Fourth Sunday of Advent/Christmass Eve

Collect

God our redeemer, who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the mother of your Son: grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour, so we may be ready to greet him when he comes again as our judge; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

(or)

Eternal God, as Mary waited for the birth of your Son, so we wait for his coming in glory; bring us through the birth pangs of this present age to see, with her, our great salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Old Testament

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.’

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.

2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16

Psalm

1  My song shall be always of the loving-kindness of the Lord: •

   with my mouth will I proclaim your faithfulness

      throughout all generations.

2  I will declare that your love is established for ever; •

   you have set your faithfulness as firm as the heavens.

3  For you said: ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; •

   I have sworn an oath to David my servant:

4  ‘ “Your seed will I establish for ever •

   and build up your throne for all generations.” ’

19  You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: •

   ‘I have set a youth above the mighty;

      I have raised a young man over the people.

20  ‘I have found David my servant; •

   with my holy oil have I anointed him.

21  ‘My hand shall hold him fast •

   and my arm shall strengthen him.

22  ‘No enemy shall deceive him, •

   nor any wicked person afflict him.

23  ‘I will strike down his foes before his face •

   and beat down those that hate him.

24  ‘My truth also and my steadfast love shall be with him, •

   and in my name shall his head be exalted.

25  ‘I will set his dominion upon the sea •

   and his right hand upon the rivers.

26  ‘He shall call to me, “You are my Father, •

   my God, and the rock of my salvation;”

Psalm 89

Epistle

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen.

Romans 16:25–27

Gospel

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26–38 

Sermon at Morning Prayer, Fourth Sunday of Advent/Christmass Eve 

This Sunday’s advent candle is special, it is pink – to remind us of the Mother of God, theotokos, as our orthodox brethren call the Blessed Virgin Mary. So I want to ask: How do we in the modern, scientific West remember the human parents of Jesus Christ?

The Eastern name for Mary is quite different from the West’s Blessed Virgin, isn’t it? I think theotokos in itself goes well beyond the West’s epithet in marking Mary as a unique point in time and space, part of the central point in the history of salvation. There are theologians who find the whole history of the world and its culmination in Jesus Christ’s existence. Up to that point, everything anticipates him; after that life everything looks back to Jesus as the saving event. All the prophets pointed to the coming saviour of the world. All the saints who have followed on from the cross take Jesus as the model of life and imitate Christ in their lives of flesh and spirit.

Without Mary, we could not understand that Jesus was born amongst us historical human beings. Without Mary we could not comprehend that God is with us in that baby of salvation. Mary is the point to which mothers all look. They understand their own motherhood in the light of Mary’s, for their children are the sum of their hopes. Every child expresses the hope of the world, a mother’s hope. Each child could be the next miracle worker, a new world leader, a doctor who could cure the common cold, a model citizen, a person to whom people would turn in times of trouble. Why that child may even become a priest who through sacraments, teaching and prayer will bring holiness to everyone’s lives! These are just some of the infinite possibilities of the new-born child we see in its mother’s arms.

In the midst of all these possibilities of life which the new-born baby represents – which the new-born baby symbolises – let us consider the historical reality of Mary’s boy-child. The period of the birth of Jesus was one of great turmoil. Foreigners invading, violence, wars, famines, plagues – it was a time of terror, not unlike the fear we experience today. Jesus’ era was one in which the faithful hoped for a king to rule with a mighty hand, a king whose hand is graced by a ring which would rule them all. The mothers of this time hoped for their children, that one of them might be that ruler in the name of God. Every mother at that time had great expectations for the future, and for their children. They often gave them symbolic names, none less significant than the name ‘Jesus’.

Mary was one of those women whose expectations will be met in her child tonight. Doesn’t the angel tell her everything?

‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

These words, however, are not comforting – they foreshadow the trials and tribulations to come. Being called “great” and “Son of the Most High” are blasphemous when they issue from mortal mouths. Imagine Mary’s terror when she took that on board! Imagine how she must have shaken when she thought about how this tiny scion of David was to take over the reign of the house of Jacob. We all know the bloody history of the succession of kings, don’t we? The many historical dramas have illustrated that in great detail, haven’t they? Why even our own limited study of history should do this for us! Did Mary really want to give her son up to that game of thrones?

Mary must have been absolutely terrified at the prospect of this life of political leadership being prophesied for her expected child. Wouldn’t we all pale at the prospect of such a fate for our own children? We have watched the stories of the powerful and their demons, how kings and queens have battled to do the good in spite of their frailty and fear – and how so many have failed. If we know this, we who live in relatively peaceful times, imagine how Mary must have felt as she heard this news with the iron-shod tramping of foreign invaders all around her.

The real terror is that our hopes for, and the realities of, life do not correspond in any way. How can I hope for my child to be great at all when the political forces around me conspire to keep me under their heels? How can my innocent child become the heir to the throne of such a power? Why would I place my child on that seat bathed in, and stained by, blood? Parents have no wish for their child to take on that future, do they? — The infant has infinite possibilities. They open all around the child and remain myriad until I, as that child, come to ask what my “ownmost possibility” is. What is my destiny? How do I know that is the only thing that I should be? This is the heart of the existential dilemma. How am I authentically what I choose to be? The infant can be anything, but choices made begin to limit the child, and even more so as the child becomes an adult and finally the limitations of old age.

However, knowing the limitations of my life gives me freedom to be who I am at every moment. I seize upon who I am at that very instant. I ultimately choose my destiny. Theologically, this is the heart of human free will, the ultimate choice for belief or despair.

When we do not choose to be what we are, fate, others, or perhaps the anonymous “they” are given power over us. As Mary heard those words from the angel, she chose her own destiny, to be the “Mother of God” – Mary chose to be the Blessed Virgin.

[When] Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,’ and the angel departed from her,

she chose her infinite future before God with an angel as her witness. The best of mothers make up their minds for the sake of their children, don’t they? Our mothers don’t choose our fate, rather they place us in a field of infinite possibility and keep it clear for us until we hem ourselves in to our ownmost possibility, whatever that may be.

Our mothers have chosen their fate to be for their children. Like Mary, theotokos and ever-Blessed Virgin – the pure woman, is how we consider our mothers, isn’t it? Mother has bared her heart to take that sword which pierces it so painfully as we grow to be what we can be. The hopes and fears of a mother’s expecting of her child are what Advent is all about. We await the coming, glorious Messiah. That is our ownmost possibility as christians today and tomorrow – to welcome our messianic saviour.

Eternal God, as Mary waited for the birth of your Son, so we wait for his coming in glory; bring us through the birth pangs of this present age to see, with her, our great salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

This sermon is from Stilman Davis. It is copyrighted. You are welcome to use it, but put some extra money in the plate if you do.

Sermons are spoken. They whistle in the wind and enter your ears to echo for some time between them. However, sermons are destined to go on into the distance after they have resonated with you.