Reflections...

Good morning.  Some of you know that in my previous life, I was producer for the ecumenical 

radio at Hong Kong Christian Council. Our speakers were from Protestant, Anglican and 

Catholic Churches. It is a wonderful ministry that is still going on today by the grace of God. 

There are less programs and churches on air than before, so I’m very grateful to KUC for your

 ongoing commitment to this very special outreach.

One program that has continued is called “Reflections”. It’s on Monday through Friday, 3 minutes 

to midnight on RTHK Radio 4 just before the 12 o’clock news.  I want to tell you about one of the 

Catholic speakers during my time. She is a lovely layperson, very devoted to the Church, and 

very devoted to the Virgin Mary. In fact, once the topic of her Reflections for the whole week was 

Marian devotion through praying the “Hail Mary”. I think some of you know that prayer. It comes

 in part from today’s story in Luke 1 in what’s known as the Annunciation and the Visitation.

Now the version of the Hail Mary prayer I know goes like this: 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the

 fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of 

our death.

The speaker said if you earnestly pray the Hail Mary, rain or shine, God will help you! She gave 

examples of times this happened in her own life. Now my being Protestant, this seemed just a

 little too “Catholic” and too much about “Mary” for ecumenical radio.  It didn’t seem quite 

appropriate since not all Christians pray to Mary as the Mother of God. We honor and admire 

her, but we only pray to God, or maybe to God through Jesus. But the speaker’s script had been 

approved by the Catholic radio representative, and she insisted that’s what she wanted to say.

 So, in the end, what did I do?  I let her say it. 

Well, wouldn’t you know, a few years later I took her advice? I was going through a difficult 

dilemma as a mother, and I didn’t know what to do. But I know I needed to pray! And the words 

that automatically came out of my mouth were “Hail Mary, full of grace…” 

So, I just kept going. I recited the Hail Mary over and over until my spirit was calmed and I felt 

God’s peace. And frankly, praying the Hail Mary still comes to my lips in tough moments – like 

when I’m arguing with someone and trying to control my temper. Or when I want to pray for 

someone else who’s going through a hard time, and I just don’t know what to say. 

Now, to be clear. I am still Protestant. The Hail Mary is not my only prayer. And I’m not saying 

you should pray the Hail Mary (unless it’s already a part of your spiritual practice).

What I am asking you to do this morning though is to put yourself in Mary’s shoes. Try to 

understand just how remarkable and difficult this whole experience would have been for her.

Now what did the angel say? “The Lord is with you!” That’s what God said to Moses when he

 was called to lead the people out of Egypt. That’s what God said to Jeremiah when he was

 called to be a prophet to the nations. And that’s what God says here to Mary – a young Jewish

 girl just sitting at home minding her own business.

We assume that Mary then must somehow have been very special and devout. Otherwise, why

 would God choose her for this role? But think again. As N.T. scholar Luke Johnson says:

Mary holds no official position among the people, she is not described as "righteous" in terms of 

observing [the] Torah… her experience does not take place in a [religious] setting. She is among

 the most powerless people in her society: she is young in a world that values age; female in a 

world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy. Furthermore, she has neither husband nor child to validate her existence.[1]

Johnson concludes: That Mary should have found "favor with God" is surprising and makes

 absolutely no sense. But then again, that’s the way God often works – by defying and reversing

 our human expectations.

But that raises another issue.  Did Mary have a choice? Could she have said No? Or at least, 

“Can you give me a few days to think about it?” A Jewish girl, legally bound to be married to a 

man named Joseph. Who would believe her story about a message from an angel, being 

overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and a virgin birth to the Messiah?  This would be a scandal – a

 scandal that could sabotage her marriage prospects. Ruin her family’s reputation. It could even 

put her own life at risk.

And yet, despite everything, what was her final answer? “Let it be.” The way this story’s told, it 

seems she had no hesitation. But do we know that? Could there have been some tears and 

anguish and doubt along the way? We don’t know for sure, the Bible doesn’t tell us. But, let’s 

give Mary credit here, it could not have been so easy. Her whole world had just been turned 

upside down. 

Fortunately, no providentially, the angel knew Mary was going to need support. She needed 

reassurance that everything was going to be OK. That she didn’t just dream all this, that she 

wasn’t having hallucinations or even visions of grandeur. So, Gabriel gave her a hint: Go see

 your cousin Elizabeth! 

And go she did! As Luke puts it, in those crucial days she fled quickly to the home of Zechariah 

and Elizabeth. For where else could she go? Even then, she couldn’t be sure of a warm 

welcome. But lo and behold, the minute Mary bursts in to tell her cousin everything, Baby John

 leaps in Elizabeth’s womb and his Spirit-filled mum bursts out with joy: “How is it that the Mother

 of my Lord comes to me?” 

If Mary had come in search of reassurance and support, she’d certainly come to the right place!

 For here she learned not only that Elizabeth was indeed six months pregnant, but that her 

cousin could confirm everything the Angel Gabriel said. She didn’t need to be afraid, she had 

found favor with God, and therefore nothing was impossible. In fact, Elizabeth did more than 

confirm the Angel’s words. She declared Mary to be blessed, even doubly blessed – blessed by 

the fruit of her womb Jesus the Christ and blessed by her faith that God would fulfill everything 

that was promised. Wow.

So, what then do we learn from Mary’s experience? What do we learn about how a weary world

 can rejoice? There are three things.

First, we learn God uses ordinary people (like you and me) to do extraordinary things for Him. 

The late Harvard chaplain Peter Gomes said, 

Any god can make something good out of the exceptional… It is our God who makes out of 

nothing, something; who takes nowhere and makes it somewhere; who takes nobody and 

makes [them] somebody. It is this power of transformation that made apostles and martyrs of 

ordinary followers of Jesus; it is this power that makes things out of things that are not… and it is

 this power that enables us, like Mary, to take action and do and be what God would have us do and become.[2]  In short, God chooses to work with us and through us.  Isn’t that amazing?

Second, when we let God work with us and through us, we too are blessed. We may not literally 

carry the Christ child in our womb. But we can provide a space for God to enter this world. Like 

Mary, we can become the space where God births good news. Like Mary, we can open our lives to bring Jesus Christ into the world.[3] It’s been said, “God can arrive in the story of your own 

body. This is the power of the story at Christmas.  Every word of God is possible. [We too can] be a home for the God who desires to dwell with us.”[4] Emmanuel. 

Finally, we are also blessed when we have faith in God’s promises. If you think it’s hard to keep

 believing that, imagine what Mary must have felt. She was promised her child would be given 

the throne of David, and there wasn’t even room for him in the inn. She was promised he would

 be called the Son of God, and she had to watch him be beaten, mocked and crucified as a 

criminal on the cross. Yet, she still believed. She whose Yes took her from Bethlehem all the way

 to Golgotha. She whose “Let it be” foreshadowed the prayer of her Son thirty years later, “Not 

my will but Yours be done.” If we have faith that God’s promises will be fulfilled, we always have

 hope even when all hope seems gone. Faith doesn’t protect us from suffering, but faith knows 

where to turn and who to turn to for help. God never leaves us alone. Praise the Lord!

On this 2^nd Sunday in Advent, I close with words from the Anglican priest and poet Malcolm 

Guite. He reminds us that Mary’s earliest title in the church was “Theotokos”. It’s a Greek word

 meaning God-Bearer. He says, “Mary was the one who bore for us in time the One who was

 begotten in eternity. [May Christ be] made alive and fruitful in this world today through our flesh

 and our daily lives.” 

Hear now “Theotokos” a sonnet by Malcolm Guite.

You bore for me the One who came to bless
And bear for all and make the broken whole.
You heard His call and in your open ‘yes’
You spoke aloud for every living soul.
Oh gracious Lady, child of your own child,
Whose mother-love still calls the child in me,
Call me again, for I am lost, and wild
Waves surround me now. On this dark sea
Shine as a star and call me to the shore.
Open the door that all my sins would close
And hold me in your garden. Let me share
The prayer that folds the petals of the Rose.
Enfold me too in Love’s last mystery
And bring me to the One you bore for me.[5]

Amen