Can You Believe it?

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

[And Mary said,

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

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”]

          Luke 1:39-45.)

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I came across this little story, some time ago: Ole and Olga lived on a farm. Olga was starved of affection. Ole never gave her any signs of love and Olga’s need to be appreciated went unfulfilled.

One day, at her wit’s end, Olga blurted out, “Ole. Why don’t you ever tell me that you love me?” 

Ole said, “Olga, when we were married I told you that I loved you, and if I ever change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

That is not good enough, is it?  We need to express our love for one another daily, just the way God expresses his love for us daily, in His Son Jesus.

Mary showed her love of God by accepting without question,  the momentous role was being called to play: that of the mother of the Messiah!!.

Not that she would love Jesus more because of  the place in this world that  he would have; she would love him because a mother loves her child.

And she would love him as a young boy growing up, as a young man finding his way in the world, as a rebel against the establishment, and as her dying son, hanging on that horrible cross.

When I was told by a family member  that a new baby had come into the world, I would  rush off to the hospital as soon as I could to bless the baby. You have to get there fast. They don’t keep a new mother in hospital for too long, nowadays.

And as I hold that baby I give thanks for its life, and for the mother’s health, and I pray that the child will love its parents and make them proud, and that baby will grow up to know and love God.

And it’s a great moment. Here is new life, Here is new promise. And here is joy.

But, as with the child that Mary will bear, we know there may be heartache. There may be tears in the life of that child, and its parents.

We pray though, that there will always be love.

And we pray that unlike Ole, we will always be able to express our love, and to graciously receive love that is proffered in return.

That’s the element of this Advent that we have now come to with the lighting of the last of those four candles around that wreath.

Love.

We have talked about the hope that God gives us, and which is rekindled each year anew at this time. We talked about the peace that comes from knowing, relying on, believing in Jesus. We talked about joy. Joy at receiving such a gift, and the joy that comes from surrendering our earthly desires to His will.

And now we acknowledge the love of God shown perfectly in Jesus Christ our Lord.

We should know about love, shouldn’t we?  Just about every song written these days, talks about love – love gained, love wanted, and love lost.

We should know about love.

Romantic love, that is. We hear so much about it.

But what about the reality of love, like how long does it last?

I came across this description of how things change over time- over seven years, in fact –  in how a husband cares for his wife, when she is suffering from a cold.

First year:  “Sugar dumpling, I’m really worried about my baby girl. You’ve got a bad sniffle and there’s no telling about these things, what with all the strep going around. I’m putting you in the hospital this afternoon for a  check up and a good rest. I know the food is lousy, but I’ll be  bringing meals in. I’ve already got it arranged with the nurse on the floor. “

Second year: “Listen, darling, I don’t like the sound of that cough and I’ve called Doc Miller to rush over here. Now go to bed like a good girl, just for poppa. “

Third year: “ Maybe you had better lie down honey. Nothing like a little rest when you feel lousy. I’ll bring you something. Have we any canned soup?”

Fourth year: “Now look dear. Be sensible. After you have fed the kids and got the dishes done, and the floor finished, you better lie down.”

Fifth year: “Why don’t you just take a couple of aspirin?:

Sixth year: “ I wish you’d just gargle or something, instead of sitting around barking like a seal all evening.”

Seventh year: “For Pete’s sake, stop sneezing. Are you trying to give me pneumonia?”

Rings a bell anyone? 

The passionate, fiery, romantic, love  that we see being idealized in our culture,  is essentially a love which comes from what one gets from the other – and is consequently bound to turn sour over time.

Real love, that is founded on giving, on putting the other first, on wanting to make the other happy, is more likely to last.

Yet even then, we are at a disadvantage, because research has shown that everyone, even the most giving person, unconsciously keeps an accounting, in their head,  of what they have given and what they have received in return. 

The stronger a love is, the more that one can tolerate a  seeming  imbalance between what is given and what is received, but eventually, a love that is all give and no get, will turn sour, the researchers tell us.

Except, that is for a mother’s love.

Mary would have that sort of love for her child, but more than that, she had a love of God that moved her to accept what would eventually be a painful, heartbreaking task.

She would see her son ridiculed – at one time even by his brothers. She would see him loved by the crowds, and then those same crowds turn upon him.

She would see him idolized, and then demonized, and finally executed.

But even if she could she have seen the hard road ahead of her, I don’t think she would have refused the role. Do you?

And can you see the momentousness of that?

Her love of God, and her acceptance of the role placed upon her, was a part of God’s plan. That plan would be revealed in Jesus’ ministry and in the path his life took. And it was a plan that would influence the world  for ever.. 

Mary gladly accepted a role that although rooted in the present, would affect countless lives far into the future.

Did she see it that clearly? I don’t know, except that we are told that she did know her son would be the Messiah.

You see where I am going with this don’t you?

It’s calling for an acceptance of God’s love for us, and an acceptance of what He calls us to do,  even if it involves pain,  because our accepting  His will, means that  our life may well  influence the future in some way.

Just think about all the children who have been nurtured in our church over the years – some decades ago, some of whom still attend and the lovely children that are being nurtured today by dedicated teachers.

Just think about the prayers that have gone up from our church for those who were sick, or absent, or grieving.

Just think about those who were hungry and  found food here, and elsewhere as food was sent to assist other charities.

 Thousand of lives, that have been affected. 

Just by people doing what God calls us to do.

Over the years, there have been many, maybe thousands of examples of  people accepting God’s call, and traveling to inhospitable, even dangerous places to tell the story of Jesus.

There were people who as  part of God’s plan influenced the world in wonderful ways.

The rule of law, based upon the ten Commandments, came into being in many countries because people were part of the plan that God had for this world.

Other examples are the abolition of  slavery,  the adoption of child labour and  morality laws.

Much of the peace and order that we enjoy, came about because of the influence of God in people who worked to change the future of this world.

As Mary did.     As we can, and do.

Alexander Mackay, of Scotland, was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. You probably know someone like that.  He was called in 1876 to go to Africa as a missionary.     He was to go with seven other missionaries. At a farewell committee meeting, he and others each said a few words.

Mackay said, “There is one thing my brothers have not said.

I want to remind the committee that within six months they will probably hear that one of us is dead.”

All eyes were fastened on him as he went on,”  Is it at all likely that eight British men should start for Central Africa, and all be alive six months from now? One of us at least – it may be I – will surely fall before that. But when the news comes, do not be cast down, but send someone immediately, to take the vacant place.”

His words were still ringing in the missionary society directors’ ears when the news came that one of the eight had died.   Five of them succumbed to the African graveyard, as it was called, in the first year, and by the end of the second year, Mackay was the only one left.

They knew the risk, and yet, following God’s plan for them, they still went ahead.

There is nothing that love cannot face, there is  no limit to its faith, to its hope, to its endurance.  Love never ends.
 
True love never gives up. 
 
And if you doubt that, check your history and see how powers that-be  have endeavored to eliminate the love of God in this world;  from the numberless wars of conquest, to pogroms and massacres, repression of speech and ideas, to fearsome weapons of mass destruction. 

And still God loves us!

Can you believe it?  

Still, God loves us!

The coming of Jesus, two thousand years ago; celebrated soon on Christmas Eve and the following day, and sometime in the future when he comes to claim His own, tells us that.

It rings across the centuries, from the mists of time past, to the glittering lights of a modern Christmas, and on to – what – we don’t know –  the promise of His love rings true.

Enthralled by the love of God, as was Mary, we too could  be the means of  influence that rings through the ages. 

“Me?” you might say, doubting, but each year at this time, we are reminded of that possibility.

Yes you!.

Amen and Praise His Wonderful Name