“Pondering”
Psalm 130: 5-8, Luke 1: 26-38
Second Sunday Of Advent
What do you really know about your family tree? Can you name the generations that came before you? Can you sum up your impression of any one of them in a simple sentence or two.
Can’t? Well, know this…even though you may not know the family stories of those who came before you, they are playing out in you right now. Family attitudes…sometimes about very specific things like loyalty at all costs, prejudices, favorites/unfavorites, even divorce patterns and the rights/privileges of children…..family attitudes and choices flow through the generations subconsciously and are present even if not told out loud or even known. They affect you and often shape you and will be repeated by you until they are brought up in your consciousness for what they are, why they are….how to live with them not through them. Soul Work. We see this at holidays especially…and maybe thinking of your holiday traditions (and your responses to them) may spark some aha! in you around this assertion I am making.
And what do you know of your own birthing story? Do you know the circumstances of your birth? Do you know what was going on in your family at the time of your birth? The mood of your mother or father, the strains and joys that were present? They were born into you as you were born into them.
Stories matter. Knowing the stories, we can see more clearly what has been forming us and then more dearly make life choices.
Jesus and you have this in common. The stories of the generations before him helped define himself, too. BUT, when those stories were not helpful to him in standing in his own light and life with integrity, he moved out from them with courage and lived a new truth in his world family. Born through Mary and Joseph, he was born to the Holy Family….of humanity.
Perhaps this season as we reflect on the context of Jesus birth, you will reflect on the context of yours…and how you are still being shaped by it…and how you may hold these stories differently now and now begin to re-define yourself.
And maybe this process will help you make sense differently of some of the wisdom teachings of Jesus about family…for as a grown up, Jesus often talks of family in somewhat harsh sounding ways…mother against daughter, son against father, respect your parents, leave your family, leave the dead to the dead and follow me….what is he inviting us to know about ourselves and the power we have to reorder our lives…and how this may very well be connected directly to our families?
And, I invite you…if you have children…to think down the generations as well as up. For there is a legacy…one you are now defining….one you can refine…..
Mary speaks:
God entered the world through my ear. What a silly image! Yet it is true...incredible, but true. Well, of course God entered the world through my womb....just like every other baby.....a real baby! ....but it was my ear which God entered first. It was in my hearing, God became real....to me through the Angel Gabriel. I am so glad, even as hard as it has been, I was able to hear the angel's words that morning. That I listened first, before worrying…wondering how my mother and father, Anna and Joachim would respond…and dear Joseph. I had to trust God would speak to him, too. Trust is what gave me hope. I put my trust in God, beyond my family, and there I found confident hope that God would show me a way through….
Yes. I think "ears" is how God becomes real. ....I wonder what God is whispering in your ear. I wonder if the angel Gabrielle was standing before you if you'd even recognize him or hear a word he spoke. I wonder. It is in hearing God becomes real. Real. Really here.
For a long time, God had been preparing my people....preparing me. It is a part of our story, our belief....God pierces human experience through dreams, visions, angels, wisdom beyond ourselves. And we know…sometimes we are to wait…sometimes God waits for us! We can take a breath and slow it all down….in our souls. Ponder a bit….see things differently….be different…even in our families!
Because I know the faith stories about dreams and angels and visions, and was willing to believe, maybe this made it easier for me to hear and for God to be here. It is in knowing the stories of the generations before me that helped make it possible for me to make some sense of what was happening to me.
And.....I had Joseph and Elizabeth and Zechariah to turn to, whom I could trust to hear and accept my most overpowering experience. Do you have someone to turn to, willing to believe in the meaning of your experience? Oh, of course you do...you're here this morning....so of course you do....if you are willing to share with each other!
I hear you have a wonderful fellowship time and special times set apart for sharing.....education times centered around sharing and hearing. How lucky you are.....if you're willing to share. I believe we need each other if we are to understand our most profound visions of the Holy....there is a special wisdom and power that comes in sharing. If I hadn't had special people around me to share with, I wonder if Jesus would have made it into this world....through me. ...Oh if only you would speak of your God experiences....even name them for yourself....I wonder what might happen to you? I wonder how God would get really real to you?
(Walking, pondering, switching subject)
Haven't you ever wondered if I was the first woman God approached with this amazing offer? I wonder if it is just that I was the first woman who heard it...willing to believe what I could not understand, not worrying about family reactions and scenarios before they even unfolded, willing to think on my own....with God....to ponder Gabrielle's word....hearing is what brought to life in me something I could never have conceived of on my own. Even beginning belief allows you to hear, so new and unexpected life becomes possible.
(Walking, pondering)
Most people, even those who want to believe in God, find a virgin birth unbelievable. That's OK. Believe as far as you can...and God will meet you where you are and bring you to the manger! Yes, the manger....the most unlikely place in your life for anything new to happen....to get born as they say! You are a part of the holy family….many generations down perhaps, but a part, and just as holy!
It's such a romantic story, isn't it? A picture post card happening, a Kodak moment. But there was nothing easy or glamorous about it.....just precious. It took all my willingness and it took all Joseph's disciplined, sensitive strength to make it possible for Jesus to be born....and survive! It took courage. Courage is not an absence of fear, but a willingness to keep on in spite of outer terror or the inner, hopeless dark night of the soul. To be faithful takes courage...in our belief and in God's presence with us in our unbelief. This is what I've found to be true.
Believing is a process....I pondered through the whole of my life. And maybe it was especially in the hard times, the times when things seemed so dark or hopeless or cruel, that saying "Here I am, Lord" saved me. I didn't even know what I was saying, what it might mean or how it would be helpful. But saying "let it be according to your word" saved me. Actually, I'm glad to say it.....I'm glad to let God be God...not to have to have the final word, the ultimate wisdom, a clear vision of what can come next. I am glad I am not God and don't have to have all the answers....just the questions....just the willingness to listen. It is hard work to resist the temptation to play God...in my own life and in the lives of those around me. Maybe this is in the hardest part of life's journey.
Yes, so often when it feels least possible....God accomplishes the most....speaks the loudest....cause we're most vulnerable then and most ready, desperate!, to hear.
God entered this world through my ear.
God has entered the world for countless ages through the ears of those who would hear.
God is entering again through your ear.....right now. What do you hear God saying? What do you feel God nudging you to do that you've never done before? What is it God is bringing to life in you this season?
Life prepares us.
Hope is not a choice....it is the only way to survive.
Believe.....Jesus is coming. Believe. God believes.....in you.
Trust your feelings and your experiences....for that's where you'll hear God speaking.…being born in you. You may have been born through your family, but you are a Child of God! God’s perspective of your birth may be very different than that of your family!
"At first, everyone knew Jesus was human. The question was whether he was divine.
Now we all know he's divine, but debate whether he's human."
He’s both….so are you!
Special thanks to Rev. Jim Rand for the insight of "the ear".
Thanks also to the understandings of Morton Kelsey in his book The Drama of Christmas: Letting Christ Into Our Lives.
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