Sermon: Mary's Story and Our Story

Mary's Story and Our Story

December 19, 1999 Luke 1:26-38

Sermon by Rev. Dr. John K. Luoma

We are a nation that exalts personal freedom. We say to our young people: "You need to make something of yourself. You need to choose the kind of person you want to be and then you need to create that person. You need to choose the kind of future you want and then you need to construct it. Well, certainly personal freedom is important, but don't you think that we carry it a little too far? Certainly it is true that we have freedom, but I also think that there is something called destiny. In other words, I think that God is at work and that God has a plan. It may be true that we need to make something out of life, but I also think that it is true that life makes something out of us.

For example, did I get to choose the family I was born into? No. But what event has had more impact on my life than that? I don't think that I was born into one of the worst of families, nor was I born into one of the best. Nevertheless, I do know that a set of circumstances that I did not choose had a major impact in making me who I am.

For example, did I choose to go to college? No. Because of the set of circumstances I was in that was what I did. This poor lower class kid grew up in a congregation filled with educated people. It never really occurred to me that there was an alternative.

For example, did I choose to become a follower of Jesus? No. I don't think so. I've told a number of you my faith story on a number of occasions. When God almighty comes calling it does not appear to me that we have a whole lot of choice. I know we are fond of talking about our "decision for Christ" and that certainly is important, but I think it is a whole lot more important that God has made a decision for us.

Another example: Did I choose to become a pastor? No. Not really. As I look back on things, I don't really see that there was any alternative. Certainly I did some protesting and resisting, but it seems to me that there was no other option. This is what I was meant to be.

And as we read the Gospel story today, it does not seem to me that Mary had much of a choice either. This is why the church has called this story "The Annunciation" or "The Announcement". We've never called it "Mary's Choice" or "Mary Makes a Decision for Jesus". God appears and says through his angel, Gabriel, "This is the plan, Mary. Align yourself with it." He doesn't say, "Mary, this is what I'm going to do if you choose to cooperate with me."

Someone has said that the story of the Annunciation is really a call story, and I think they are right. It follows the same pattern as every other story where God issues a call to service. In this instance, this young girl, Mary, is being called as the first disciple of Jesus. And this particular call story has four parts.

First, there is a word from the Lord in which he tells Mary what he is going to do through her. The angel Gabriel calls her "favored one." Then, there is the standard reaction of fear with the angel calming her fear. Next, the angel explains what it means to be called "favored". It means that God is going to be "with her". Then, the specific form of "withness" is explained. God is going to be born in her in the form of a child and will do great things through this child. When it comes to being with, I guess God can't be any more with you than that.

Second, there is a question: How? How is it possible that this can occur to someone like me? In other words, Mary voices the same concern that all the prophets voiced.

Third, there is an answer to the question: God can do it because God is God. Nothing is impossible for God.

Fourth, comes the response: "Here am I. The servant of the Lord. Let it be done with me according to your word."

When you think about it, Mary's story is really our story. Because, in Mary, God's plan for us is revealed. And the plan that is revealed is this:

1. God will bring all things together in Christ. Christ will put all things together in proper working order. He will bring healing.

2. He can bring our lives together. We can experience healing even now. He can do this, for "nothing will be impossible with God."

3. He wants us to yield our lives to him, as Mary did, instead of insisting that God do things our way and being stubborn and resentful. He wants our lives to be one big prayer: "Here am I. The servant of the Lord. Let it be done with me according to your word."

In her book, It Was a Miracle, Kamila Blessing tells the story of a young couple in whose life God intervened. I encourage you to read the book. It is one of many personal experiences she has participated in through her ministry of healing. In many ways it is a story like the Mary story. It is evidence that God is with us and that nothing is impossible for God.

One day she received a call from a hospital nearby her church. A woman was having her pregnancy terminated because she was in extreme danger. The social worker gave her the woman's phone number and she promised to follow up when the woman came out of anesthesia.

That evening she came home exhausted. She didn't know if she could pull a prayer out of the deep tiredness she was experiencing. More important, how would this drugged woman respond to praying with someone she didn't know? In spite of this, she called. She briefly prayed for her healing and hung up. She wondered how such an impersonal short prayer could result in anything. But, in any case, she had fulfilled her promise.

To her amazement the call did make a difference. Three months later the woman contacted her. She had been searching for her unsuccessfully for quite some time, because she and her husband wanted to visit her. They wanted to try to bring some resolution to the loss of this child.

After several visits she and they began to realize that what happened was no ordinary event. Against all odds she had done what the doctors told her was impossible-she conceived a child. They came to regard the conception as a miracle. Instead of grieving over it, they began to be deeply thankful for it, and they wanted to do something to express that. So, the pastor put together a brief service for them.

The day of the service was just after Christmas; and so when the three gathered in the sanctuary, the creche was still there. They thanked God for the conception of the child, and she added a prayer for this baby who was now in the arms of Jesus.

At the end of the service she searched for some appropriate words, but she couldn't come up with any. Instead, she found herself praying another prayer for "the child to come." She took the doll out of the creche, placed it in the mother's arms and said, "You remember this. You will have this some day." She thought the prayer and action unusual, but at the time she felt the Spirit welling up in her like a geyser. She knew she had to do this. Now, she believes that what she experienced was an instance of prophecy-one of the gifts of the Spirit. Sometimes God chooses to use us in unusual ways to change the lives of others.

She says of the event: when we pray very specifically out of the deep needs of our life we are not telling God what to do or informing him of something he doesn't know. We are surrendering our lives to God and asking him to take control. And God will respond. We don't know how or when. It may be in ways we never anticipated. But God will respond.

In this instance, the doctors continued to tell the couple that it was impossible to conceive. Then, three years later, they had twins. In those three years this couple experienced tremendous growth in their faith and in their relationship to God. Through the grace of God a funeral became a time of thanksgiving and prophecy. Though they were told it was impossible, they experienced a double blessing.

Of course, this story is just a reflection of the Mary story isn't it? All things are possible through this God who has begun his healing now and one day will heal the whole of creation. Even if we never experience a miracle such as the one we've described, we have all received in Jesus a miracle child who has begun the process of healing us and will one day bring it to completion. Knowing this, we say to this God, "I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done with me according to your word."

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