Love:
Bruce Springsteen, Mary and a Love Song (oh, and a Coyote Vest)
On Micah 5:2-5 and Luke 1:26-55
by Griff Martin
For the Beloveds of First Austin: a baptist community of faith
On The Third Sunday of Advent
December 23 2018
Micah
5:2-5
But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though
you are small among the clans[a] of Judah,
out of
you will come for me
one
who will be ruler over Israel,
whose
origins are from of old,
from
ancient times.”
Therefore
Israel will be abandoned
until
the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the
rest of his brothers return
to
join the Israelites.
He will
stand and shepherd his flock
in
the strength of the Lord,
in
the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And
they will live securely, for then his greatness
will
reach to the ends of the earth.
And he
will be our peace
when
the Assyrians invade our land
and
march through our fortresses.
We will
raise against them seven shepherds,
even
eight commanders,
Luke
1:26-55
In the
sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a
town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named
Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The
angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is
with you.”
Mary
was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might
be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor
with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to
call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he
will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How
will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The
angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of
God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her
old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For
no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am
the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then
the angel left her.
At that
time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where
she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth
heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are
you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am
I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon
as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for
joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill
his promises to her!”
And
Mary said:
“My
soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he
has been mindful
of
the humble state of his servant.
From
now on all generations will call me blessed,
for
the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy
is his name.
His
mercy extends to those who fear him,
from
generation to generation.
He has
performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he
has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has
brought down rulers from their thrones
but
has lifted up the humble.
He has
filled the hungry with good things
but
has sent the rich away empty.
He has
helped his servant Israel,
remembering
to be merciful
to
Abraham and his descendants forever,
just
as he promised our ancestors.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about
three months and then returned home.
Incarnate
and Resurrected God, we ask that you once again take the Word and transform it
into a living and breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us
aware of your presence here in this space and in these words God for if we are
present to you then nothing else will matter, but if we are not present to you
then nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the
Comforter. Amen.
Homily:
I’ve
been thinking about music this week as I’ve reflected and listened to the words
of Mary’s Magnificat. I have been thinking about other song writers whose music
is both a revelation and a revolution and one in particular came to mind,
another artist whose words are poetry and whose music is timeless, Bruce
Springsteen.
Over
the next few days, take some time and give yourself a gift and watch the
Netflix special, “Springsteen on Broadway.” Although a few of you got to see
this in person, the rest of us now have a chance to see this and it’s nothing
short of one of the best things you will have ever seen- not quite a concert,
not quite a documentary, it’s a bit too musical to be a sermon but pretty dang
close. It’s Springsteen once again taking us to another level of brilliance.
To
promote this special he has given an incredible in depth interview in this
month’s Esquire, detailing what it’s like to bare you soul on stage night after
night and how you can use your life to make art. In this brave interview, he
talks about his first spiritual and mental breakdowns an adult right after the
release of his hit album Nebraska and his realization, his moment of truth:
“All I do know is as we age, the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes
heavier…. Much heavier. With each passing year, the price of our refusal to do
the sorting [of that baggage] rises higher and higher… Long ago, the defenses
I’d built up to withstand the stress, to save what I had of myself, outlived
their usefulness and I’d become an abuser of their once lifesaving powers. I
relied on them wrongly to isolate myself, seal my alienation, cut me off from
life, control others, and contain my emotions to a damaging degree. Now the
bill collector is knocking and his payment [will] be in tears.”
So
beyond an incredible concert special, Springsteen has also given us all a
statement to unpack with our therapist and spiritual directors for all of 2019.
Because there is so much truth in his words, so much calling.
That is
a heavy way of starting the sermon, so let’s try a new approach. Any of you
have any last minute gift needs for that certain someone in your life, that
certain someone with a small dog, because I have just the gift for you…. For
only $99 you can ease that person’s worry of their small pet dog being carried
off by a coyote or hawk with the now available coyote vest. This base price
covers a layered resistant kevlar vest with spikes along the neck and side. For
and additional $39 you can add a hawk shield, a add on of three kevlar layers
that would not let a hawk’s talons hook your pet. For an additional $99 you can
add a coyote zaper so if a coyote does get the dog you can send an electrical
shock to get the coyote to drop said pet. For an additional $5 you can add
coyote whiskers, huge bright neon bristles that help add height to your little
dog to add intimidation of predators, but if you want those whiskers to be in
American flag colors, that will be an additional $15. So for the low price of
$252 you can have an American flag themed coyote and hawk protection for your
pets.
Now as
much googling as I could handle, I could not find an accurate statistic of how
many dogs per year are carried off by hawks or coyotes…. But I did enough to
know this does not seem to be a common problem for most people.
I would
love to say this is the most ludicrous product I have ever come across, but
instead I think it might be the most human product I have every come across.
Because it’s amazing what we will do to protect ourselves and our loved ones
from being hurt. Just go to any baby store and see the products that did not
exist when you were an infant but are now must haves for any sensible parent
who wants their child healthy and well, I have only been out of the new baby
phase for 5 years and already walking into Babies R Us and seeing the latest
and greatest, I feel like we raised my kids as a Darwinian barbaric experience.
I mean how did they survive without warm wet wipes? It’s probably what they
will talk the their therapist about in a few decades.
And if
you think that is absurd, well then think of all the ways we protect our souls,
the thoughts and the emotions and behaviors we use to protect our hearts, to
wall ourselves off, to numb ourselves, to guard ourselves…. Perfectionism,
scarcity thinking, victim thinking, being a know it all, only letting people in
so much, hiding our own emotion, boxing parts of ourself off and hiding
them, cynicism, power roles, hustling for your worth, status seeking,
self worth through what we do, numbing through food, social media, shopping,
television, porn, booze (and don’t fool yourself that one glass a night does in
fact count)… and if I have not stepped on your toes yet, then you are not being
honest or maybe I need to repeat myself about the one glass of wine a
night.
We all
do it. We do whatever it takes to protect our hearts, to keep ourselves from
getting hurt, from showing and sharing emotions…. I mean here’s a confession: I
once attended a seminar where I learned how to stop myself from crying in a
sermon, how to wall off being human up here because it might make us all
uncomfortable, that is messed up. We all have coyote vest over our hearts and
we look just as silly as those dogs do in their coyote vests.
Thank
God Mother Mary was a better human being than us.
This
teenager girl just trying to figure life out, trying to make sense of things
with her future seeming certain- betrothed to a man she hardly knew, marrying
him and bearing children and following the course that every other girl her age
was supposed to follow. Things were going according to plan (and how we love
when things go according to plan).
And
then Gabriel shows up to announce to her this good news, that she was pregnant
with a child who was going to be the Savior of the world…. Which seems like
good news to us but this can’t be good news to Mary because this is the kinds
of news that won’t just get a sideways glance from a few folks, this is the
kinds of news that will cost you your engagement and your very future, that
will make put you as an outcast in society, that will put your family at odds,
that will put you at odds with your family, the type of news that could
devastate you if it did not kill you… I mean look at Joseph’s response to
this news, the good man decided that the best thing he could do was divorce her
quietly and leave her to a life with no real future as a woman on the fringe of
society and that is what a good man does… imagine what the not good man would
have done.
And
this baby will have David’s throne…. And remember things did not go so well for
David and his throne and his children. This baby who will “pierce your very own
soul.”This baby that is going to mess up all your plans and this path ahead
that looks so normal.
Talk
about a time to put up some walls, to find ways to numb, to become blissfully
distracted, to choose to not engage in order to protect yourself and your
heart.. all the thoughts and emotions and behaviors we use to protect
ourselves. Now is the time to pull those out and put them into use
But not
Mary, “Let it be.”
I have
thought a lot about those words this week and Mary’s response…. Part of me
wants to write it off to just simple teenage ignorance, she has not been burned
in life before, has not had her heart broken into pieces or given her heart
away and had it dismissed, she has not yet felt the full weight of shame and
guilt and anxiety, or at the very least she is supposed to be rebelling right
now right, isn’t that what the teenage years are for? And aren’t the teenage
years supposed to be about reckless choices and just prayers of survival?
But
then I thought about our teenagers, the ones I get to spend a week at with
camp, the ones whose faith and character just floor me because it is so
incredible, I remembered that there is so much more to being a teenager than
rebellions, ignorance and survival… the teenage years are about believing in
love, knowing that love is the most powerful force on earth and being willing
to love fully, which is about as human as we should be.
It’s us
adults who are so far from this truth, who have put up walls and rules, who
numb, who protect, who wear coyote vests over our hearts to in the words of
Bruce Springsteen again, “to wrongly to isolate ourself, seal our alienation,
cut us off from life, control others, and contain our emotions to a
damaging degree.”
Teenagers
might get their heart broken, but at least they have not forgotten how to live
and how to love. I have been working on opening myself up this fall with my
therapist, because when you realize you have attended lessons on how to contain
and control your emotions (and really that is a big lesson life seems to teach
men), there is some undoing that surely must be done. . A few sessions ago I
said to her, “This love is so much harder than I know, because it goes both
ways. For every time I learn to love more and to open my heart, I also learn to
hurt more and my risk of getting hurt increases.”
She
smiled and said “Griff that is the way. The only way. Embrace it. Live
it.
We know
the great teachers in life are love and suffering and that they very much might
be the same because you only suffer from something you love: grief over someone
you lost and loved, a broken heart over someone you trusted, a future that you
had already fallen in love with, a life that you held onto with all your
energy.
It’s
one of the more difficult things about Jesus: look at the beatitudes, it’s two
sides of the same coin… blessing and suffering…. Love and suffering… they are a
pair and you don’t get one without the other.
And the
best of humanity learns to accept this and risks the suffering for the glory of
love. That is the calling.
It
might be the calling of the Christmas story: are we willing to risk the pain in
order to love? Jesus’ very life gives us the answer. The incarnation is the
answer. It’s the closing line of the poem we use every Christmas Eve from
Madeline L’Engle: “Love still takes the risk of birth.”
Mary
takes the risk. Let it be. And then what happens next, Mary heads to
Elizabeth’s house, she takes a journey that is risky and too far to travel when
you are pregnant and dangerous. I am not sure this is the first thing she does,
I think she might try to tell others her news and no one else will receive it…
so she goes to the only one who might listen to a teenage girl telling the
truth of the risk of love (a side lesson: we would all do better to listen to
the 14 years olds walking amongst us). Her aunt will listen and her aunt knows
because she too finds herself in quite a predicament, pregnant beyond child
bearing age (another side lesson: this picture of a teenage Mary and older
Elizabeth is the exact reason we better be growing intergenerational ministry,
great truths come from the collision of teenage energy and older wisdom… it’s
there we find confirmation and companionship and community and care… it’s good
and we need to make room for it here).
But
their conversation is not so much a conversation as musical theater. Which any
artist will tell you is just a truth, back to Bruce Springsteen and his
creative process: “You’re trying to take all this misunderstanding and
loathing, and you’re turning it into love- which is the wonderful thing that
happens when you’re trying to make music out of the rough, bad things. You’re
trying to turn it into love.”
Which
is exactly what Mary does, she takes this situation and she turns it into a
love song. And in that song her heart grew three sizes that day.
This
love song is so much bigger than she knew when she started singing, but that is
what love does…. Let love in and everything will get bigger- your life and your
world, your very being, love increases and expands and grows everything.
Let
love in and everything changes…. Systems collapse, rules are broken, risks are
taken… suddenly what once looked like the worst news ever is a whole new way
forward, suddenly those who have never been included are included finally,
suddenly what once seemed bad is good, everything is topsy turvy in the most
wonderful way and salvation is finally found in the places we least expect it….
because that is the work of love.
Saint
Brene Brown calls this our revolution: “Revolution might sound a little
dramatic, but in this world choosing authenticity and worthiness is an absolute
act of resistance. Choosing to love and to love with our whole hearts is an act
of defiance. You are going to confuse, anger and terrify a lot of people
including yourself. One minute you’ll play that the transformation stops, and
the next minute you’ll play it never ends. You’ll also wonder how you can feel
so brave and so afraid at the same time.... brave and afraid and very, very
alive.”
Listen
to Mary’s song…. Long before O Holy Night and “his law is love and his Gospel
is peace” we have Mary singing about God overthrowing the social order, the
hungry finally being fed, and the rich being sent away empty handed. This love
song is a revolution, but if you think about it, isn’t every love song?
Because
love songs open us up, love opens us up….. and the greatest of these is love.
And
maybe that is what we need right now…. A love song and a revolution. We need
some adults that are willing to be as brave as our teenagers, who are willing
to take all the chains and protective layers off their hearts and souls, that
are willing to say yes to God’s risky plans, it’s time for us to be as brave as
Mary, to look at Love and to respond with a yes, let it be, let love be.
That is
how the love song begins. That is how the revolution begins. That is how
salvation begins. So yes Lord, let it be. Let love be. Amen and Amen.
*artwork: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Painting by Jose Antonio Robles, fineartamerica.com/profiles/jose-antonio-robles.html
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