Sunday, December 20, 2015

Delivering the Good News

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ
Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
December 20, 2015

Year C: The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Micah 5:2-5a
The Song of Mary
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-55

Delivering the Good News
            There are few things better in life than being able to deliver good news:
            “You’ve got the job.”
            “The test came back negative.”
            “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
            “The sermon is pretty short.”
            And, what’s often the best news of all: ”I’m pregnant!”
            Well, if you’ve been here these past couple of Sundays you know that we’ve been hearing from one of the central figures of Advent, John the Baptist.
            John prepares the way for Jesus, calling the people to be baptized, to repent, to change their ways.
            John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus, calling on us to give away our extra coat to the person who has none, to treat others fairly, and to be satisfied with what we have.
            But, now, today on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the fourth and final Sunday of this season of repentance and preparation, we finally turn our attention to that other central Advent figure, the Virgin Mary.
            We catch up with Mary after the angel Gabriel has delivered the most amazing news to her: she has been chosen to deliver the Son of God into the world.
            Mary, a young girl from a small town, courageously and faithfully said yes to God, saying, “Let it be with me according to your word.”
            Now, we’re told that the young pregnant Mary set out and went with haste to visit her kinswoman, the old pregnant Elizabeth, pregnant with, as we know but they don’t know yet, John the Baptist.
            Of course, John doesn’t get to speak this time. Instead, the unborn John simply leaps for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice.
            Even before there’s no more room at the inn, even before the shepherds, even before the angels sing “Glory to God in the highest,” even before Mary delivers her baby and places him a feeding trough meant for animals, even before Christmas, Mary has begun to deliver the Good News.
            Mary begins to deliver the Good News by visiting her relative Elizabeth. Mary begins to deliver the Good News simply with her presence, simply with the sound of her voice, maybe simply with her pregnant glow.
            The unborn John the Baptist picks up on the good news right away and so does his mother, Elizabeth.
            Mary has begun to deliver the Good News.
            And, what is that Good News?
            Well, we hear it in Mary’s song, the Maginificat.
            God has done great things for Mary and God has done great things for us.
            Good News.
            God is merciful.
            Good News.
            God has a special love for the lowly, the hungry, and the poor.
            Good News.
            God keeps God’s promises.
            Good News, indeed.
            Mary delivered the Good News that day in the house of Elizabeth and Zeachariah.
            And, Mary most profoundly delivered the Good News in Bethlehem – the most holy delivery that we will celebrate in just a few days.
            You know, Mary only appears in a few gospel scenes after those early days – looking for the boy Jesus who has stayed behind in the Temple, attending the wedding at Cana, and, of course, the horrible experience of watching her son die on the cross.
            Despite her presence in so much art and in so many imaginations, we don’t know much about her, really, but it seems that she continued to deliver the Good News for the rest of her life, telling and re-telling the story of the angel’s announcement, of her visit to Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist, and pondering, pondering, all these things in her heart.
            Mary delivered the Good News – the best news of all time: God has done and is doing great things for us - God is merciful – God has as special love for the lowly, the hungry, and the poor – God keeps God’s promises.
            Mary delivered the Good News.
            And, right here and now, it’s our turn.
            As we reach the end of our Advent preparation and Christmas is so close, just like Mary, it’s our job to deliver the Good News.
            We deliver the good news through our presence – by simply being there for people in need – simply being there for each other.
            I was glad that at least a few of us were able to attend the interfaith homeless memorial the other day – to remember the lowliest of the low who have died almost entirely unnoticed and forgotten – and to signal through our presence – and our donations of 242 pairs of gloves – that we strive to love like God loves – that we strive to love those closest to God’s heart: the lowly, the poor, and the hungry.
            We deliver the good news through our presence just by being here each Sunday. We deliver the good news just by being here in our beautiful diversity, sitting and standing and kneeling and praying and singing with all kinds of people, people whose lives are going great and people who are a mess and lots in-between, people who, let’s be honest, we might not really want to hang out with, but God has brought us – beautiful us - together to be present for each other.
            And, we deliver the good news by telling and re-telling the story of God in our lives – telling the story of how Mary’s son has transformed our lives.
            That’s not something we do enough.
            A couple of weeks ago at the IMA Thanksgiving service two people, a pastor and lay woman, told the story of the power of God in their lives – the power of Christ that turned him from someone on the road to jail for petty crime into a minister of the Gospel – the power of Christ that transformed her from a crack addict who had seemingly lost everything into a Christian missionary.
            Good News.
            We deliver the Good News by telling and re-telling our stories, by telling and re-telling THE story.
            The IMA service got me thinking about my own – not anywhere near so dramatic - story.
            I’ve mentioned to a few of you that a couple of weeks ago I was able to spend the day with Fr. David Hamilton, the priest who was rector here when Sue and I first walked through the doors of St. Paul’s about 16 years ago now.
            Being with him – he’s doing well, by the way, and sends his love – reminded me of how much God has done in my life since that first Sunday – reminded me of how much God did through Dave and through so many of you as I made the improbable journey from Catholic high school history teacher to Episcopal seminarian to priest.
            Being with my old friend and mentor reminded me of the amazing privilege and joy of serving as rector back here in Jersey City, working with you to build on the foundation that has been entrusted to us, allowing God to work through us to build the Kingdom right here and now.
            Good News, indeed.
            Yes, there are few things better in life than delivering good news.
            Long ago, young pregnant Mary delivered the Good News to her kinswoman Elizabeth and her unborn son.
            Soon we will celebrate Mary quite literally delivering the Good News in Bethlehem – we’ll celebrate that most holy delivery – we’ll celebrate it all: no room at the inn, the feeding trough, the amazed shepherds, and the angels singing “Glory to God in the highest,” the Word of God dwelling among us, the light shining in the darkness.
            But, even more important than celebrating Christmas is the fact that, like Mary, our job is to deliver the Good News – to deliver the Good News through our presence – by just being there and being here - and to deliver the Good News by telling and retelling our story, by telling and re-telling THE story.
            Yes, there are few things better in life than being able to deliver good news.
            And, as Mary knew, we’ve got the best news of all.
            So, let’s deliver it!
            Thanks be to God.
            Amen.