December 8, 2024 First Congregational Church UCC, Brimfield MA
Malachi 3:1 -4 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the LORD whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD, as in the days of old and as in former years.
Luke 1:26-38 The Birth of Jesus Foretold 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”,* 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
What is our world coming to? Just a few weeks ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury was forced to resign because he’d ignored a damning report [that] concluded that he had failed to pursue a proper investigation into claims of widespread abuse of boys and young men decades ago at Christian summer camps. (NY Times)
Scams abound – emails from (supposedly) your pastor asking you to purchase, say, five $100 Apple gift cards for me to give to people in need….
An insurance company puts a time limit on the amount of anesthesia that can be used for a specific surgery – and when the time runs out, well, I imagine that means the patient starts paying the entire cost – … well, that last one was real,, but right after the head of United Health Care was murdered in NYC, the company changed its mind and will now cover the entire cost of the anesthesia.
<deep sigh> And then there’s the story, from yesterday’s NYT, about the woman in Mississippi who got so frustrated as an elementary teacher that she quit her job and started up a teeny private school for kids in her area, kids who’d found the public school filled with bullies, kids who were slipping through the cracks.
She rented an empty storefront, found desks and equipment in trash piles and discard dumpsters, and she now has 50 children, pre-k to high schoolers, who are studying and learning in this new setting. Tuition is $300 a year, the staff, such as it is, gets paid, but the woman who started the school has not yet taken a salary. Her pay is watching the children learn.
Yes, there’s a lot that’s bad in our world, but we are not here today to focus entirely on that. We are here to remember that in the midst of the worst the world can send us, God is sending us something entirely good.
Today’s Gospel lesson tells the story when it reports Mary saying to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.
The story, at least on the surface, is about how Mary became pregnant, and yes, that’s important. More than that, however, it’s the explanation for how it is, in the midst of absolute awfulness, God’s love breaks through. When we are in need, the Holy Spirit will come upon us and change things.
Now this isn’t one of those instantaneous miracles. The Holy Spirit doesn’t force a change upon us; it prepares a way we may choose to follow. That’s the way of love… love offers opportunities, it does not compel.
Sometimes, things are so tough that it’s hard to see beyond the pain, the fear, the costs of life. God’s love, the story of God’s advent in the midst of turmoil, gives us the strength to lift our vision beyond that pain, into the possibilities of our future.
We thought we’d signed up to follow a clear path, one well-marked, where our intention to follow would make the following easy. It turns out that’s not the way it goes.
The way is often difficult, sometimes almost impossible, but what will never change is the steadfast companionship of our loving God, who comes to us as an infant, the living embodiment of God’s love.
Amen.
© 2024 Virginia H. Child
To Believe is to Care. . . To Care is to Do 