The Pastor’s Words

Text: Luke 1:39-55
20 December 2009
Topic: Mary, Mother of our Lord

            Over the years, I have had interesting conversations in Bible studies concerning Mary, the mother of our Lord, and how we, as Lutherans, as Protestants, should regard her. 

            Generally the conversations have concluded that we ought not worship Mary, but that we should venerate (honor, respect, and revere) her more.  We should honor her as the one who gave birth to the One who is God; we should respect her for her life-long commitment to her Son; and we should revere her as a faithful witness to the faith.

            Our Gospel reading for today tells the story of Mary who has just learned that she is pregnant with God’s Son and has gone to tell her cousin, Elizabeth, the good news.  Upon Mary’s announcement, the baby within Elizabeth leaps for joy.  And then, Mary responds with her own song of joy by singing what has come to be known as the Magnifcat.

            I’ll never forget a conversation that took place in my first congregation in Macomb, Illinois some 25 years ago regarding this story about Mary.  Jed Griesaber, a woman in a Bible study in that congregation, said, “You know, people shouldn’t get all worked up over the fact that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus.  If God had REALLY wanted to perform a miracle, he would have had a MAN give birth to Jesus.”

            Obviously, having a man give birth to Jesus wasn’t part of God’s plan.  But what WAS part of God’s plan was that Mary would be chosen to give birth to Jesus who, in turn, would become the salvation of all women and men, for all time and in all places.

            Our Gospel text has two paragraphs.  The first one speaks of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, and her response to Mary’s visit. The second paragraph is Mary’s song of praise. 

            In Elizabeth’s response to Mary’s announcement, twice she uses the term “blessed” to describe Mary.  We are all familiar with the phrase, “Blessed Virgin Mary,” or its abbreviation, “BVM.”  Indeed, Mary, who was a virgin, was blessed and given a very special mission in her life, a mission that has resulted in our salvation.  This is why the Lutheran church, today, honors Mary with a festival on August 15th in our church’s calendar each year.  We want to venerate and honor Mary appropriately for her role in salvation history.

            In the second paragraph of our gospel reading, we hear of Mary’s song of praise, the Magnificat.  In her song, she praises God for all the great things God has done for her personally and for what God has done for faithful people everywhere.   Here’s what Mary says God has done:

·        God has blessed her with a special mission, a mission that will result in you and me finding a place in heaven.

·        God shows mercy to those who worship him which is evidenced by the grace we discover each and every day that we rise.

·        God shows His strength by scattering the proud.  And who among us hasn’t felt God’s condemnation at one time or another because of our pride?

·        God drags strong rulers from their thrones and replaces them with people who have a sense of humility about them.            We don’t see much evidence of this lately, but we can always hope.

·        God gives the hungry good things to eat, and sends the rich away with nothing.  By the world’s standard, we are rich, every one of us in this room.  And, as I said last week, we have learned how to share.  We are part of God’s plan to feed the hungry of this community and the world.

·        God is merciful to his people forever, wherever they live, for all time and for all places.  This is true for faithful followers in Tanzania, in the Czech Republic, in Liberia, and in Pennsylvania.  God is merciful, all the time.  All the time, God is merciful.

            What Mary found truly amazing is that God found anything of value in her.  She was truly struck by God’s acceptance and regard for her. 

Indeed, this is the gospel message for us as well.  After all, who are we that God would find favor in us either?  Who are we that God would send His only Son to be born on earth and to die for us?  Mary was humbled by God’s selection of her to become the bearer of such Good News, even as we are humbled by God’s grace and mercy in sending Jesus to become our salvation.

            Prior to the Reformation, a cult had grown up around Mary and the worship of her.  Rightfully, the Protestants protested that Mary was not to be worshiped. 

            But, now, it is time to honor Mary for what she DID do.  She was the one chosen to give birth to the One who is God and she said “yes!”  She could have said, “no” but she said, “yes.” She was one who was faithful to her Son, even to the end of Jesus’ life.  And she is one who deflects the attention away from herself and instead points us to Christ who is our salvation.

            And so, as we approach this anniversary celebration of Jesus’ birth, let us also remember and give thanks for Mary, His mother.  Let us feed off of her humility.  And let us truly venerate her as an essential part of our salvation.   AMEN

John explains that his baptism of repentance, which is not unlike our own baptismal call of radical obedience to Christ, expects those who are baptized to share their wealth, to share their food, to treat others fairly.  In a word, John expects us to be generous and not greedy.

And thankfully, this congregation gets the point of what John is saying. This year, once again, this congregation has responded marvelously to the appeal for stuffing mix to be given to who are not as well off as us in our community.  Over 800 boxes of stuffing mix were collected and delivered to the Salvation Army in Coatesville for Operation Thanksgiving/Christmas.

In addition this, people made over 30 cans of cookies which I have been delivering as I am visiting our shut-ins.  You have also purchased over a 100 gifts for our “angel tree” which will be given to people who really need them.

Yesterday, members of our congregation took turns ringing the Salvation Army bell at Kmart in Thorndale.  Their shift began at 9 a.m. and didn’t finish until 9 p.m. last night. 

Over the years, I have spoken with a few of our members who have taken a turn at ringing the Salvation Army bell and each of them tells of how rewarding an experience it is.  One common thread to their stories is that poor people seem to give more generously than those who appear to be well dressed.

As radically obedient followers of the message which Jesus gave us, which John the Baptist prepared the way for, we must continue to share something of ourselves to show that our faith is not just so much tinsel on a tree.

You and I, through this congregation, have responded to the ethical demands placed upon us when we came to faith.  And now, we must continue lest John the Baptist comes back and calls us a “bunch of snakes.”

When we made the promise in baptism to follow Christ, and re-affirmed that promise at our confirmation, our lives changed.   When Jesus said, “Love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself”, a lifetime goal was given to each of us, a goal that we seek to live out on a daily basis.

John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah’s birth by reminding us to pay attention to the needs of others.  And that’s what we are doing when we give food to the hungry and clothes to those who need them.   It is part of  “loving our neighbor” as Jesus taught us to do.

So, may these final weeks of preparation for Christmas find us continuing to care for the needs of others even as we grow in our love for the Savior.  AMEN

Text:  Malachi 3:1-4 & Luke 3:1-6
6 Dec 2009
Topic:  Fires that Get us Ready
 
            A few years ago, a friend of mine from Minnesota said something I won’t ever forget.  He and his wife had been married for over 30 years and one morning at 4 a.m. they were awakened by the screeching of their smoke alarm.  They quickly realized their garage was on fire.  They jumped out of bed, ran out of the house and called 911.  The fire department arrived at their house in literally ten minutes, but not before their entire garage and its contents were destroyed.  Were it not for their smoke alarm, they and the rest of their house would have gone up in flames. 
Two years after the fire, my friend and I were talking on the phone and these are the words he said which I will never forget, “You know, at the time of the fire, it was devastating, but in retrospect, it brought me and my wife closer together.  In fact, since the fire, it’s been really great between us.  We haven’t had it so good in years!” 
Prior to the fire, this couple had been having marital difficulties for years.  Prior to the fire they had barely been speaking to each other.  They rarely even tried to communicate.  It was a marriage in name only and not a relationship.
And then came the fire.  It changed everything.  It forced them to leave their home for six months as the insurance people had to come in, assess the damage, and allow time for the cleaning of the entire house and its contents. 
The fire forced them to relate again.  The fire forced them to work as a couple.  They had to decide what things they would have to throw in the trash, and what things they would they would try to salvage, some of which were special things from early days in their married life. 
The fire made them look at the priorities in their lives and they discovered that each of them was important to the other.  They re-discovered the reasons they got married in the first place.  They recognized they were better together than apart.
The book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, was written some 400 years before Christ’s birth.  The word Malachi means messenger.  The purpose of the book was to deliver a message God wanted the people of Israel to hear.
We receive part of that message in our first lesson for today when Malachi proclaims the words of the Lord in this way, “I, the Lord all-powerful, will send my messenger to prepare the way for me.  Then suddenly the Lord you are looking for will appear in his temple.  The messenger you desire is coming with my promise, and he is on his way.”  (Malachi 3:1  CEV)
Several people are referenced in this one short verse.  First, Malachi says a “messenger” will be sent to prepare the way for someone who would be coming after him.  That messenger would later become known to us as John the Baptist. 
In the next breath, Malachi says, “The Lord you are looking for will appear in the temple.”  This was a reference to Jesus, the one who would grow up quickly and become the boy wonder in the temple, the one who would later be found discussing and debating theology with the rabbis in the temple while his parents went frantically all over the city looking for him.
Malachi prophesied that two people would be coming to deliver the message God wanted to have delivered, the first would be John the Baptist and the second would be Jesus.
But then, Malachi prophesied something the people of that time were certainly not willing to hear or accept, nor would we if we were to hear these words today.
Malachi said, “On the day the Lord comes, he will be like a furnace that purifies silver….No one will be able to stand up to him.  The Lord will purify the descendents of Levi (the temple priests) as though they were gold or silver.”  Malachi said, the Lord was coming to purify the people with fire, just as those who make metal make it pure through fire.
People in this community know what it means to purify metal and see the results.  What began as Lukens Steel over a hundred years ago and is now Arcelormittal still takes raw materials and scrap metal, and with temperatures around 1,800 Celsius, heats these materials in an electric furnace to produce as pure a form of steel as they can possibly make.  Slag, with all its impurities, is put off to the side, and only the purified steel is poured into the ladle which ultimately is rolled into ribbons of steel.
At Arcelormittal, fire is used to purify.  Fire is used to separate what’s important from what’s not.  Fire, in the production of steel, and in the case my friend and his wife, is used and was used to bring together what otherwise might remain separate and estranged.  Fire is an agent of God.  Fire can sometimes purify us.
When John the Baptist appeared in the desert, he was shouting this message, “Turn back to God (repent) and be baptized!  Then your sins will be forgiven.”  (Luke 3:3 CEV)  His message was as hot as a fire.  It cut through and melted the hearts of the people who were listening to him. 
He wanted to fulfill his mission, namely, that of “getting the road ready for the coming of the Lord.”
Some of us are able to hear and learn from the words of John the Baptist, repent of our sinful ways, turn around and live as God would have us live and not get singed.
But others of us sometimes have to experience the hot fires in life that literally bring us to our knees.  Some of us cannot repent, and will not repent, until we have used every ounce of our will power to fight off what is truly needed for us to bend our will to the will of God.
John the Baptist came out of the desert and announced that God’s Son was on his way. That announcement would include words that the people would not want to hear.  We’ll hear those words next week.  It includes John’s fiery proclamation, “You brood of snakes!”  You’ll have to come back next week to learn more about that.
But for today, it is sufficient to know, that the fires which sometimes come our way are actually fires intended to purify us, fires intended to help us sort out what’s really important from those things that are distractions.  Sometimes the fires in our lives are messages from God to help us repent and return to God and separate from that which is impure. 
And sometimes those fires result in stronger bonds between us and God and between us and those with whom we love and live.  
Today, we need to look at our life.  We need to examine our life.  We need to look and see what God may be saying to us as we see the fires that burn around us.  Perhaps, just perhaps, God has a message waiting for us to hear.  Sometimes, fires purify.  AMEN