The Rev. Dr. Hilary
B. Smith
The Invitation
Some of you know that I’ve made up invitations to our Christmas services with the service times, our address, website, and a lovely image of the manger scene. Last week I went into my veterinarian’s office with some of those invitations. If you were in church last Sunday, you know that I challenged you to invite five people to our Christmas services – people who normally do not attend our church, well, I’m doing it too.
One person there at the vet’s office had in the past indicated an interest in coming to our church so I thought I would go in there and give her an invitation – but of course I couldn’t resist inviting everyone in the office. Most were pleased or at least not bother by the invitation – but one young women seemed hostile to the idea and declined the invitation. I could sense her hostility – there are many possible reasons for her reaction – and I certainly respect her and would not want to offend her in anyway. There have been many times when people have tried to hand me a piece of paper unsolicited and I’ve refused it.
But she got me thinking. She got me thinking about why people are hostile to the church – not just disinterested by actually against it. For many, they do not know who we are as a church, they do not know how we view God and or they do not know about God who loves them and welcomes them into relationship, and they do not know about Christian community as you and I know it. They may not have experienced love, welcome, acceptance in church as you and I have. Just what are we inviting people to experience when we invite them to join our community of faith? We are inviting them to a celebration, just as we have been invited – a celebration of life, love, hope, justice, and peace.
As we approach our celebration of Christmas – our celebration of God breaking into our lives to be with us – we consider how we can tell the story of our faith in ways that can be heard. The way we tell the story has everything to do who how we experience God. The way that we live the story has everything to do with our understanding of God’s call to us to be companions with God to accomplish God’s purposes in our world.
And each of us is called to be God’s companion in ministry. Every individual is called to serve in ways that only that individual can, that only you can. We are not inviting people to a history lesson when they come to church but to an experience of the living God who seeks us today with as much intensity as God sought Mary.
The Christian faith began when God enlisted the help of a young woman and she said yes to the call of God. Mary, the mother of Jesus, said yes and that made all the difference. What can we learn from Mary? And how does the beginning of the Christian story influence the way we live this story today?
Mary’s story is the story of discipleship. And as with all who faithfully follow God – her discipleship was important for her but also for many others. Discipleship is basically about listening for God’s call, waiting for God’s call and then responding in faith to the call. We accept the invitation.
In his book, Becoming Christ, Brian Taylor, gives us
a way of engaging the scriptural stories so we can encounter the God anew. What
are we inviting people to? This way of reading the Bible is a way that is
unknown to many – rather than using the Bible to condemn others, we engage the
Bible by opening ourselves to God.
Mary is taken by surprise, a messenger comes to her; she hears that her life is important to God and that she will have a role unimagined before that moment. Fear not, she hears. She will not be alone. The power of the Spirit will create within her what God desires for her and all. The Spirit will be with her. Mary responds with an openness to the possibilities even though she does not completely understand the call. “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Praying with this account helps us understand Mary better and ourselves better. Who have the messengers been in our lives? When have you been surprised by a turn your has taken? Were you afraid, confused, or confident? Where was God in that? Pray about something that is happening in your life now – consider that God is with you and active in the situation. How does God invite you to be open to new possibilities?
The season of Advent is coming to an end. We started the season by considering our expectations for this holiday time. We have considered the ways that we prepare ourselves spiritually for Christmas and the ways that we prepare the way for the Lord in our world.
On this last Sunday of Advent, we come to the encounter Mary had with the Angel Gabriel – an encounter with God’s word to her. We prepare and we wait so that when we encounter the word of God we too can be open and responsive to it. Every year Advent gives as a time devoted to listening and waiting expectantly. We wait in expectation for the birth of Jesus – the Word made flesh – God’s clear message to us about things temporal and things eternal. As friends of God who desire to serve God, we are, in a sense, always waiting in expectation for God’s word to us.
God intends to do many things our world with our help. It is human thing to believe that things are impossible. But with God, all things are possible. Our faith affirms with great certainty that God acts in history through ordinary people to do extraordinary things. God is not done. This Christmas is a time to celebrate once again that God acts to bring us into the life of the Spirit, into the life of God by first coming to us.
The call of God is often unexpected and sometimes frightening or awesome in the original meaning of that word – so intense and of God that we are in a state of awe. God’s call is creative – often creating more than we can imagine. When God’s call is to an individual, it is always about more than the individual. We have been called into this fellowship of faith for ourselves, but also those we serve, the poor, the oppressed, the lonely, and also those who do not yet know what church can be.
When we invite people to join us for church on Christmas, yes, we are inviting them to come for the music, the pageant, the candles, silent night, the communion, the community for that hour or so – but we are really inviting them to so much more. We are inviting them to join us in the mystery of it all, in the faith journey that is often surprising. We are inviting them to join us in our companionship with God for the good of the world.
We remember and give thanks for Mary. We think about the joy that she had in answering God’s call to her. We know the words of the Magnificat, attributed to Mary in response to God’s call: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” But also imagine God’s joy because she responded to the call. How was that for God? Most often we think about the human side of the equation.
But what about God? God rejoiced too; God rejoices still when we respond in faith. When we accept the invitation.
As we come to the end of Advent, I will conclude this last Advent sermon with a prayer from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. Let us pray.
God of hope,
before we turn to you, you run to us, before we call out to you, you answer; by
the might of your Spirit lift us from the numbing uncertainties of life to
joyful expectation of Christ’s appearing that, when he comes again, he may meet
us as people who anticipate his reign with eagerness and who welcome him with
praise. Amen.
http://epfnational.org/our_resources/liturgical_tools/advent.html