Fourth Sunday of Advent

Luke 1:39-55

This Advent, as we have accompanied Jesus’ mother Mary through the season, our Advent reflection has had us questioning,
“How do we participate in bringing about the Kingdom of God here on earth?”
“How do we bear God into the world?”
and, “Who else is the Church beyond those of us who gather here this morning, whose names are already known to us?”

Responding to John’s call for repentance we remember that when we turn away from ourselves, we can see new ways to serve others.

So having spent time with Mary and with John, now we meet Mary’s relative Elizabeth, a woman who is married to a priest named Zechariah and lives in a village in the hill country of Judea, about ninety miles south of Nazareth.

Earlier in his gospel, Luke tells us that Elizabeth already is “in her old age.” She has lived her life childless in a time and place where a woman’s role was to bear children and barrenness was mis-understood as failure.[i] Perhaps there would have been whispers behind her back or she might have been openly scorned and excluded by other women in her village.

But now, like Mary, Elizabeth has conceived a child, and Luke says that she is in the sixth month of her pregnancy when we hear her respond to the surprise arrival of her relative Mary with joy and with celebration.

Luke says Elizabeth “exclaimed with a loud cry” when she heard Mary’s greeting.  We don’t know why Elizbeth cries out; she could have been reacting to her sudden awareness of the Holy Spirit or to the baby’s kick in her womb. The Rev. Dr. Judith Jones, a religion professor at Wartburg College, suggests Elizabeth’s speech is prophetic; she proclaims what hasn’t been announced to anyone but Mary. She alone sees what others can’t or won’t; she recognizes that the child Mary carries is the promised Messiah and Lord.

Listening to the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth uses her prophetic voice to stand against social conventions that would have shunned an unwed pregnant woman when she declares that Mary is blessed. Welcoming Mary instead of shaming her, Elizabeth embodies the radical love that we receive first from God, embracing Mary instead of rejecting her.

Elizabeth’s story prompts more questions this Advent:
“How do we listen to the Spirit’s prompting in our lives?”
And, “How do we receive those who arrive on our doorstep unexpectedly?”

After Hurricane Florence crawled through the Carolinas in September, dumping feet of rain in places, one Myrtle Beach business owner who owns a motel in the resort town gave away one thousand hotel stays to provide shelter to neighbors and residents who were now homeless.  CBS News updated the story just after Thanksgiving to share how his generosity has now been multiplied through donations from others that are providing assistance to people who are just beginning to get back on their feet. [ii]

Here in Shelby, at Aldersgate United Methodist volunteers work with the social workers in the schools to organize a “Christmas Store.” Similar to an angel tree where you can take a tag that lists several items for a child, the volunteers collect the wish lists and then they buy and sort items and invite families to come in and pick up their Christmas bags, but there are also books to go home with each child and parents have an opportunity both to shop for extra items that have been donated or collected, and they are invited to make a small donation that then helps another family. Last week when there was still snow on the ground a young mother arrived at the church without a coat and after some conversation with her, the volunteers learned the extent of the family’s needs. Our larger Shelby community, united in our faith in Jesus Christ, was able to help that family.

Elizabeth and Mary remind us that we do not journey through this life alone.

Maybe you are like Mary, frightened and astonished at the events in your life, and searching out a person you can trust. Or perhaps you are someone’s Elizabeth, the person to whom they can turn when the world has been upended, and you speak words of blessing and assurance to them, reminding them that God is still present.

Listening to the Holy Spirit, this Advent, may we be bound together by the love God has first given us and respond with joy and celebration to each person we meet.

Let us pray…[iii]
Merciful God, Thank you for embracing the faithful,
one generation to the next;
Thank you for the promise of Your Son coming as the light of the world at Christmas,
The incarnation of Your presence that restores us and saves us.
By Your Holy Spirit, strengthen us in our journey of faith that we will walk in the ways of peace, and be ready to greet the coming Lord with joy and celebration.
Amen.

[i] The Rev. Dr. Judith Jones, “Commentary on Luke 1:39-45 (46-55).” Luther Seminary WorkingPreacher.com, accessed 12/22/2018.
[ii] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jaret-hucks-midtown-inn-myrtle-beach-south-carolina-update/, accessed 12/22/2018
[iii] Adapted from Laughing Bird liturgical resources