If there were a place in the world where fear does not exist, would you want to go there? Maybe you’ve already been there. Take a moment and think about that. Think about the times and places when you have felt the safest; the freest; the most sincerely aware that you were unique in the world and loved by others and beloved by God and treated with kindness. Do you have that moment in your mind? Hold onto it, if you do.
Don’t worry. I’m not going to challenge it or try to make you feel bad or awkward about it. I only want to honor it for what it is. Maybe you don’t have just one moment like that. Maybe you have too many to choose from. Whatever memories you have conjured up let us be thankful for them, because some have none. It may be that we who have many are called to create moments like these for others, but let’s hold that thought for a minute or two as well as we consider God’s word for us today.
The prophecy of Isaiah, which finds fulfillment in the testimony of Luke, described an experience of safety and belovedness for those who were enslaved and grew up in captivity. He described the one who will judge for those in poverty – not judgment on, but for them – and described a time when predator and prey will live in harmony. Even the serpent, who was cursed in Genesis 3:15 to be at odds with the children of Eve, is no longer a danger.
We, of course, believe the righteous one he describes to be Jesus, and we believe that the vision he casts is one of peace. The same is true, without a doubt, of the visions I asked you to conjure up earlier. To be without fear, to be known as unique and beloved, to know that you are safe from all that assails – this is what it means to be at peace.
Of course, this is not the only way to be at peace. It’s just the purest experience of peace. In some ways, it is more ideal than real to say that the only way to be at peace is to be in a space where you are safe and beloved and without conflict. There is nothing wrong with holding the “no conflict” model out as an ideal. It’s just not the way life works. Life is messy. If we try to control all the variables then it might be nice for a time…for us…if we have enough power and influence to stay in control.
Sooner or later, though, there will be things we cannot control. That’s why we hold onto the memories of the good times, but it’s also an invitation to a deeper peace – the kind of peace that comes from knowing God loves you when no one else seems to care. This is the peace that Paul told the church in Philippians 4:7 “passes understanding”. It is the peace that follows Isaiah’s claim about the righteous one who decides with “equity for the oppressed”. It is the peace that Dr. King referred to as the presence of justice rather than the absence of conflict.
Now, y’all know I love to talk about justice. Y’all know that I love to talk about the systems that create oppression in the world. Hopefully, y’all know how important it is that we work together to find correctives where we can, but just as importantly – maybe more so – we have to find ways to live in the peace of God in the middle of our conflicts with each other.
Sometimes that can be as simple as a note in a lunchbox. I recently heard the story of a mom that wrote love notes on napkins and put them in her child’s lunchbox. One week she noticed that the napkins were being ripped up and put back in the box. She asked her child, who said, “Please don’t send any more notes, Mom! Taylor steals them and tears them up.” At first, she was pretty angry and felt like a Moma Bear with a wounded cub. Then she thought about her own wounds and places of need. When had she gotten mad at others as a child? When had she walked in Taylor’s shoes?
It was when someone had something that she did not. It was when she had felt less than or put down just by not having the same options as someone else. She began to think that maybe this wasn’t a simple bullying situation, and she told her child, “Let’s try something else. I’m going to write Taylor a note!” So she wrote notes for her child that said, “Have an amazing day!” and she added one for Taylor that said, “Hey, Taylor – I hear that you’re an amazing kid. Have a great day.”
As you might expect, it worked! It took a week or so, but it turned a space of fear and conflict into a space where love could grow. Of course, it’s a lot easier to do that with a kid’s lunch box than it is with global conflict or even local politics, but the building blocks are there.
Oddly enough, or maybe not so much, we find a blueprint to build an even greater response in the story of the Annunciation of the incarnation of God given by the Angel Gabriel and received by Mary. While there is much that could be said about this ancient story that has been passed from generation to generation, I think the important thing to focus on is what this story says about what God hoped to bring about through the life and ministry of Jesus beginning with the faithfulness of Mary.
I don’t mean to venerate Mary – or vilify those who do – but I want to recognize the way Gabriel approaches her and the way her responses – all of them – indicate the peace of God in the presence of fear. I say in the presence of fear because the first thing he says to her after “Greetings, Favored One” is “Don’t be afraid.”
The NRSV tells us that he said this because “she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” We don’t have any indicator of what Gabriel may have looked like, but there was something in the exchange that made it clear that this was a messenger of God. Personally, I like the version Alan Rickman offered in the movie Dogma where he had to show off his wings for his message to be received, but the text says it was the greeting that perplexed her. He called her “favored one” and for some reason, the NRSV leaves out “blessed among women.” This perplexed her. True to the text it disturbed her to the core. Gabriel doesn’t seem to be very good at the comfort game because he simply repeats, “You have found favor with God” before launching into a monologue about the baby she is going to bear, who will become a king in the line of David.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Gabriel doesn’t ask her if she’s ok with any of this. He just tells her that it’s going to happen. Given this announcement and the whole divinity thing, it may seem that consent is not really an option here – not that it would be for Mary anyway. Yet what do we tend to focus on? We focus on Mary’s agreement.
Before that, she asks how and Gabriel says the Holy Spirit will make it and then gives her the assurance that the same is true for her cousin Elizabeth – who was too old to conceive. Then Mary says, Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
There you have it. End of the story – Mary is the chosen one and Jesus is on the way – or is it? According to Kenda Creasy Dean in The God Bearing Life (a classic youth ministry guidebook), this story reminds us that God seeks our consent and our involvement, that we might be bearers of God, too.
Think of it this way. Gabriel comes in as the bearer of God’s word. Mary questions it, reconciles her fears with her hopes, and becomes the bearer of God’s living word which is Jesus. While we may say that this story is not unlike other myths in which great leaders and heroes of renown have some kind of genetic connection with divinity, what we find here is that God proves Godself to be different by seeking a partnership.
Over and over in the scriptures, God proves Godself to be different than the ideas of god that others follow. Those gods required the firstborn as a sacrifice. This God offered a ram instead. Those gods were defeated when foreign powers came in. This God was still present when God’s people were conquered. Stories of Greek gods have them falling prey to lust and creating tyrants and monsters from their hubris and capriciousness. This God came to Marry, a seemingly unimportant peasant girl, and said, “Let’s make the impossible reality of love and grace and mercy into a new and common reality.”
Here’s where it comes back to you and to me because this Jesus made the same Holy Spirit that overshadowed Mary accessible to you and to me. How might we open ourselves to the growth of the Holy Spirit within us? How might we demonstrate that this God works differently than the world works?
How might we demonstrate the movement of a God that puts justice alongside righteousness; that judges on behalf of those in poverty; that sees the oppression that we are not willing to see because it does not affect us directly; and yet says to you and to me “Fear not, for I have found favor in you because I created you as unique as the stars and snowflakes and grains of sand. You are safe in my love, and I trust you because I choose to take the risk of loving the world through you.”
Some of those questions we can answer together. Some of them are between you and God. Try not to overthink it though. It might be as simple as a note in a lunchbox. Just remember that God is with you in your fear and doubt, and God’s perfect love casts out all fear.
Hopefully, as we gather around Christ’s table today, this can be one of those places and of those times that assures you of God’s peace – the peace that is present even in conflict; the peace that has no reason for being there except that it comes from God; the peace that encourages us to look deep within until we come face to face with the one in whose image we were created. At least I pray it may be so with me, and with you, and to God be the glory, now and always. Amen.
Don’t worry. I’m not going to challenge it or try to make you feel bad or awkward about it. I only want to honor it for what it is. Maybe you don’t have just one moment like that. Maybe you have too many to choose from. Whatever memories you have conjured up let us be thankful for them, because some have none. It may be that we who have many are called to create moments like these for others, but let’s hold that thought for a minute or two as well as we consider God’s word for us today.
The prophecy of Isaiah, which finds fulfillment in the testimony of Luke, described an experience of safety and belovedness for those who were enslaved and grew up in captivity. He described the one who will judge for those in poverty – not judgment on, but for them – and described a time when predator and prey will live in harmony. Even the serpent, who was cursed in Genesis 3:15 to be at odds with the children of Eve, is no longer a danger.
We, of course, believe the righteous one he describes to be Jesus, and we believe that the vision he casts is one of peace. The same is true, without a doubt, of the visions I asked you to conjure up earlier. To be without fear, to be known as unique and beloved, to know that you are safe from all that assails – this is what it means to be at peace.
Of course, this is not the only way to be at peace. It’s just the purest experience of peace. In some ways, it is more ideal than real to say that the only way to be at peace is to be in a space where you are safe and beloved and without conflict. There is nothing wrong with holding the “no conflict” model out as an ideal. It’s just not the way life works. Life is messy. If we try to control all the variables then it might be nice for a time…for us…if we have enough power and influence to stay in control.
Sooner or later, though, there will be things we cannot control. That’s why we hold onto the memories of the good times, but it’s also an invitation to a deeper peace – the kind of peace that comes from knowing God loves you when no one else seems to care. This is the peace that Paul told the church in Philippians 4:7 “passes understanding”. It is the peace that follows Isaiah’s claim about the righteous one who decides with “equity for the oppressed”. It is the peace that Dr. King referred to as the presence of justice rather than the absence of conflict.
Now, y’all know I love to talk about justice. Y’all know that I love to talk about the systems that create oppression in the world. Hopefully, y’all know how important it is that we work together to find correctives where we can, but just as importantly – maybe more so – we have to find ways to live in the peace of God in the middle of our conflicts with each other.
Sometimes that can be as simple as a note in a lunchbox. I recently heard the story of a mom that wrote love notes on napkins and put them in her child’s lunchbox. One week she noticed that the napkins were being ripped up and put back in the box. She asked her child, who said, “Please don’t send any more notes, Mom! Taylor steals them and tears them up.” At first, she was pretty angry and felt like a Moma Bear with a wounded cub. Then she thought about her own wounds and places of need. When had she gotten mad at others as a child? When had she walked in Taylor’s shoes?
It was when someone had something that she did not. It was when she had felt less than or put down just by not having the same options as someone else. She began to think that maybe this wasn’t a simple bullying situation, and she told her child, “Let’s try something else. I’m going to write Taylor a note!” So she wrote notes for her child that said, “Have an amazing day!” and she added one for Taylor that said, “Hey, Taylor – I hear that you’re an amazing kid. Have a great day.”
As you might expect, it worked! It took a week or so, but it turned a space of fear and conflict into a space where love could grow. Of course, it’s a lot easier to do that with a kid’s lunch box than it is with global conflict or even local politics, but the building blocks are there.
Oddly enough, or maybe not so much, we find a blueprint to build an even greater response in the story of the Annunciation of the incarnation of God given by the Angel Gabriel and received by Mary. While there is much that could be said about this ancient story that has been passed from generation to generation, I think the important thing to focus on is what this story says about what God hoped to bring about through the life and ministry of Jesus beginning with the faithfulness of Mary.
I don’t mean to venerate Mary – or vilify those who do – but I want to recognize the way Gabriel approaches her and the way her responses – all of them – indicate the peace of God in the presence of fear. I say in the presence of fear because the first thing he says to her after “Greetings, Favored One” is “Don’t be afraid.”
The NRSV tells us that he said this because “she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” We don’t have any indicator of what Gabriel may have looked like, but there was something in the exchange that made it clear that this was a messenger of God. Personally, I like the version Alan Rickman offered in the movie Dogma where he had to show off his wings for his message to be received, but the text says it was the greeting that perplexed her. He called her “favored one” and for some reason, the NRSV leaves out “blessed among women.” This perplexed her. True to the text it disturbed her to the core. Gabriel doesn’t seem to be very good at the comfort game because he simply repeats, “You have found favor with God” before launching into a monologue about the baby she is going to bear, who will become a king in the line of David.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Gabriel doesn’t ask her if she’s ok with any of this. He just tells her that it’s going to happen. Given this announcement and the whole divinity thing, it may seem that consent is not really an option here – not that it would be for Mary anyway. Yet what do we tend to focus on? We focus on Mary’s agreement.
Before that, she asks how and Gabriel says the Holy Spirit will make it and then gives her the assurance that the same is true for her cousin Elizabeth – who was too old to conceive. Then Mary says, Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
There you have it. End of the story – Mary is the chosen one and Jesus is on the way – or is it? According to Kenda Creasy Dean in The God Bearing Life (a classic youth ministry guidebook), this story reminds us that God seeks our consent and our involvement, that we might be bearers of God, too.
Think of it this way. Gabriel comes in as the bearer of God’s word. Mary questions it, reconciles her fears with her hopes, and becomes the bearer of God’s living word which is Jesus. While we may say that this story is not unlike other myths in which great leaders and heroes of renown have some kind of genetic connection with divinity, what we find here is that God proves Godself to be different by seeking a partnership.
Over and over in the scriptures, God proves Godself to be different than the ideas of god that others follow. Those gods required the firstborn as a sacrifice. This God offered a ram instead. Those gods were defeated when foreign powers came in. This God was still present when God’s people were conquered. Stories of Greek gods have them falling prey to lust and creating tyrants and monsters from their hubris and capriciousness. This God came to Marry, a seemingly unimportant peasant girl, and said, “Let’s make the impossible reality of love and grace and mercy into a new and common reality.”
Here’s where it comes back to you and to me because this Jesus made the same Holy Spirit that overshadowed Mary accessible to you and to me. How might we open ourselves to the growth of the Holy Spirit within us? How might we demonstrate that this God works differently than the world works?
How might we demonstrate the movement of a God that puts justice alongside righteousness; that judges on behalf of those in poverty; that sees the oppression that we are not willing to see because it does not affect us directly; and yet says to you and to me “Fear not, for I have found favor in you because I created you as unique as the stars and snowflakes and grains of sand. You are safe in my love, and I trust you because I choose to take the risk of loving the world through you.”
Some of those questions we can answer together. Some of them are between you and God. Try not to overthink it though. It might be as simple as a note in a lunchbox. Just remember that God is with you in your fear and doubt, and God’s perfect love casts out all fear.
Hopefully, as we gather around Christ’s table today, this can be one of those places and of those times that assures you of God’s peace – the peace that is present even in conflict; the peace that has no reason for being there except that it comes from God; the peace that encourages us to look deep within until we come face to face with the one in whose image we were created. At least I pray it may be so with me, and with you, and to God be the glory, now and always. Amen.
Comments