Dec 19, 1999
The following message was given by the Rev. Gene R.
Preston to the congregation of Community Church Hong Kong
on December l9, the fourth Sunday of Advent. Following
the leccionary which assigns lengthy readings from Luke
l, all of them focused on Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the
preacher chose to highlight Luke l:47-55 (The Song of
Mary of Magnificat) to heighten Protestant awareness and
reverence for Mary. This focus was also appropriate since
the congregation included five teenage girls, two of whom
were confirmed immediately following this message, and
three of whom will be baptized by Pastor Preston on
Christmas Day. The message aims to lift up Mary as a
wonderful inspiration for all believers and especially
for young women.
The text: And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his
servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me
blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation. He has shown strength with
his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of
their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their
thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the
hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He
has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his
mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
CHORUSES FROM MARY'S SONG
It's sad that anti-Catholicism has caused generations
of Protestants to ignore Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a
central Biblical figure and as a wonderful inspiration
for Christian faith.
The reasons for the Protestant neglect of Mary stems
from our sense that unhealthy devotion to Mary began in
the early Middle Ages to envelop her in a cult of
superstition and false miracles; and after the
Reformation, because the popes and their theologians
began to declare non-scriptural doctrines regarding the
saving power of Mary.
Sadly, the Protestant reformers and their own overly
pious followers threw out, along with the Mary of
exaggerated piety, the Mary whom we can know well in the
scriptures and reverence for her authentic spiritual
qualities.
This is a shame because the gospels tell us quite a
bit about Mary. In Luke and Acts there is a more rounded
view of Mary than we have of several of the male
disciples. It is also short-sighted because to overlook
Mary is to overlook the woman, who simply by being Jesus'
mother, taught him and nurtured him and influenced his
ministry.
*********
Although the gospels do not give much detail of Mary's
influence upon her child, (in truth they give little
detail on any natural influences upon Jesus), I can
imagine, as one example of her influence that Jesus, like
many children, stalled at bedtime by asking his mother
for a story. Perhaps one story she offered her boy began
"Once upon a time a certain man was going down from
Jerusalem to Jericho and bad men fell upon him." After
all, where do you think Jesus got his stories?
When the adolescent Jesus dazzles the teachers in the
Jerusalem temple, I think Joseph would have admitted that
it was Mary who had taught their promising boy the
Torah.
Although not named, it is likely Mary is among the
faithful women of Galilee whom Luke says accompanied
Jesus to the cross and prepared his body for burial.
In the second book by Luke, in Acts l:l4, Mary is
accorded an important role in the formation of the first
church.
Thankfully there is a tendency in modern Protestantism
to refocus on Mary and we do today, and appropriately so
as this is the final Sunday before we celebrate the birth
of her child.
******
Luke l:47-55 gives us the Song of Mary, known by its
Latin title as The Magnificat. This song echoes some
earlier songs of women in the Old Testament such as the
promise of a child to Abraham and Sarah, and particularly
of the birth of Samuel to Hannah and Elkanah. There are
both elements of continuity and of surprise in the song
of Mary. Let's look at some aspects of Mary's song. For I
believe we will find choruses which we can sing along to
honor her.
I. Mary's humble obedience and trust are hallmarks of
the annunciation story. And Mary's humility and obedience
establish her as an appropriate recipient of God's favor
because through all the prophecies of the Old Testament
it is declared that God will bless the humble and the
poor. Mary is an outstanding example of this prophetic
promise of God's mercies toward the lowly.
We know that Mary is poor, because in Luke 2:24 we
learn that Mary brings to the temple not the preferred
offering of a lamb, but the two birds allowed for
impoverished families in Leviticus l2:2-8.
SO LET'S SING A SONG OF MARY'S HUMILITY AND OF HER
OBEDIENCE TO HER GOD.
II. One of Mary's clearest traits is her
thoughtfulness. She ponders in her heart the
announcement from the angel and later when visited in
Bethlehem by the shepherds she again ponders the meaning
of their visit. And after being rebuked by her pre-teen
son at the temple in Jerusalem, Mary, far from taking
reproach, goes on to treasure in her heart all that has
occurred (Luke 2:5l).
So the announcement of divine favor with Mary: DO NOT
BE AFRAID, MARY, FOR YOU HAVE FOUND FAVOR WITH GOD is not
capricious. God's blessing of Mary is consistent with
God's favor upon the faithful who in their poverty remain
devoted to God.
LET'S SING A SONG TO MARY'S THOUGHTFULNESS AND HER
OPEN SINCERE SPIRIT WHICH REMAINS ALWAYS OPEN TO GOD'S
WILL.
3. The story of Mary is one of encouragement for the
lowly and weak who in all societies at all times have
included a disproportionate number of women. When the
going get touch it is women who are at a disadvantage
physically, economically and socially.
Danger lurks from the very beginning of the Jesus
story and continues through it. Well before Herod's sword
enters Bethlehem, Joseph decides to terminate his
relationship to Mary, an action that has the power to
render her both financially and socially outcast and to
give her child a name quite other than "son of
Joseph."
Luke's soaring angel chorus stands in tension with
Simeon's song, with its warning to Mary that "a sword
will pierce your own soul too." (Luke 2:35). Luke's
infancy narrative concludes with Mary and Joseph's
frantic search in Jerusalem for a young son whom they are
unable to understand.
In the nativity in Luke it is years before Mary will
fully comprehend that this child who is profoundly hers
is even more profoundly not hers and that the danger
which surrounded her family at the outset will mount
toward the ultimate danger of the cross.
Yes, the infancy stories point to the coming triumph
of God in Jesus, but they also offer a down payment on
all the disruption of danger the Gospel will bring to
everyone involved in the Jesus story.
SO LET'S SING A SONG OF MARY BECAUSE OF HOW SHE FACED
DANGERS BRAVELY. What courage this young woman had! What
fortitude she displayed through her life.
*******
Perhaps the greatest marvel about Mary, and that which
makes her profoundly relevant to all believers, is how
her story lifts up the faithfulness of God amidst the
dangers, disruptions and disappointments of our
lives.
Mary, as we have seen, was wholly faithful and
responsive to God. Mary completely trusted God: LET IT
BE WITH ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD. But Mary's
faithfulness toward God forced her to be ready to receive
surprises from God.
This poor, unmarried girl Mary is sitting quietly at
home in Nazareth, expecting nothing particularly exciting
to come her way, when suddenly an angel flutters into her
room. Young Mary is aghast. And the news the angel brings
is even more startling. Mary is to bear a child who is to
be called son of the Most High. How can this be for a
girl from an undistinguished family, resident in a part
of Israel, the Galilee which was suspect because so much
gentile culture and people also lived there along with
the Jews.
LET'S SING A SONG TO HONOR MARY'S RESPONSIVENESS TO
GOD'S SURPRISES FOR HER.
*******
We count on God being reliable, consistent, the same
good God today, tomorrow and yesterday. In a world of
shifting circumstances, we rely upon the steadfast love
of the Lord forever.
But Mary's story has a chorus of waiting on the Lord
for the unexpected and we need that as another highly
predictable Christmas season dumps upon us. So much of
our observance of Christmas has become wrapped in
tradition and mundane commerce that we no longer expect
to be surprised by Christ.
We sing familiar carols, hang up the old and tried
tree decorations, gather with the same family members
and friends, circulate the same gifts of ties, candies,
jewellery, clothes, toys, repeat the same holiday TV
specials. Revive the long standing jokes and gripes of
seasonal gatherings.
Yes, we need our Christmas routines just like we need
our traditional and routine beliefs and worship. But
while God is dependable, God is not as predictable as we
want our lives to be.
And there is an important difference between
dependability and predictability.
God's love, God's mercy, God's justice are dependable.
We can rely upon them. But the ways in which God makes
known and clear to us his love and mercy and justice vary
from time to time. For God meets us according to our
present circumstances, not according to ways that served
us well in the past.
And so believers have experienced an ever changing,
and always expanding, understanding of the meaning of
divine love, mercy and justice. And is this not what
scriptures and theology instruct us to expect? For was
there ever a more surprising act from God than the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus!
We stand on the cusp of a new century. We know how
much daily life has changed. When I first moved to Hong
Kong in l992, I had never heard of the internet, I did
not have a computer, I knew nothing of e mail, nor e
commerce. And as each of these new things came my way,
let me tell you I was at the first resistant. We tend not
to like new things.
Well, we have no reason at all to expect that change
will slow down. Our lives will be radically different.
If secular and daily life is going to change at almost
frightening pace, shouldn't we expect God to act in new
ways. He may have to act in new ways even to get our
attention. I fully expect God to act in new ways in
Community Church as in my life and yours. One divine
surprise this Christmas for us all, I believe, is that
seven youths have decided they want baptism or to confirm
their previous baptisms. In a moment we shall receive two
of them and on Christmas Day five more.
Just as God sent a traditional angel to get Mary's
attention, God will find new ways to get our
attention.
******
Mary: We thank you for doing your divine duty in
humility and faithfulness.
Mary: We rejoice with you in the joy of the birth of
the Christ child.
Mary: We would sing from our hearts of your fidelity
to God and your love of Christ as we get ready for
celebrating his earthly coming at Bethlehem.
And, Mary, we resolve to be ready to be surprised by
signs of Christ's eternal reign in justice and goodness
among us.
Pastor Gene
Preston
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