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Here's the sermon I preached for the Annunciation...the text, of course, is Luke 1:26-38. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today we hear the story of Christianity's most famous reply to God's call. "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." This is Mary's only reply, aside from a question of biology, to the news that she will bear the Son of God. None of Moses' excuses, none of Sarah's laughing, none of Jonah's running away. No hedging her bets, no bargaining. In this single sentence, Mary accepts that her life will change completely. She accepts that nothing will ever be quite the same for her. She demonstrates a readiness, a holy flexibility, a willingness to follow God even when called into completely unfamiliar and frightening territory. I don't know about you, but I prefer a certain degree of control in my life. I like knowing where I'm going, how long it will take and when I'll be finished - and I like to set the agenda myself. Mary challenges me, and all of us, to align our own priorities with those of God. Her example stands as humanity's best response to our creator - "Here am I, the servant of the Lord." But what makes Mary's acceptance different than that of Moses or Sarah or even Jonah? All of them were called and, although sometimes they tried to get out of the job, all eventually accepted their roles as God's instruments on earth. They became God's agents, speakers of God's word and doers of God's will. In fact the Bible is full of people who answered God's call and did God's work - how is Mary any different? What makes Mary so special is that she is more than an instrument of God, more than an agent of divine will. Mary is the first member of the body of Christ, and as such she lives that reality in the fullest sense. She is the human half of an equation that brings humanity into a right relationship with God. Mary takes into herself the presence of God, internalizes, quite literally, the Son of the Most High. Here at Anglo-catholic Trinity we're not always comfortable with terms like "invite the Lord Jesus into your heart." But that's precisely what Mary does - she invites Jesus into herself, and then nourishes him from her own substance. Sort of ironic, that a figure so beloved of Catholics should have made such an evangelical choice. I wonder which group should be most appalled. If Mary did nothing other than this, if she bore the Christ child and then vanished from the story, she would be deserving of our respect. But we know, from Luke's gospel and others, that she followed her son throughout his ministry. We know that she was present for miracles and teachings, and that she was with her son at the very last. Today's feast day, as you probably know, was transferred from March 25. This year, as happens every so often, the Annunciation, Our Lord's introduction into the human narrative, landed on Good Friday, the day of his passion and death. In that juxtaposition we see the full arc of Our Lady's devotion. She was willing to accept Christ into her very being. And at the foot of the cross Mary faced the horror of seeing her holy child, her beloved son whom she had carried and birthed and nursed and loved, die in agony. It is that devotion, her willingness to follow her son to the very moment of death, that completes our picture of Mary. Holy flexibility is joined to holy perseverance - she follows God's will, and follows it to the end. And it all begins when Mary accepts and internalizes the incarnate God. Are we willing to do the same? In a few minutes we're going to share the Eucharist - we will take into ourselves the body and blood of Our Lord. In that sacrament we are offered the same chance that Mary had - the chance to take Christ into ourselves. How will we answer God's invitation? Are we ready to fully live that reality, to integrate our discipleship so completely that Our Lord is part of our very being, that his work in the world is nourished by our substance? It's a call that every Christian receives at baptism, and we will spend the rest of our lives working on the reply. Some days we're Moses, trying to make excuses. Other days we're Sarah, laughing at the idea that God might have a plan for us. There are even times when we're Jonah, doing everything we can to escape doing God's work. But on our best days we are Mary. On our best days we take Christ into our very core - we move beyond mere emulation and give our entire selves to God. On our best days we align our will with that of Our Lord, and seek to further his agenda rather than ours. As Pope John XXIII once said, �The Madonna is not pleased when she is placed above her son.� We honour Mary not in place of Jesus, but precisely because her holy flexibility and holy perseverance point us toward her son, Our Lord. "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
