Watching for Joy:
The Virgin Who Said No
A Sermon on Luke 1:46-55
For the Community of First Austin:
a baptist
community of faith
On the Third Sunday of Advent
December 11, 2016
Jeanne
Murray Walker has written a poem that finds it’s way back to my soul each
Advent. It’s a true masterpiece. It’s simply titled “A Portrait of the Virgin
Who Said No to Gabriel”
This
is the one Giotto never painted.
She
looked up from baking that morning, hearing
his
feathers settle and his voice scatter like gold coins
on
the floor. He told her, his forehead sweaty
from
the long trip. Me? she breathed, Oh sure!
But
after he walked away, she couldn’t forget his look,
the
strange way his feet rang like horseshoes on the stones.
What
she’d been wanting before he interrupted
was
not the Bach Magnificat, I can tell you, not stained
glass.
Nothing risky. Just to keep her good name.
Small
as she was, how could she keep in her heart
those
centuries of praise? But I praise her,
anyway,
for wanting a decent wedding
with
napkins folded like hats and a good Italian wine.
I
praise her name, Lenora. I praise the way
she
would practice carefully, making the L
like
a little porch, where she could imagine standing
to
throw a red ball to some children she loved.
I
praise the way, year by year, she let herself see
who
that visitor was. Think of her collecting
belief
slowly, the way a bird builds her nest
in
an olive tree. Then finally how one year,
after
the leaves fell, she was an old woman
looking
at the truth, outlined against
the
salmon sky, knowing it was true.
For
not despising her own caution then, I praise her.
For
never feeling envy. And for the way, once,
she
stepped past her fear to hand a cup of water
to
a thirsty carpenter fainting by her door.
In
every room of this gallery I think I see her picture.
Is
it heresy to wonder if just possibly Mary was not the first woman to be asked
to carry the Christ child? Because that is a big ask of someone, especially a
young person… Are you willing to risk, possibly ruin, your reputation? Are you
willing to put your future and all your plans on hold? Are you willing to
possibly risk your very life so that you can be part of the next big thing God
is doing?
So
to me it is not out of the realm of possibility that maybe a few other young
ladies were asked and turned this request down… and maybe that is why this poem
speaks to my heart so powerfully.
It
tells us of a God who asks, not demands. It tells us of a God with intense
respect for our decisions. It tells of a God who never gives up on God’s plan.
It tells of a God who never gives up on us.
It
tells us of someone we can relate to, because if we are honest, we all know the
Lenora from this poem, we know her well. It’s Mary we don’t quite understand.
Or at least it is for me.
Because
there have been times in my life where I have firmly felt God asking something
of me… Griff you need to listen to that search committee from the small town
you have never heard of, Griff that little boy in Nicaragua who you met on a
mission trip- he’s supposed to be part of your family, Griff this is the sermon
I need you to preach this week even if it seems heretical, Griff I need you to
befriend that person who drives everyone crazy and you really can’t stand.
And
my reaction has been No. “No, God I have a plan, I want to preach in a big
steeple church where people will know my name and that small town church is not
part of the plan that I have put together… God, our house is already pretty
full and I don’t know that we have the funds or the patience to adopt a child
right now…. God preaching that sermon, this sermon, might get me in trouble
with certain members of the congregation…. God, that person, I can’t befriend
them because it will ruin my reputation and on top of that, I really can’t
stand them.”
This
morning if we can be honest (which surely is all we can be in church), I think
we all can say that we know Lenora, we all understand the Virgin who said No
because we have all said no.
No
God we don’t want to give you 10% of our income- we have way better ideas on
how to handle our money than you do….. No God we don’t want to forgive and
reconcile- we want to hang on to this until we get some revenge….. No God we
don’t want to commit all to church- our time is too valuable to get too
involved in that community….. No God I don’t want to get involved in the
homeless ministry because that seems messy and I don’t know if I can “fix” it…
No God I don’t want to give money to Advent Conspiracy, what will washers and
dryers for the homeless really fix, I need that money for presents…. No God I
don’t want to take a stand for that issue because although I really believe it,
not all of my friends would support me on that…. No God I don’t want to write/
paint/ sing, those are not jobs that pay the bills and there is no security in
that, I will following those callings later.
We
all understand Lenora because there are times in our lives where each of us
have clearly said no to God.
After
all we have things planned out nice and orderly. There is a direction and a
structure for us. We have it all planned out and we know where we are headed
and how we are going to get there. We know what belongs and what does not
belong. We want God to ask something of us that will further our plans, that
will enhance the future we are already creating, that will give us more secure
bank accounts, that will make us more likable and something that fits in the
narrative we have so carefully created. And if God could ask something
that did those things, well then our answer would be “Let it be.”
But
God, don’t ask something too big of us. Don’t ask something too risky of us.
Don’t ask something that is going to break out hearts. Don’t ask something that
does not come with a pain free promise. Don’t ask something that might get us
in trouble.
Which
just shows you how short sighted we truly are, how blind we are to the way of
the Lord, how closed our eyes are during this season of Vigil. And it shows you
how we often mistake temporary meaning and satisfaction for true meaning and
satisfaction… we can be so short sighted.
I’ve
been reading a brilliant new book The Book of Joy which is an extended
conversation between His Holiness the Dali Lama and the Archbishop Desmund Tutu
on the meaning of joy. It’s an excellent book worth your time, I highly
recommend it. The book begins with a simple question: in our world where we
have so very much, why are we not a more joyous people? And it’s largely
because we have confused happiness with joy.
In
the words of Desmund Tutu: “It’s wonderful to discover that what we want is not
actually happiness. It’s not actually what I would speak of, I would speak of
joy. Joy subsumes happiness. Joy is the far greater thing. Think of a mother
who is going to give birth. Almost all of us want to escape pain. And mothers
know they are going to have pain, the great pain of giving birth. But they
accept it. And even after the most painful labor, once the baby is out, you
can’t measure the woman’s joy. It’s one of those incredible things that joy
comes from suffering.”
Over
and over this book teaches that joy is not pain free, in fact it’s often just
the opposite. Joy is often found through the process of pain, because the
things that matter most in life are rarely free, however they are worth the
cost.
Safety
is happiness and it’s temporary, whereas risk is joy and it’s eternal.
Joy
comes from being like Mother Mary and saying let it be, even when that scares
us to death, when it does not fit into our plans of where we want to leave and
how we have it all figure out. It means taking a huge risk, and it calls for us
to put something on the line.
Joy
is Mary thinking through her decision and knowing that this will likely cause
people to talk about her, maybe even people wanting to stone her, it will
likely cause Joseph to leave her and her family to desert her. This will likely
give her a lesser place in society and will affect everything about her future.
And even with all of that, still saying yes to God. It’s knowing all of that
and saying yes to a bold adventurous obedience with Jesus Christ.
Joy
is Mary loudly singing a song about God overthrowing the social order of the
day and the religious order of the land, a song about feeding the hungry and
sending the rich away empty handed, a song about a sword that will one day
pierce even her own soul.
Joy
is Mary believing she can bring a King into the world. Joy is Mary knowing that
God favors her (think about that… joy is knowing God favors you and me) and joy
is Mary knowing that God wants her to play a role in the story of Love coming
to earth.
Joy
is trust in that God.
It’s
taking the risk of something big for something good. It’s saying yes to God’s
big risks.
Joy
is the result of surrender and obedience… let it be.
It’s
Desmund Tutu again: “Discovering more joy does not save us from the
inevitability of hardship and heart break. In fact, we may cry more easily but
we will laugh more easily too. Perhaps we are just more alive. Yet as we
discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than
embitters. We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreak without
being broken.”
Joy
is found in the contentment of being part of something big, joy is knowing you
have played a role in something that matters
And
we need to understand that because in our world today where hate, racism,
misogyny and power and ego have once again become the norm and are ever present
everywhere we look- in a world that seems to be trying to regress back instead
of progress forward, God is going to ask some big risks of us, as individual
and as a church (and I believe this with everything in me). And the salvation
of this world depends on us saying, “Yes, let it be.”
And
with that yes will come true joy.
Joy
that knows the light because it’s been through the dark.
Joy
that can laugh fully because it’s also wept fully.
Joy
that has danced with risk and found life in that dance.
Joy
when we say “Yes let it be and let me be part of your story” instead of “no
this does not fit into my narrative right now.”
Joy
is the woman boldly singing her song of revolution because she is part of God’s
story. And joy is the angels dancing and singing around her, “Gloria in
excelsis deo!”
May
our joy begin with the words: “Let it be”.
Amen
and amen.
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