Greetings, favored ones!

It's hard to believe sometimes that God, really, favors us.  It's hard to believe that God takes special notice of us, not just in an abstract, but a real way.  The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are concrete signs of this special favor God grants to each of us, just as God took special notice of Mary.  While we are not being called to give birth to the Christ child (whew!), we are called to bear the Messiah of the world to others in our words and actions.  We are called to give witness to the Christ who is coming again soon into the world.

4^th Sunday in Advent (Year B) – Sunday, December 18, 2011

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lancaster, PA

Texts: Luke 1:26-38; 46-55

What do we mean when we call people blessed, or favored, by God? We look at young, smart, wealthy, healthy, or thin people, with the three beautiful children and the white picket fence, and we think, “oh, they're so blessed.” We look at the big church with the gleaming sanctuary, four services, valet parking, and 18 Sunday School classes and we wonder how they got so much favor with God. I look at someone like Tim Tebow, quarterback of the Denver Broncos who's led them to 6 straight wins, who is young and healthy, a devout Christian, by all accounts a wonderful human being, and he says every week in his news conference, rightly, how blessed he is. He gives the credit to God. Wonderful.

But what about us? I'm not seeing so many young people out there. How many of you have struggled with a major or chronic illness or injury, or sat next to a loved one who has? After the first 20 trips to the doctor, or the positive test results, or the sentence of being confined to your home, are you still favored by God?

Have you ever wondered what happened to our neighborhood which now features more than enough dilapidated buildings and closed up shops? Here at church, what happened to a choir loft filled to the back and having to hunt for Sunday School teachers and needing to expand into a new building?

How many of you are, or have ever been, the boss in your workplace? Do you feel like you have enough money in your bank account? Have you done very many of the things you set out to do in life? Do you feel like you've lived a life that God would look upon with favor? Where is God's favor in this place?

My brothers and sisters, meet Mary. She's a young Jewish woman from a backwater town halfway to nowhere with no money and no influence. She didn't need any misfortune to happen to be completely without social status. I really think you'd identify with her.

The remarkable story we heard today begins by taking notice of her. Have you ever felt the joy of being noticed? By a parent, a teacher or coach, by someone who loves you? The text immediately takes notice of this nobody Jewish girl in an unusual way – it gives us her name. Normally, it would be enough to say she was some virgin engaged to Joseph, of the house of David. But Luke tells us her name was Mary, or Miriam, the name of the great prophet Miriam, Moses' right-hand woman.

The angel Gabriel, messenger of the Lord, comes to Mary's little forgotten corner of the universe, bringing along God's notice of her, saying “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Huh? We're told she was perplexed by his words and debated within herself what sort of greeting this might be. I'd love to know what was running through her mind...Angels don't usually come up to me...I wonder if he's got the right house...what does this mean that I'm favored? Wait 'til he meets Joseph, he might reconsider that statement! But really, favored one. Me? I haven't done anything! God is with me? Oh no, he's gonna ask me to do something...what does this mean?

As she stands there pondering, Gabriel breaks into her thoughts, saying “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” At this point, I imagine her internal conversation taking an irritated turn. Don't be afraid? How many times have you been caught off guard by an angel? And what's the deal with that word, favor, again? Why is God paying attention to me? I just want to go about my business....

But Gabriel isn't done. I can't really imagine what entered Mary's mind once Gabe dropped the big news – now, you're eating for two, Mary. Your son will be called Yeshua, Jesus, that is, and, basically, he's nothing short of Israel's long-awaited Messiah. As these words began to bounce around in Mary's mind, some of them beginning to hit home, all she can say is, “How can this be?”

Greetings, favored ones! The Lord is with you. I mean, really, with you. Remember, when the Lord was with you when you were baptized? That was real. The Lord comes right up to you in this simple bread and wine, every Sunday. God is really, no joke, here, right now, in this place, but also in your life. Don't worry, you haven't done anything....and you're not pregnant!! Well, except one of you... BUT – you have all found favor with God.

Still skeptical? Well, so was Mary. She heard this crazy story from Gabriel that God was paying special attention to her, and oh, by the way you're pregnant and your son's the Messiah. I'm no angel but I'm telling you that God favors you and has plans for you. You might be wondering, like her, “How can this be? since I'm just a fairly unremarkable person in an old neighborhood in an old, unremarkable city. I haven't done anything particularly notable, I'm dealing with a lot of stuff in my life and I feel pretty inadequate a lot of the time, so what are you talking about??”

But my friends, the good news is that this is the point. Just like Mary, you haven't done anything in particular which caught God's eye and you haven't earned special “favor with God” status. God just favors you, no matter what is going on in your life, and loves you with an unconditional love that endured even death on a cross so that he could give you the favor of a new life. God is choosing you, right now, favoring you, calling you to bear the Messiah not in your womb, if you got one, but through your words and your actions, however small, however unique, they may be.

Gabriel tells Mary that she will not be alone in her calling to bear the Savior of the world. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” he says. In your baptism, you have been sealed with the same Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. As in the words of a beloved prayer, we do not know where we go but only that God's hand is leading us and God's love is supporting us.

But that's not all – Gabriel shows Mary that God can do impossible, unbelievable things, like giving Elizabeth, her elderly, barren relative, a son. Every day, God is doing impossible, unbelievable things in our world, too. In this city, someone in need never needs to go hungry, for there are people sharing God's love with a hot meal three times a day, seven days a week. That's a miracle if you ask me. Consider all this congregation has been through, and look at us all here today, worshiping God and going out to do God's mission. Nothing is impossible with God. Consider the miracle of life itself, especially those whose very lives were called improbable. Consider your own life, and the times when you saw no way out, or the struggles and transformations through which God has brought you. For nothing is impossible with God.

You are here, favored ones, and God is calling you. Mary is not distant nor is she perfect – she is like every one of us. God came to her speaking impossible things, but through God's presence in Gabriel's voice, through the promise of God's future presence and the witness of God's great works, Mary was able to say “alright, God, here I am, your servant. This is good stuff you're doing. I want some more of it, count me in, let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary did not jump off a cliff with blind faith. God came right to her, favoring her, showing her his goodness. God comes right up to you, in your unremarkable corner of the universe, favoring you. God is giving you the opportunity in your life to be a disciple of Jesus, a pretty remarkable thing in our society, and to do incredible things like feed strangers and love your enemies. God is giving our congregation the opportunity to be a blessing to our city in new, unexpected ways. Four candles are lit, the Christ child is near, but the angel has brought his news, and we wait these last days with a vision of the impossible made possible, the Lord looking with favor on all his lowly servants, the mighty cast down and the lowly lifted up, the hungry filled and the rich sent away empty, the promise of mercy made to our ancestors fulfilled in a totally unexpected way. Amen, Come Lord Jesus!