NEVER ALONE. By Andrew Wilson 1 John 4:10-11, 13-14, Christmas Eve, 2012 Luke 1:26-35, 38

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1 NEVER ALONE By Andrew Wilson 1 John 4:10-11, 13-14, Christmas Eve, 2012 Luke 1:26-35, 38 Who do you most admire? Who are the saints in your life? Who has done the most to shape who you are and the direction you re heading? That s an easy question for me. My wife my beautiful, amazing wife Mary inspires me every day. Ashley Pollock mentioned the other day that she s one of La Crescenta s saints. Of course she is, Lee told me later. Otherwise how could she have put up with you all these years? In Roman Catholic tradition, the Mary of the Christmas story is the first among the saints. With the exception of Jesus himself, no person in history is more admired. She s the one who hoofed it 90 miles to Bethlehem and gave birth to the Savior in a stinking stable. She s the one who nourished Jesus at her breast, and guided and directed him in his youth. She s the one who cradled and wept over Jesus s dead body after his crucifixion. Most important of all, she s the one who said yes to God. Remember: When God told Moses to go to the Pharaoh, Moses told him to send someone else. But when the angel told Mary she d become pregnant out of wedlock, and give birth to Israel s Messiah, she welcomed the news. Catholics are often accused of worshiping Mary and praying to her as though she was a god, but that isn t accurate. Catholics hold the saints in high esteem they venerate them, and strive to be like them. But orthodox Catholics don t regard saints like Mary as divine beings. Many Catholics do pray to saints like Mary, but they don t believe the saints have any special power to grant blessings. Instead, they believe that, because of their holiness, saints are especially close to God s heart. They pray to the saints in the hope that they ll intercede for them and for others with God. There are good reasons why Presbyterians and other Protestants don t believe in praying to the saints. But there are also good reasons why the practice persists. So often when we pray, we feel far away from God. So often when we come to worship, we feel so out of tune with what we re singing and what is being read. Some of you felt that way tonight. We fumble our way through our prayers and wonder if God hears us, or if he even cares about us. Our instinct, on those dark days, is to find someone else to do our praying for us. Some people will lean on a family member or a friend. Others will seek out a spiritual superhero with special access to God that ordinary people don t seem to have. That helps to explain why millions of Christians regularly pray to Mary. 1

2 On a more secular level, it also helps to explain why the studios keep re-inventing comic book characters like Batman and Spiderman, Iron Man and Thor, and my main man, the Incredible Hulk. In this time of economic and political uncertainty, we conjure up saints who can call down lightning, and become instruments of God s wrath. We desperately want to believe there s a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist out there somewhere who will set things right. Those fantasies are revealing. They tell us a lot about the spiritual condition of our culture. The ancient Hebrews dreamed of a Savior from the house of David. We dream of an avenger from the planet Asgard. (That s where Thor is from.) If you had never read the New Testament, and your understanding of Mary was based on portraits that have been passed down through the centuries, your ideas about her would be pretty mixed up. Let s look at a few saintly images and think about what they communicate. [Images on screen.] First we have the Hollywood Mary. That s the drop-dead-gorgeous Olivia Hussey from the film, Jesus of Nazareth, which came out when I was in college. She steals every scene she s in which is kind of a problem when the other person on the screen is Jesus. I once heard that the director, Franco Zeffirelli, used Mary s physical perfection to highlight Jesus s spiritual perfection. I think it s more likely he was trying to give guys like me a reason to watch his fourand-a-half-hour-long-movie. Next we have Superhero Mary. She s sometimes mistaken for Spiderman s mother. Notice the nasty green snake that she s crushing beneath her dainty feet. From her serene perch in heaven, she shoots out rays of blessings to mortals below. Here s the Madonna Barbie. I thought my daughters owned every kind of Barbie ever made, but I don t think they ever owned this one. They sell them at the border crossing in Tijuana. She comes with a detachable halo and a robotic donkey, batteries not included. Some of you will remember Material Girl Madonna. Some of you are trying hard to forget Material Girl Madonna. If you weren t alive back then, think Lady Gaga with a really annoying 80 s sound track. On a more serious note, here s a bona fide work of art. The lovely Renaissance Mary in Lorenzo Lotto s painting turns entirely away from the angel. She looks like she s getting ready to bolt. I think that captures the drama of the moment. Luke says Mary was greatly troubled when Gabriel spoke, so who knows, maybe she was tempted to flee? What we know for sure is that she didn't live in a multi-million dollar mansion and she wasn t wearing red velvet. But there she is, in all her glory. Let s call her the Jewish Princess Madonna in her Versace gown. 2

3 From a technical point of view, this pencil drawing by Rosa Tuffney doesn t hold a candle to Lotto s rendering of the same scene. Yet this Mary humble, expectant and open this Peasant Mary in her simple white nightgown is the Mary of my imagination. We can read her response to the angel in her countenance and her pose: I m the Lord s servant. May God accomplish in me everything you ve spoken of. May the Holy Spirit overshadow me. May God bless me with a son who will be a blessing to my people. And may God strengthen me for this work because there s no way I can do it alone. We all have a tendency to change the people we admire into the people we want them to be. In our mind s eye, we turn them into people who confirm our personal values, and fulfill our personal hopes and ambitions. We do it with our politicians and movie stars. But we also do it with the people who matter the most to us the people we strive to imitate and follow after. We project on them, and in them, what we want to see. And we usually don t realize we re doing it. That s what the church has done to Mary. In our efforts to polish her image we ve cheapened her sainthood. If we want to become saints in other words, if we want to become what God created us to be we have to see ourselves and others, as we really are. We have to put away our pretensions, and our selfish desires, and open ourselves to the truth that God opens up for us. We begin by acknowledging that sainthood isn t associated with greatness and power. It isn t something we achieve by striving to be the best, or by making headlines. Rather, it s something that begins in poverty and humility. It begins when, like Mary, we yield our lives to God, and welcome the good work he wants to do in us. I ve been thinking a lot lately about the many teenagers and young adults in my life. Some of you are here tonight. As a dad and as a pastor, I gain so much strength and encouragement from you. You keep teaching me crucial life skills, such as how to laugh at myself and how to silence my smart phone. I m not sure why, but I ve been more conscious this Christmas of how hard life can be for you, and how lonely and scared you sometimes feel. The challenges that my generation faced when we were young aren t so different from the ones that you face. But the society that we were a part of was different. The adults in our lives were able to give us more support and more guidance. Our teachers and school administrators had a better idea of what they were trying to accomplish. Spirituality was a bigger part of people s lives. So you ve been on my heart. I ve been wondering how you manage to find your way forward in our faith-starved and love-starved world. You have a lot in common with Jesus s mother, Mary. I think that s why I feel drawn to her this Christmas. She was once in that dark place where some of you are today. When the angel Gabriel spoke to her, she was alone, she was confused, and she was afraid. So she has a lot to teach us. The wisdom she displayed in her response to the angel is universal. It applies to everyone who has ever wrestled with God, and everyone who has ever yearned to do something beautiful for him. 3

4 Let me try to summarize, then, what Mary teaches us about being a saint, and living in the light of God s truth. First, God doesn t need you to be a superhero. He doesn t need you to climb up the Empire State Building and watch over Gotham. If God needs a superhero, he ll send one down from heaven, as he has done on more than one occasion. Second, you don t need a superhero. You don t need someone to be your advocate in heaven. The glad news of Christmas is that God sent his one and only Son to be born of a virgin and become our Savior, and intercessor, and friend. So matter how sad you are, no matter how far away from God you may have wandered, you re never alone. Christ is a guardian who never fails us. As the book of John says, he s a light that the world s darkness can never extinguish. Third, instead of praying to the saints, we should honor them and try to learn from them. Instead of idolizing them, and treating them like gods with whom we have nothing in common, we should make them our daily companions. Because the friends we keep exert a powerful influence over our interests, preferences and choices. They help us to distinguish between the values of our diseased culture and the values of God s kingdom. They show us a way forward when all we can see is trouble. Let me ask you again: Who are the saints in your life? Who is helping to shape your direction and destiny? Where are they taking you? Finally, we should realize that sainthood isn t a special calling. It isn t some kind of rare privilege, like getting into Harvard with a full scholarship, or inheriting ten million dollars. Rather, it s something God wants for all of us. It s something God does in all of us as we trust in him, and we live into his plans for our lives. Sainthood, it turns out, is more of a gift than it is an achievement. It s something that God does to us when we meet him on our knees, in the darkness, and we surrender to his Spirit. That strange, wonderful reality becomes more evident to us as we tune out the noise of our culture, and we stop listening to the demons who are telling us we aren t good enough, we aren t smart enough, and we aren t beautiful enough to do a good work for God. The Lord created you to be his servant and child. He loves you more than words can tell. And he wants to fill you with his life. That s why he was born of the Virgin Mary so long ago. And that s why we celebrate tonight. Gracious Father, thank you for the promise of Christmas. Thank you for speaking to us in the darkness. Would you help us to listen to you, and yield our lives to you? Would you help us to see your light, and trust in your goodness? 4

5 Lord Jesus, we love you because you first loved us, and gave yourself to us. Would you help us to give ourselves to others and so they might know your love? Holy Spirit, we praise you because you haven t left us alone. Would you invade our lives and use us, as you used Mary, to fulfill your beautiful plan for your world? Humble us reveal yourself to us give us your peace. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we glorify you. Be glorified in us, now and always. Amen. 5