Spirituality Promised?

Today is our last Sunday before Christmas.

Over the past weeks we’ve been working through the way Jesus’ coming changed the world.

 In Jesus the ways of the world are just a bad option. He exposed he Roman Empire – politics and the economy – for what it is: a hollow pursuit that brings no peace.

In Jesus the light of God’s glory shines on Creation exposing what cannot live in the light – pornography, cruelty and spoiled nature – exposing it for what it is: a hollow pursuit of pleasure that brings no joy.

In Jesus the ways of excluding people based on race, status, good behaviour or gender are overturned, exposing those for what they are: hollow attempts at enforcing injustice that brings no love.

Today will be more of the same. We want to find out how Jesus brings truth and purity to our spirits. Many in the world today are looking for spiritual truth. Spirituality is the new trend. Talk show hosts talk about it, new religions and philosophies are promoted. Most say that all we need is love, but they don’t define it. Instead they offer a spirituality of self-love and self-improvement that cannot work simply because it depends on the weak to somehow become strong through will power and effort. This too is hollow and offers no real hope. Failures just keep on piling up under the debris of good intentions and dark secrets.

 Let’s read a story of how real hope is birthed, how true spirituality is born.

Luke 1.26-38

²⁶In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

A simple story. Again imagine it with me. A 13 or 14 year old woman has a vision, a conversation with an angelic being. He calls her favoured, the Lord is with you. Those are not traditional greetings; kings don’t get them, let alone someone without social status. Then Gabriel tells Mary that she will experience what Moses did. The cloud of God’s presence will descend and cover her like thick fog. And somehow Divine power would cause her to conceive – the regular God given laws of nature would be suspended. Just as through Moses God birthed the nation of Israel, through Mary God will send his Son. That’s been his promise and God’s word never fails.

Have you ever, like I have wondered how she got pregnant? Many today in and outside of the church say that what we just read is a nice story invented to cover up the scandal of Joseph being a bit eager and Mary a bit easy. If that was true then why does the bible bluntly tell us of all the sexual misconduct of God’s people from Abraham to David and only cover up this one instance? Others think that maybe God appeared, just like he did with Abraham and in human form impregnated Mary. If that was true then the Bible lies – God is Spirit, says John, not flesh. This option is just a way of turning the Almighty into Zeus or some other false god of the Greeks or Romans. And of course there is the scientific opinion; after all we know that for a woman to get pregnant, the seed must be deposited.

The debates continue, but they miss the point entirely.

Mary’s encounter with God’s presence is a mystery. Commonly we think of mystery as a solvable problem and that’s too often - from Genesis to Revelation – the way so many people try to approach the Bible. A method that will fail, by the way. True there are things in Creation that we can explore and examine. Science is God’s gift, but there are also things by God’s will that remain hidden. This is what I mean by mystery unknowable events; Jesus’ conception cannot be examines and solved because it is the deepest spiritual happening that has ever has been. God overshadowing humanity to become humanity.

In this encounter with Gabriel God speaks to Mary and in the exchange we hear her decision. We hear what kind of spirituality she has chosen. Mary responds to her Lord with submission and devotion. Sure she asks how it could happen – biologically speaking, but she asks in faith and accepts the word of God in faith.

In that moment more than a baby is conceived in her, birthed in her. In that moment she meets her Lord face to face. In that moment her life is changed forever. The self-righteous judgment of her community will not defeat her; the confusion of raising such a son will not overwhelm her; the pain of standing at the foot of the cross watching him die will not overwhelm her.

God has birthed more in her than His Son. He has birthed in her a life of devotion, faith and trust. God births hope in willing hearts. Hope powerful enough to see her through whatever life may bring.

What is being birthed in you?

God’s promise in baptism is to call, invite and birth spiritual life.  Profession of faith is acceptance of that call. Embracing the giver of hope to say, ³⁸“I am the Lord’s servant.” “May it be to me according to your word.”

Mary, it seems had a choice. Interestingly her name can mean either Bitterness in rebellion; or celebrated. By grace she accepted and lived into the second one: celebrated, favoured. How many painfully embrace bitterness in rebellion?

Advent is a time to look inside and see if there is a hollow space longing to be filled. Much of Jesus’ ministry is to call those who are hollow inside, those who do their best to present a good image to become honest and open to receive the hope they need.

Have you received that hope, do you want it? What is being birthed in you?

No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God’s spirit overshadows the willing. God’s spirit births a new woman, a new man, who will know hope as well as joy, peace and love.

What have you been hungry for this Advent? What encouragement will help you accept the mystery of Christ and live into it?