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Beginning
the Conversation Spencer C. Lawrence, Church of the Cross, Hoffman Estates, IL, December 3, 2006 Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) the Rev. Joan Gray wrote an article recently in which she argued that Christians should take back the Christmas holiday. She said: Instead of a holiday season during which much is forgotten, Christians should remember why Jesus was born. Christmas as it is generally practiced in our culture is an exercise in forgetting. From the week after Halloween until the stores close on December 24, the atmosphere around us is one of forgetting the unpleasant realities of life. We forget that credit card bills will have to be paid. We forget that everything that we eat will show up on the scales. We forget that most people we know have many things, but we buy them more because it’s Christmas. In order to induce this state of forgetfulness we eat too much, drink too much, spend too much, party too much. Christmas — as it is generally celebrated by our culture and by the overwhelming majority of Christians—must make the angels weep. Hardly anyone disagrees with this. We, too, bemoan the fact that Christmas has become such an orgy of buying and eating and drinking. We preach and listen to sermons exhorting us to remember the reason for the season. We know what’s wrong. The question becomes “How do we take Christmas back?” Is it merely by rejecting all the materialistic ways we Americans celebrate the season? Is it simply avoiding doing what’s bad? That could be a part of it. But a more important piece is to recall – as Moderator Gray suggests – why Jesus was born in the first place. Jesus was born to begin a conversation. Christmas, you see, is a conversation with God. Sometimes we think it is only a conversation about God – about what God has done for us in sending Jesus. It is that, of course. But it is more than just talking about God. In fact, just talking about God can get us into trouble. You may recall that the first theological discussion in the Garden of Eden led to the first sin. The Advent/Christmas season is about God seeking to engage us in conversation, seeking to make contact with us, seeking to create a relationship with us. Celebrating this season is definitely not about buying stuff or going to parties. More than anything, this season is an invitation to converse with God. Mary was but a girl when the angel Gabriel came to her. He came with a promise. He began, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Seeing an angel might have been unnerving enough, but to hear those words – “Favored one” and “The Lord is with you” were perplexing beyond her understanding. Gabriel went on to tell her that she would conceive and bear a son and she would name him Jesus. He would be great, called “Son of the Most High,” and the Lord would give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He would reign forever; his kingdom would never end. Mary had to know what that meant: she was to give birth to the Messiah. Mary finally spoke, “How can this be, since I am a virgin.” In other words, “I am not married, how can I conceive a child?” The angel told her not to worry about it because the Holy Spirit would come upon her and cause the child to be conceived inside her. Because of that the child will be called holy – the Son of God. Gabriel, sensing that Mary was having a hard time with this, told her that her relative Elizabeth had conceived in her old age, and this was a sign that God could do anything. Mary, not fully understanding what this would mean for her, replied, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” See what I mean? The Christmas story begins with a conversation. The angel comes to Mary with a promise. It was not a promise without its problems – what would she tell Joseph, but it was a promise. A promise first to Mary and then to all of us. That’s how the conversation begins for us, too. God comes with a promise. Usually there’s no angel involved, but the promise comes anyway. The promise is wrapped up in Jesus who came a long time ago. That Jesus was to be called the “Son of God” reminds us that in Jesus God has come to be with us. Matthew quotes from Isaiah to the effect that his name shall be called Emanuel – God with us. Now God coming to us could be kind of scary. The angel did say that the child would sit on the throne of David. In other words, Jesus was coming to rule. Rulers aren’t always kind; sometimes they have to be tough. On the other hand, that the angel spoke so gently to Mary says that God was not coming in anger. Besides that, the name “Jesus” – it’s related to “Jesse” and “Joshua” - means “savior.” The child to be born in her was to be the savior. As the angel came to Mary with the promise of a child who would save the people, so God’s promise in Jesus comes to us with a similar hope. The conversation begins with God promising mercy and hope and life through Jesus. It’s interesting to note that it really was a conversation. The angel didn’t do all the talking. And you have to give Mary credit: she had spunk. There she was in the presence of the angel of the Lord hearing the most astounding news anyone had ever heard and the first thing that came to her mind was a question: “How can this be?” She wasn’t upset by the promise; she was perplexed by how it was all going to happen. So she did the only thing she knew to do. She asked the angel a question. Now it was a real conversation. And what did the angel do? Did he say, “Mary, you haven’t been listening! God has made a promise to you. Just shut up and comply”? Not at all. He wasn’t put off by her question. The angel didn’t come back with a sharp rebuke. He answered her. He told her about how the Holy Spirit would make her conception possible, and then told her about her relative Elizabeth. The angel responded kindly to her. At the very least, this suggests that God is eager to engage us in conversation, even if all we can do is ask questions. God is not offended by questions as long as they aren’t smokescreens, as long as we are sincerely looking for answers. If you have heard the promise of God but still have trouble believing it, God is willing to entertain honest questions. God will probably not answer them through an angel, but God will answer them. Maybe through Scripture. Maybe through someone you trust. Maybe through a book you’re reading. Or maybe in the silence of your own thoughts. However God chooses to speak, God is not out to verbally abuse us. God is eager to talk with us. It is interesting that in this conversation Mary had the last word. It wasn’t an argument. Mary didn’t win. Instead, she acquiesced. She agreed to bear the Son of God. It’s important to note that Mary didn’t have everything worked out in her head. She didn’t fully understand what she was getting into. Every “i” wasn’t dotted and every “t” wasn’t crossed. The future was not crystal clear. But she understood enough. And she went ahead with it. That’s what faith is. In her acquiescence she models for us the appropriate response to God’s promise: she said, “Let it be with me according to your word.” God allows us the final word, too. God allows us the freedom to choose. God invites us to allow Jesus the Son to be born in us, too. God invites us to have the last word in the conversation. We know that Christmas is not about going to parties and celebrating with friends. Nor is it primarily about buying gifts for family and friends. Nor is Christmas just about going to church more often than you’re used to going. And it is not mainly about giving to the needy, helping poor families and children. These are obviously good, but they’re not the main things about Christmas. We can do them all and miss the point. Jesus came to invite us to converse with God. It’s an invitation to hear once again the promise of God in Jesus to be with us, to be in us and to save us from our sin. It’s an invitation to ask questions if we need to. It’s an invitation to listen for God’s answers. In the end, it’s an invitation to once again say “Yes” to God. What do you say? This is how the conversation with God begins. | |||||
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