Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 1:46b-55; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
[look these up on biblegateway.com or bible.oremus.org]
On the occasion of pipes in the sprinkler system freezing, bursting, and flooding our building.
Sometimes things don’t always go according to plan.
For example, you build a beautiful new church and don’t include a basement, knowing full well the village water table issues, and not relishing those memories of flood cleanups in the old building…only to have pipes burst and walls of water coming down through the kitchen ceiling.
Ah, cleanup.
There’s also the kinds of plans every church has at Christmas, plans for holiday gatherings and receptions and the meal we were going to host this afternoon; plans for the Cantata next week--I think we were planning on having a prettier sanctuary with a bit more drywall--or at least, just plain dry walls--plans to have the general public and more visitors here in the building and really enjoy our new church home.
Ah, more cleanup!
We scrambled to reschedule some things this weekend, and I really have no doubt that the show will go on next weekend, Cantata and Christmas services alike, even though we’ll be a bit battered and rough-looking. We are having a sort-of manger-like Christmas here, amongst our piles of things drying out and rescued from the waters and props from Christmas pageants past sitting over here and there. We’re grateful things weren’t any worse than they are, and grateful for insurance, and so forth, and in the midst of all this, has that old saying occurred to you that when people plan, God laughs?
When People Plan, God Probably Does Laugh...
Ah. Things had a way of not going according to people’s plans in the Bible, either.
Case in point: Mary. She was a young woman engaged to Joseph, and what do you normally think about when you’re engaged and planning a wedding? Probably the dress, hair, makeup, shoes, menu: chicken or fish? ...music for the reception, the gifts…but for Mary, an angel messenger interrupts those plans and tells her that something radically different is in store--something that means there probably won’t be a dress, hair, makeup, shoes, reception, whatever hopes and dreams and plans she had for her wedding day. Jesus’ arrival into this world would turn everything upside down. [Incidentally, that’s why I love the John Bell hymn, No Wind At the Window, which is the first time I’ve seen something to say, “sorry about that wedding you were planning, Mary.”]
In the face of such shocking news, Mary could have been humiliated by the scandal; could have agreed to be put away quietly, to live in exile. She could let this unexpected arrival really ruin her life. After all, isn’t that the fear and the social script we still maintain for every unexpected pregnancy to an unwed young mother?
However, Mary does something different. She rises to the occasion, and her response is one that both praises God and claims a vision for the future where the whole world order is turned upside down:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
Remember that well, when we sing the hymn following the message, this idea that the world is about to turn. [Canticle of the Turning]
Not In Soft Robes
Something interesting happens between the story of Mary’s Magnificat and the Gospel text for today. Look this up with me in your Bibles. In Luke, the story says Mary went to visit her aunt Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist at the time, and the baby John leapt in recognition when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, came near. Even in the womb, there was the recognition, and John announced, or heralded, the arrival of the messiah. Fast-forward thirty-odd years, and John is at it again, out in the wilderness, gathering followers, heralding the arrival of the messiah, whom he may or may not have seen in awhile. Perhaps they were distant cousins. Anyway, John has landed himself in prison, which doesn’t sound like what he’d been hoping for, and when he hears of Jesus teaching and healing, he sends word to see if this is indeed the one they have hoped for.
We talked a few weeks ago about how the Jewish people were hoping for a king or deliverer with sufficient military power to defeat their enemies; today we hear about how the very appearance of John or Jesus may defy all expectation. After all, neither are dressed in soft robes and lying around in palaces. And yet, that’s not really the definition of a king, of the one who will deliver the people. Rather, Jesus points to what really matters:
“the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (11:5).
The world again is turned upside down.
Be Patient; Strengthen Your Hearts
Friends, I recognize that this is the last week in the world we want to hear this Isaiah passage about springs of living water bursting forth, making the deserts bloom, of deserts becoming pools and swamps, and so on. Good for those deserts, maybe, but we’ve had enough, thanks.
But I want to lift up the next verse in the Isaiah passage that also gets repeated in the letter of James today, because I think it’s exactly what we need to hear this week: Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.
And God is here. God is here in the midst of this mess, and really, in the midst of every mess, every disaster, every “what do we do next?” kind of moment.
James says, 8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged.
And figuring a way out of those moments usually takes time, and a great deal of patience. (A dose of good humor never hurts in situations like these either.)
Even babies take nine months to be born; even prophets and messiahs take about thirty years before starting their world-changing ministry; to plant and to harvest as the scriptures note today also takes due time.
Flood cleanups happen relatively quickly by comparison.
I do believe that when people plan, God laughs, but I don’t think it’s too often a harsh, mocking, humiliating laughter. I tend to think of it as more of a loving, good-natured chuckle.
Even at Christmas, things can get turned upside down. Dinner gets burnt, holiday gatherings get snowed out, or flooded out, and all the like. We can let it get the best of us, or we can rise to the occasion. At Christmas, we can find our outlook transformed by hope, peace, love, and joy. After all, this time of year we remember more than ever, that the blind may see, the deaf hear the lame walk and the dead rise again. God’s grace is in the turning, a grace that sends us for a loop, and by which we might see everything in a new light. Thanks be to God!
Prayers this week:
For those in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, under a foot of snow --beautiful but dangerously cold for those who have no heat; and the deep floodwaters in Gaza that cause harm to so many
For all who struggle in the cold and snow
For all who have empty hands and empty stomachs
For all who seek a welcoming home for the holidays
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