Luke 1:26 – 38 Sunday 21^st December

There can be very little worse in life than being taken to one side and asked to tell someone something which you know they would probably rather not hear. It needn’t be something sad, it can be something embarrassing or difficult, but you really wish with all your heart that someone else had been given the role.

As far as I am aware, and I am probably now going to be corrected, (by someone who has a much greater grasp of theology than I) but I don’t think we know much about the emotions of angels. But I do wonder how the Angel Gabriel felt at being sent by God to tell an unmarried girl of about 14, not only that she was a have a child, but that this child would be the Son of God, the long awaited Messiah. And whether the angel Gabriel wondered if this young girl could truly carry out God’s wishes – how would this young teenage girl feel?

Did she think, at first, that she was dreaming? She knew from the conversation that the angel was being vary caring, reassuring her that God was with her, telling her she must not be afraid. But let’s face it that must have been easier said than done. As we read, Mary was told that her child Jesus, the son of God, would become the king of the house of Jacob for ever.

But, of course, God was truly with her, strengthening her and by the power of the Holy Spirit she had the strength to commit herself at that moment to be God’s servant, she gave her life over to serving her heavenly Father, and at that moment the whole future of creation hung on the answer of a teenage girl.

So why Mary for the mother of God? She was apparently an ordinary person, not rich or from a powerful family. If you look through history- was Mary the type of person you would expect to change the world? As far as we know Mary was so ordinary, so much like the rest of us an everyday type of Jewish teenager. And that’s it, isn’t it.

Mary’s ordinariness allowed God to make it absolutely clear that Jesus was truly and fully human. No one could say that Jesus only appeared to be truly human—or that he was not like every one of us in every aspect of our bodies. No one could say he was different

because he was born to a wealthy or royal family.

We know little about Mary but we do know her humility,

her faith and her obedience to God. She didn’t seek attention, she wasn’t like some prima donna, from that moment on she lived a life committed to God, to do what God gave her to do; to have the faith and the courage to be the mother of our Saviour, and what courage she had to have.

Mary helps us understand that as God chose her, he chooses those who hear his voice to be Christ’s body here on earth now. We who call ourselves the body of Christ. And as with Mary he gave us the choice, the choice to hear his voice and respond or to turn our backs on him. Other people may force something upon us, but God puts the question into our hearts and leaves us to respond, he offers us the strength but the choice is ours.

And it is only through that freedom of choice that we can develop, change into that person God wants us to be. But do we do all we can to ensure that everyone has the choice to choose. Is there a great risk in our secular society that too many children grow up without the opportunity of being able to make the choice. Children who are not taught Christianity, who may know a baby was born in a stable, but know nothing about the man.

God gave us all freedom of choice, and we all have the choice of disobeying, not just the disobedience of doing wrong ourselves but also that disobedience, which so often isn’t seen as wrong, of neither showing or teaching God’s love to all.

God had faith in that young, unmarried girl to change the whole world. For Mary, more than any other human being, did change the world, by giving birth to our Saviour she brought the ‘Word’ to life.

We, the church, are called to have faith in each and every child who is born, but more than faith we are called to ensure that the society in which we live nurtures and guides, that it is prepared to struggle with those on the fringe, children and adults, not to give up on them but to love and support. There is an article in this week’s Church Times entitled ‘Facing hard choices about the poor’ it poses the question whether a liberal society by not condemning those who never seek work validates destructive forces. Which I suppose makes me ask is the Church doing enough to protect those on the fringes from destructive lifestyles, and in not doing so do we deprive them of their God given freedom of choice.

God respects our freedom always has since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Over the centuries God has come up with new ways to reach out to people, to ask them again and again to say yes – to freely say yes to God. And those ways had come to fruition in that moment, when an angel stood in front of a girl, waiting for that answer, and not just the angel Gabriel but God was waiting. Would Mary do it, would she say yes?

We know the answer Mary gave – ‘here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.’

With those words Mary started the most wonderful story the world has ever known, that life which freely bought for us our salvation, which brought into the world that Light, which would shine in the darkness, would bring new hope, new peace, new freedom.

And those words of Mary should be the words of the Church, ‘ Lord we are here’; for those are the words God is waiting to hear today. We will strive to bring comfort to the afflicted, to help everyone to turn away from all that separates them from God, to love all our neighbours as ourselves, not just the neighbours we like, we find it easy to get on with. God is waiting for all his children with open arms so let us pray that we not only strive to reach his arms ourselves but that we are committed to enabling all who live among to reach them as well.

As Christmas Day rapidly approaches, are we ready to receive the reality of God within us? Are we ready to put the Christ within us to work, as we truly love God and our neighbours as ourselves?