People of Advent.  People who are waiting.  Christmas is almost here.  We have walked together in the light of these Advent Candles through the weeks.  We’ve walked in the light of hope, talked about waiting well and what we are waiting for. We heard of standing with our heads up (no matter our circumstances), attentive to God’s voice and attentive to what God is doing around us so that we might join in.  We have walked together in the light of peace and asked what kind of person might I become.  What kind of person might God make me?  That’s exciting.  We prayed and continued to pray, “Make me a channel of your peace.”  Let there be peace on earth, Lord, and let it begin with me, I pray.  We talked about living in the light of the joy of salvation.  We heard of drawing water from the wells of salvation every day – thanking God, calling on God’s name, making God’s ways known in all the ways we might make God’s ways known among everyone we might encounter as we go through our days.  God’s ways of mercy and grace and justice and compassion and gentleness and humility and…

1. Which brings us to today.  Christmas is almost here.  We are living in the light of God’s love, Advent people.

I have one desire for everyone who is hearing these words this day.  I’m not going to have a chance to speak to you again before the 25^th, so I will call this my Christmas desire for each and every one of you.  My desire for each and every person who is listening to these words this morning is that you may live in a good situation, that you may be in a good place, that you may live secure, that you may live, to use the language of scripture, blessed.  No matter our circumstances.  That we may be favoured.  “Greetings, favoured one!” is how the angel Gabriel greeted young Mary in Luke 1:28.  Let us hear those words directed at us.  “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord,” is what Elizabeth exclaims with a loud cry in Luke 1:45.  We are hearing these words together.  Our personal situations may differ wildly, from great joy and great expectations to great sorrow and uncertainty.  No matter where we are this day, there is a promise before us.  The light of God’s love is before us.  Let’s ask God for help as we hear good news this day. 

It's good that children have a special role to play in our worship services at this time of year.  The imagination of a child is a wonderful thing.  Imagination that turns housecoats into robes, tea towels into head coverings, tinsel into halos.  The wonder of a child is a precious thing.  It’s unsullied in a way, isn’t it?  The excitement of children when it’s almost Christmas.  “How many more sleeps?” and all of that.  The ability to look forward to something whose coming of which we are certain.  Promises made.  Promises kept.  Children take promises very seriously, and we want to be careful with them, don’t we?  A pinky swear makes a promise doubly sure.  When we get older, our view of promises may become a little less idealized.  Promises made to us are broken.  Promises made by us are broken.  People of Advent.  We live as people of God’s promise.  When we consider the faithfulness of God, we consider this great truth that I cannot put any more simply: When God makes a promise, God keeps that promise.  Perhaps I could put it more simply: God does what He says.

Also, God loves us. 

May both of these truths be a cause for wonder and awe for us this Christmas.  We’ve been listening to the prophets telling it like it is through these weeks of Advent.  Listen to God speaking through Isaiah – “Because you are precious in my sight and honoured and I love you…” (43:4)  Listen to God speak through Jeremiah of return and restoration and renewal  where God’s love and God’s faithfulness meet – “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” (31:3)

God’s love is shown and known by God’s presence.  God is with us.  Emmanuel.  We get this on a personal level.  What kind of love do we have if we are not present to one another?  God’s love has always been and will always be about God’s presence.  We want to be in a good situation this Advent!  Favoured.  Secure.  Blessed.  Go with God.  It’s always been about going with God.  This has always been the promise.  When God tells Moses to lead the people of Israel to the land that had been promised, God makes another promise, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Ex 33:14)  In Isaiah 40, we hear this of God, “He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” (Is 40:11)  God does what he says!  We want to be in a good situation.  Let us go with our shepherd – “And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.  And they shall live secure, for now, he shall be great to the ends of the earth, and he shall be the one of peace;” (Mic 5:4-5). God is with us.  The last words of Jesus recorded in Matthew’s Gospel – “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  At the end of the age (because we look forward too), God with us in a whole new way, a voice from the throne saying “See, the home of God is among mortals.  He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” (Rev 21:3) So we say and sing, “Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emannuel!”  God with us is a good place to be.

So the word of the Lord comes to Mary through the angel Gabriel, “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.  The virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one!  The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:26-28) Mary is perplexed, and at times, we may be perplexed and even vexed and ask questions and wonder things like, “God involves us in his whole saving plan?!”  Because we know us.  We may say or hear, “Why doesn’t God simply just snap his fingers and make all this salvation and justice happen, and we could just watch it happen?”

We may wonder such a thing, but do not let us miss the invitation to join in God’s promise.  Here is the thing about the story of Mary and Elizabeth that we read this Advent.  Mary who asked, “How can this be?”  Elizabeth who asked, “Why has this happened to me?”   It’s the same thing about the story of Moses or Gideon or Isaiah, who said things like “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” and “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” and “Woe is me!  I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips”.  The answer keeps coming back from God – “I am with you.”

God involves people in God’s grand salvation/deliverance/rescue plan.  The love of God is not coercive. You can’t coerce love, no matter how many autocrats are called “Dear Leader.”  To live in the love and grace, and mercy of God means to be taken outside of ourselves.  To live in the light of the love of God is to be turned away from our tendency toward self-focus and self-absorption.    To live in the light of the love of God is to see the truth that we are not the star of a show called “My Life.” To live in God’s love is to be humbled in the truest sense of the word.  At the same time, we are lifted up as our stories have been grafted into God’s grand saving story.  We’re not simply reading stories of people like Moses and Isaiah and Micah and Mary and Elizabeth – although people are involved!  They and we in Christ are caught up in the story of God, and it’s a never-ending one! 

This is a most freeing thing I must say.  We’re talking about being blessed, being in a good place, being secure.  It means that my security does not lie in having $5 million, Kevin O’Leary’s advice notwithstanding (and “Good luck with that,” I say to myself).  It means that having a good Christmas for me is not dependent on buying or receiving the perfect presents, preparing and/or eating the perfect Christmas dinner with the perfect people (and “Good luck with that!” we may be saying).

Not that there’s anything wrong with thoughtful gifts or, well-prepared meals, or delightful company!

We have this wonderful scene with Mary and Elizabeth. Mary enters the home, and as soon as Elizabeth hears her greeting, the child (little John the Baptist, remember) leaps in her womb!  Pre-natal babies are jumping for joy, and Elizabeth is exclaiming with a loud cry, and she lays down what it means to be in a good place/a good position/secure/blessed because God is with us: “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (1:45)

The first beatitude in Luke’s Gospel.  Blessed are you who believes that God does what He says.

Do you believe this?  I believe this.  We sing a song here at Blythwood that contains this great line: “We will stand as children of the promise.”  Let that be our promise.  This is our part to play in the promise of Advent.  Our “Yes” to God.  The only qualification we need is a willing heart.  Someone has described Mary like this:

“Mary reflects the person whom God… chooses to use. She brings no outstanding credentials to the task and lives on the edge of the nation. She brings nothing on her résumé other than her availability and willingness to serve. But those characteristics are the most basic ones anyone can offer God. So he puts her to use in his plan, taking her through a process for which she has had no training or preparation. He simply promises to be with her in the journey, and she responds by being willing to go on the ride.”

Mary stands in a long line of people, from Abraham to Moses and on down the line, who responded to God’s call with a “Let’s go.  Let’s do this.  I know You are with me.  I know You are with us.”  You can picture Mary at the front of all those who came before her who said, “Here I am, send me.”  We can answer the same way this morning and pledge ourselves to God’s saving plan – turning or returning to God whether it’s for the first time or the 1001st time.  Knowing God-with-us in a whole new way this Christmas as we put ourselves in that same picture behind Mary and all those who, through the centuries, have said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.” (1:38)  Let us be those who carry your love to the world because you are with us.

Because God remembered us.  Because God noticed us.  Because God has made mercy known to us in.  Because Jesus died.  Because Jesus rose and ascended but did not leave us alone.  Because we look forward to Jesus’ return, standing together with our heads up, not losing heart, not letting go.  Because God is with us and calls us every day to bear God’s love – letters of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God on our hearts.

This is the God who loves us dear friends.  God with us.  May you all be so blessed this Christmas.  Merry Christmas everyone.