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.
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