actions he began to repent taking responsibility for his future and letting go of the past. In his repentance he opened his heart to the power of God to grow his heart. In the end the Grinch realizes that it wasn t Christmas that he hated, it was being alone. And so the Grinch delivers a toast To kindness and love, the things we need most. There is no stopping Christmas! Thanks be to God Father Son Holy Spirit. Amen. Sermon Points: How s your prayer life? I know you are expecting the sermon and not a call to prayer, but the reality is this a sermon is just a bunch of words from an ordinary human being and if the sermon doesn t lead us, remind us, or convict us to be people of prayer and response to what God is doing in the now right now then really what are doing here? And I am reminded when I read this story of Mary and the angel Gabriel, that an equally important question is this. What are we missing? What are we doing here? And since we are here what might we be missing? The two questions go well hand-in-hand and perhaps heart-to-heart classic grinchy language for those familiar with the Dr. Seuss story of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. But I in no way am or will ever compare Mary with the Grinch. I can t. Just can t. I grew up with an important prayer that was ever ready on my lips. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb; Jesus. You may infer that I have an idea of Mary; a concept of Mary that is above, higher than what is commonly practiced in most Protestant circles admittedly I do.

6 I do because I don t know how Mary said yes to the angel Gabriel. How she said, May everything you have said about me come true. How she opened her life and let s be real and her womb to the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. The how of Mary s story intrigues me. Her story inspires me. And I wonder if we would have had Christmas, as we know it, if Mary had not embraced the how and became part of the how of Almighty God. If you have sweet thoughts that this scene between Mary and the angel Gabriel was as peaceful and tranquil as our Nativities that romanticize the birth of Jesus, please take a step back with me. Let s take an important step back into time. Mary s time. Mary was most likely 14 or 16 years of age. She was legally engaged which means the following. She didn t date. She didn t use Match.com or Bumble or eharmony. She didn t call or text from a friend s cellphone. She didn t sneak away at night; trying to avoid her parent s detection. This was not a Christmas Hallmark movie romance by any means. She could not break her engagement on her own. Only her future husband could do that and if done then it would be done so by a decree of divorce for in Mary s time an engagement was legally binding. And if done, well, Mary s chance of ever getting married again would be quite limited. Mary wasn t given a diamond ring. A bridal shower. A bachelorette party with her friends. One day she awakened to some noise in her tiny home. Her father was meeting with a local carpenter. Two cups were on the table. She watched as her father poured. The men drank together and then embraced. Mary was now engaged. Engaged to a carpenter, by the name of Joseph, from the lineage of David. A man nearly twice her age for Joseph was probably 30 years old. Some believe that Joseph had been married before and that his wife had died and that he was trying his best to raise the children from his first marriage. It is impossible for me to speculate whether Mary was excited or scared or perhaps both. But one thing is for certain, Mary s life was changing at a quickening pace. Teenage hormones and development. Her dreams. Her tasks and responsibilities. Her social status. And then an angel. How would you greet the angel Gabriel if you would have been in Mary s sandals? Standing? Or fainting? Before you answer, you need to know this. Gabriel s greeting is highly unusual. Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! These words are words of divine blessing. In the original language, the greeting would have been more like this. God s holy grace is upon you. As such, this greeting would have never been said to a poor girl like Mary. And that is why Gabriel followed with Don t be afraid, Mary.

7 Such words helped Mary stay on her feet but how she stood after hearing these next words is beyond me. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end! And Mary appropriately asks, How? Such an important question, is it not? How? This week as I reflected on this question of how, it came to me that one every great story begins with the how question and then the story takes shape in an attempt to answer the question. For example, how did we get here? Doesn t the very first book of the Bible answer the how. In the beginning, when all was in darkness, God spoke, Let there be light. God created the heavens and the earth. God formed man and woman from the dust of the ground and breathed into them breath of life. How starts the story of Genesis. How starts the story of the Grinch as well. I must stop Christmas from coming but how?, exclaimed the Grinch from atop of Mount Crumpit. From a heart, a heart so small and tight, he plotted and planned. Hoping to steal it all. Gifts, wreaths, and trees. Feats, pudding, and even the rare roast beast. And as we have seen in our scripture reading, how begins the real Christmas story. Mary asks the angel Gabriel, how can this happen? I am a virgin. And Gabriel replies with message of Christmas. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. For the word of God will never fail. And upon hearing this Mary responded, I am the Lord s servant. May everything you have said about me come true. As I said earlier, I cannot compare Mary and the Grinch. But I certainly can contrast them. For the second thing that I discovered this week as I reflected on the how question is that our answer to how reflects the meaning of Christmas and what we believe and how we respond to such meaning. And such an answer was revealed to me by way of prayer. How s your prayer life? How s mine? Well there is this church I know they like to give away stuff during special seasons of the year. Last week I received a green bag with a set of beads and a heart all tied together with a green string. Inside the bag was a card. On the card there was a prayer. A prayer that challenges my 50 year-old eyes but what the heck that s what reading glasses are for. Look familiar? I prayed.

8 Lord of all hearts We are anticipating We are preparing We are expecting We did not anticipate a stable We were not prepared for a baby We did not expect to find a love exceeding our imagination Help us release our grinchy Ways and attitudes that our Hearts may be as large as yours. Amen! Then I walked. Walked around a place known as Christmastown at Busch Gardens. There were a lot of people there. People who whose personal space bubbles are wide, if you know what I mean. People who stop to take picture right in the middle of major walkways. People who are loud and quite frankly obnoxious. People who parent their kids so differently from the way that I did. People who push and push and bang into you and then don t say sorry or excuse me. Manners? Where are manners these days? And I felt myself turning not red although I was angry. I was turning green. A grinchy green at that! And I am embarrassed to tell you what I did next. Please don t hate me. Or judge. I am in need of grace just as anyone else is in need. I had shut my heart but I prayed or better yet and perhaps more truthful I sarcastically asked God The loud and obnoxious HOW CAN YOU LOVE ALL OF THESE PEOPLE? The pushy and bangers with no words of apology The mid- walkway picture takers? As I shook my head, I reached my hand into my pocket and I touched a set of beads from this church that I know. A church that is reminding me, the Grinch, about the meaning of Christmas. A church that is calling me, the Grinch, to grow my heart three sizes and to open this new heart to God possibilities and God dreams Delivered by angels reminding us all that the word of God will never fail! And that God indeed loves everyone and that the truest meaning of Christmas is found in saying yes to the Lord God s answer of how. May we all be the Lord s servant and love one another. That s how it is done! Amen!

9 Thought for the Week Ahead: We must live with our hearts in our hands like Mary. - Kelli Russell Agodon

Mary s Faith, Luke 1:26-38 (Second Sunday of Advent, December 9, 2018)

Mary s Faith, Luke 1:26-38 (Second Sunday of Advent, December 9, 2018) 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose