Caste Aside Fourth Sunday of Advent December 23, 2018 Beth Carroll. Text: Luke 1:39-55

Transcription

1 Hear this good news, friends. Caste Aside Fourth Sunday of Advent December 23, 2018 Beth Carroll Text: Luke 1:39-55 Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord. Blessed is she who was oppressed, brokenhearted, and imprisoned but believed somehow some way, she would be called an oak of righteousness and oil of gladness would soak her hair, her hands, and her heart. Blessed is she who despite living her own form of slavery as a woman, listened intently to the stories of Sarah, Rachel, Leah, Miriam, Rahab, Ruth, and Esther and knew that those who walk in darkness will see a great light. Blessed is she who was born into the violence of Roman occupation, watched her people be taken into slavery, and watched her family beg for food because of greed-fueled taxes. Blessed is she who watched the women in her life be banished through divorce for burning dinner. Blessed is she who could not even fathom a life outside of work and child-bearing. Blessed is she, who knows all these things and still believes nothing is impossible with God. How about is? Do we believe? Do we see the world around us and still see it how it was and how it will be again? What kind of faith is this? What kind of faith sees wealth disparity and greed and walls and homelessness and in response revolts with Nothing is impossible with God. Hear this retelling of the Luke song from a possible Mary of today. My soul, even when trapped in resentment, magnifies the Lord, and my battered spirit rebels in its rejoicing of God my Savior. 1

2 For God has looked with favor on my lowliness. Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is God s name. From our ancestors to Baby Boomers to Generation Z and even those yet to be born, God s mercy is never-ending. God s mercy is for those who fear the future but step forward in faith anyway. God has shown strength with God s arm and God s hand and God s feet, but especially with God s heart. God sees the drooling arrogance in the hearts of the power hungry and nauseates their desires. God has brought down the powerful from their corner offices and incumbent seats, and lifted up the undocumented, the uninsured, the underfed, and the misunderstood. God has filled the hungry with fresh produce, with quality proteins and with purpose And sent the rich away with depleted Bridge cards. God has helped all God s children, in remembrance of God s mercy, according to the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham, to you and to us forever. Amen. God favors the lowly. Friends of Hope Church, believe this. God has done great things through you. Through you, there is housing for the poor, the addicted, the young, the old, the disabled, for all. Through you, there is inclusion, equity, and access to equal employment for gay and trans people. Through you, women who have been hit, both with fists and with words now have safe harbors to raise their kids. Through you, there is racial justice in our city. Through you, there are spots saved in these pews and even at this pulpit for those who wouldn t even be welcomed through the doors at other houses of worship, let alone lead a church because of the demons of their past, their gender, or their sexuality. Through you, young people now live the gospel in all corners of the earth. Through your activism and love, there is no more racially motivated pull overs or arrests. Through you, there is sanctuary here for all who need it. Through God s spirit, there is all of this. There is shalom in our city. 2

3 Do you believe this? If you are like me, you think on these accomplishments and you say, well some of this has happened, some of this is just getting started, and some of this is just a glimmer in our eye, but we have no earthly idea if it is even possible. In fact speaking forth any of these priorities as if they have already come to pass, feels presumptuous, cocky, and maybe even heretical. But. God favors the lowly. We look around us and see only oppression, but God is already at work. The work we participate in, from anguishing over the mental health of our kids, to our grappling with adult sized scars on our hearts from past abuse, to the big dreaming of what our city s version of a peaceable kingdom looks like is being thrust towards fruition. Why? Because God favors the lowly. In Luke, we see this to the umpteenth power. Two women leaning on each other. Two women with no societal currency and no agency. Elizabeth led a life of public shame as a barren woman. Mary was a young girl entering into a public shame as a pregnant unwed mother. At best, they hear the whispers said about them, at worst, they fear being outcast or even stoned. Incarnation, not despite their lowliness, but with favor in their lowliness. Elizabeth and Mary are ripe to not only receive salvation, but they are the incubator for the salvation of all creation. The day before their meeting was a life filled with isolation and silence in the face of all that overwhelmed them. But today, is the first day of shalom. Yesterday, they had a foot stuck in the river muck of sinful brokenness, but today, the other foot is firmly planted on the dry bank of shalom. God extends a strong arm to pull them fully up. And how does Mary respond? She responds with praise. She responds with optimism. She responds with belief and she responds with a song. She does not forget about the brokenness, oppressions, and violence of the world, but her perspective on that brokenness is turned upside down. God shows that the path out of oppression is not more violence or even discouragement and apathy. The path out is subversive. It uses the oppressed themselves and the fuel for that change is joy, envisioning the future, and song. That which is meant for destruction becomes the fuel for our way out. 3

4 We know all about the muck, don t we? We feel its damp ickyness in our depression and despair. It pulls on our families and it covers our whole world. The stickiness tells lies like Things will never change or What good can one person do? It sucks us down into its isolation, numbness, apathy, powerlessness, and shame. But today, God points us to the river bank where God stands. God knows our efforts alone cannot get us out. So God extends an arm for us to grasp and God exchanges the lies not only with the truth, but also with a song. Japanese Poet Kenji Miyazawa wrote We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. This does not mean we accept marginalization and pain, or that it is meant for our good. What God does with our suffering and the suffering of the world is take that which was meant for our destruction and uses it as the very fuel for redemption. That which is meant for holding us back does not have the last word. This means taking the pain, feeling it. Singing a redemption song is a subversive rebellion in breaking what was supposed to kill us. Do you want more proof? The newly titled Dr. Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, took her rage and grief and used it as fuel to start Circle of Mothers, a community for mothers who have lost children to gun violence. The idea for this literally came to her in a dream one night. Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, is running for city council in Ferguson, Missouri. As she stood on Canfield Drive to announce her run in August, the site where her son was shot, she said, "Almost four years ago to this day, I ran down this very street, and my son was covered in a sheet. But I learned to walk again, and this is one of my first steps." Fuel for the journey. The mother of Tamir Rice, Samaria Rice is opening The Tamir Rice Afrocentric Cultural Center where children will be mentored and nurtured and taught how to dissect and participate in political systems. Samaria only has an 8 th grade education and lost her own mother at age 12, when her mother was imprisoned for shooting and killing an abusive boyfriend. "I'm a nurturer, Samaria says but I was robbed of that...i want to see some positivity. I want the center to give kids a sense of hope." Fuel for her journey. 4

5 Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord and blessed are we who can behave our way into a new heaven and a new earth. I began this sermon with a reimagined version with a song of Mary. I will end it with another Redemption Song by the great prophet and Psalmist, Bob Marley. Old pirates, yes, they rob I Sold I to the merchant ships Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit But my hand was made strong By the hand of the Almighty We forward in this generation Triumphantly Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever have Redemption songs Redemption songs 5