"One More Thing" December 17, 2017

Luke 1:45-55 Mark 1:1-8 There are EXPERTs for everything today. Librarians are Information Specialists. Sommeliers who have expert taste-buds. Medical Specialists. Roofing Specialists. Information Technology Specialists. Expert Heart Surgeons. Expert Fly Fishermen. What I had not realized was that there were even SPECIALIST Stringers of PEARLS. The Jeweler claimed that in addition to size & quality of the Pearls, the expertise of the Stringer threading and tying the knots could decrease or increase the value of a necklace. The Jeweler added the advice that a really good string of pearls should be restrung annually; if worn often, twice a year. Which got me to thinking that while there are Pearls from the Sea and Fresh Water as the irritation of Oysters; there are also Pearls we have grown, from the irritations in our lives working upon us. Pearls of Wisdom. Pearls of Belief and Ethics and Values. What we do at Advent is to worry those Pearls, not over their value or safety, but handling, rubbing and restringing our irritants, as being Pearls of Great value to us. This is one of the most stressful times of all the year! We have our normal routines of every day, our work, responsibilities, doctors’ appointments, maintenance of the house, car, stretching finances to cover bills, when suddenly, we are expected to have gifts, cookies for all the events, and the number of events goes from monthly/weekly to every group having a Holiday. And if we are willing to go there, the most stressful circumstance for each of us is the deaths, having the reminder of “their ornament”, “their recipes” for us to make, what to do with “their stocking”, “their empty place” at the table. Christmas feels like the JENGA game of a tower of stacked blocks, ever withdrawing one more foundation, and ADDING ONE MORE THING until we collapse. Advent questions “Who are we?” This morning, we have those who instead of seeing Christmas and faith in God, as one more thing added on, each recognize RELATIONSHIP TO GOD as their one thing, their core identity, and everything else develops from that faith. Instead of being a Virgin, betrothed to Wed who suddenly finds herself PREGNANT… MARY identifies as being The Handmaid of the God, God’s instrument of Incarnation, that her life, her whole existence, her purpose in being, is to magnify the Lord. JOHN the Baptist refuses to see himself as a Prophet, a religious professional, born into the family business, rejects all the world’s claims that he might be The MESSIAH … instead is devoted to Calling others to REPENT, to be Baptized, to start their lives over rejecting everything else and beginning with God. Funny, the Scriptures actually tell us Very Little about Mary. JOHN’s Gospel does not mention her. MARK begins at Jesus’ Baptism as an Adult so nothing about Mary. MATTHEW names her, but the whole Emphasis is on JOSEPH. Only LUKE provides this speech, called The MAGNIFICAT, both as Scripture, in Theology and in Music, not because it is magnificent, which it is… The LATIN word “MAGNIFICAT” means MAGNIFIES, because Mary’s opening words are “My Soul Magnifies the Lord.” Modern Translators have made this “My Soul PRAISES God” or “My Heart REJOICES” Instead MAGNIFIED to me, emphasizes that this is not about REVERING MARY, so much as about THIS GIFT OF GOD’s LOVE, solely and completely about God’s Love, and the relationship of Mary to God. As a MAN I dare to say, that there is something awesome and incredible in the choice of a couple to give birth. At one moment, you live your life for yourself, in the next and for the rest of your life, a part of you exists in the life of this other. You may never understand their feelings, their thoughts, their experiences, but they are a part of you and you are part of their life. So how much of a stretch is it for us to see GOD Our Father, as integral to our lives? The GOSPEL of LUKE actually begins before Mary with the birth of John to Elizabeth and Zechariah, as this High Priest praying in the Temple becomes HYSTERICAL… The DICTIONARY explains “HYSTERIA” as “an UNCONTROLLABLE EMOTIONAL OUTBURST AS FROM FEAR OR LAUGHTER”. Plato and Aristotle had reasoned that MEN are different from WOMEN because women possess a WOMB, in Greek “HYSTERA”, which is also why removal of the Womb is called an Hysterectomy. Greek Philosophy prized REASON at the expense of Emotion. They reasoned that a PERSON’s Soul was located in his CORE, and the perfecting of a MAN was moving his soul from his BOWELS to his BELLY. Where as a woman, Plato and Aristotle believed was governed by the Womb at her Core, so when a person was ruled by Emotion they were Hysterical. In the year 70 AD, as the Early Church was forming, immediately before the writing of the Four Gospels, the Temple was again destroyed by the Roman Empire, the only evidence existing today is the Wailing Wall. Imagine how revered and holy is The Wailing Wall by Jews and Christians throughout the Centuries, and that is the remainder of one wall of the Holy of Holies. We begin here, because Zechariah was chosen for a once in a lifetime experience, chosen to be the Priest to go into the Holy of Holies to present the Confessions, atonements, and prayers of the People to God, following which he was to come out to grant people assurance of the Forgiveness and Grace of God. But entering the Holy of Holies inside the Temple, atop the Mountain at Jerusalem, the Angel Gabriel was waiting for Zechariah. An Angel who told the Priest, you and your wife are to have a baby, who will announce the coming of the Savior. And instead of being true to the Scriptures of miraculous births for miraculous children, Zechariah became HYSTERICAL. Zechariah demanded a Sign. You are chosen to be the Priest, dressed in the Holiest of Robes, you are inside the Holy of Holies inside the Temple, confronted by an Angel, and you need A Sign? And the Angel says, I will give you a Sign, “You will not speak, you will not be able to offer complaint or question, or even to assure the people of their forgiveness and the Grace of God, until after the child is born, and you Zechariah name him John.” CD Meigs wrote a wonderful little poem descriptive of the faith conceived in Zechariah, the faith present in Elizabeth, and Mary and John who would be Baptizer: Lord, help me to live Day to Day, in such a self-forgetful way, That even when I kneel to pray, my prayers shall be for others. Others, Lord, yes, Others, let this my motto be Let me live for others, that I may live like Thee. Advent is both a time of repentance, and devotion of our lives to others. We were never Created to be OUR OWN, to Possess all we could Get. Instead, we were created to live our lives for others. That is what it means to be a Partner, a Spouse, a Parent, a Child, a Christian… John lived his entire life devoted to announcing the Coming of Another. CS LEWIS once wrote: “If we let God, for we can prevent God if we choose, but if we allow God in, God will make the feeblest and filthiest of us, DIVINE, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating throughout with such energy, joy, wisdom and love, as we cannot now imagine; a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly, God’s own boundless power, delight and grace. The process is long and painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less.” Recently someone told me, “These are supposed to be our Golden Years, they seem pretty tarnished to me.” I think our task, beginning in this season of Advent is to polish the tarnish to be a brighter more stainless mirror of God