“Not for the Faint of Heart”
A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Preached at Pleasantville UCC, December 12, 2010
“…he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts”.
(Luke 1:51-53)

One of the great joys of my work as Senior Pastor is to teach the Confirmation Class each year.  I value that responsibility because it keeps me connected to each generation of young Christians who are claiming their faith in a new way and – from the Church’s perspective – in an adult way.

Every year I have great hopes for the class.  And every year I find myself frustrated by how those hopes have to be adjusted based upon the brief attention span of young adolescents.  And every year, my newly adjusted expectations are surprised and overturned by the wondrous ways that God continues to speak a word of relevance and hope to generation after generation.

This year, the Confirmands have a new responsibility as they complete their work.  As we read our way through the scriptures of the seasons, they must go online and look up artwork that relates to the stories they are reading.  So, when they read the story of the Annunciation – which is the story of the Angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that – “Surprise!  You will be the Bearer of God!”[1] they also have an opportunity to take a look at some of the world’s great artwork that tries to capture that moment.  So it is with the story of the Nativity – which is the birth of Jesus.  And the same with the story of the Visitation, which is the story we are given to study this morning.

The Visitation is the story of how Mary – for reasons that are not explained in the Bible – up and leaves her hometown of Nazareth and heads for the hill country to see her much older cousin, Elizabeth.  Miraculously, Elizabeth is also pregnant – though she is well beyond her child-bearing years.

These two women are on opposite sides of life’s continuum: Mary – on one side -- too young to be pregnant – indeed she is still a virgin, and Elizabeth – on the other -- too old to be pregnant – for it has ceased to be with her after the manner of women.  Both of them full of life, by the Sovereign power of the Most High God.

As Mary enters Elizabeth’s home and greets her, the babe inside Elizabeth’s womb leaps within her and she famously utters those words which have become so famous within Christendom:

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!” -- Words which form the basis of holiest prayer within the Catholic faith: the Rosary.

And then Mary sings a holy and dangerous song…

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.

Scott Hoezee has written this about Mary’s song.  He says,

In Mary’s Song we can hear the eerie combination of a teenager’s sweet voice and the words of terrible destruction.  Somehow the angel’s revelation that Mary would bear God’s Son put this ordinary young girl in touch with a fundamental truth: God is the God of great reversals.  As surely as the Lord exalted this humble girl, so also would those who are exalted in their own eyes be humbled.  As surely as God would birth his Son smack into the midst of poverty, so also would those who exploit the poor of this world be impoverished.[2]

Mary’s song is a word and a message that is not for the faint of heart.  A message that cannot help but cause us to wonder if we are the ones who will be humbled; if we are the ones who have become ‘proud in the imagination of our own hearts.’  When Mary sings: “he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree;” we cannot help but ask ourselves if our lives will be overturned as well.  How will this God of reversals overturn the tables of our lives as He brings His holy and dangerous Word into the world to become flesh and to live among us – full of unsettling grace and disturbing truth? 

Mary’s song, though beautiful, is terrible and awe-full and not for the faint of heart.  And it is a word that you will not likely hear in the shopping malls or the grocery stores or all the other places where a continuous loop tape of catchy Christmas jingles try to lull us into a joyous complacency that whispers, “Buy, buy, buy.”

Christmas is our holy season.  But it is a season that has been so co-opted by the culture that – even for people of faith – it can be difficult to remember that Advent is a season of penitence.  The liturgical color is purple – the same as Lent – a reminder to us that we are – in fact – in a season similar to Lent; a season of preparation; a season of reflection; a season of clearing the junk out of our spiritual house so we can make room for the Christ-child.  And as we make room, week after week we are given these beautiful but hard lessons from the scriptures to prepare ourselves for the indwelling of Christ.

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Mary and Elizabeth were two women on opposite extremes of life’s continuum.  But both of them had their lives overturned by the coming of God’s Holy Child.

As we prepare our hearts and our homes for the birth of Immanuel – God-with-us, Mary and Elizabeth stand to remind us that God’s coming into our world and into our lives is likely to overturn our expectations.  Things that used to be important to us may not be important anymore.  Relationships that used to work may not work anymore.  We may no longer be satisfied with superficial things that used to be enough. 

Now, with God in our lives, we are led to go deeper – and the chances are good, that going deeper will overturn some tables.

God’s presence isn’t something we can control.  God’s power in our life is the ultimate unpredictable.  And the season of Advent is here with all of its miraculous power to remind us that what we can imagine and what we can hope for isn’t nearly as wondrous as what God can imagine for us.

To Mary’s strange and beautiful song, the prophet Isaiah proclaims his own words of disturbing promise:

“Strengthen the feeble hands,
               steady the knees that give way;
            say to those with fearful hearts,
               “Be strong, do not fear;
            your God will come,
               he will come with vengeance;
            with divine retribution
               he will come to save you.” (Isaiah 35:3-4)

“So, like the God-bearer, Theotokos, let us pray this week to take the Spirit of God into our own bodies.  Let us submit to God’s blessings. Let us share the good news of the world turned upside down… And let us dare to follow the way proclaimed by Mary’s song.  It leads to new life, and it leads to the cross.  And it leads to new life.”[3]

May it be so.  Amen.